Lim Tee Juat v Lee Ah Ngoh

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: See Kee Oon
• Judgment Date: 07 January 2000
• Neutral Citation: [2000] SGDC 2
• Year: 2000
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Citation: [2000] SGDC 2
• Court: District Court (Singapore)

Judgment

GROUNDS OF DECISION

Background

1. The appellant husband is the respondent in the divorce proceedings. The wife had initiated divorce on the ground of the husband’s unreasonable behaviour. A decree nisi was granted on 29 April 1999 in respect of the wife’s petition, which was not contested. The hearing in respect of the ancillary matters was concerned with the issues of transfer of the matrimonial flat at Block 255 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 #07-113 Singapore 560255 (‘the flat’), as well as maintenance for the wife and costs

The ancillary matters

2. The parties had been lawfully married for some 29 years, since December 1970. There are two children to the marriage, a son (Lim Ming Liang) and a daughter (Lim Huei Ching Jaslene). The children are now 28 and 26 years of age respectively. In 1988, when the children were 17 and 15 years old respectively, the husband deserted the family. A maintenance order was made against him. After a few months, he did not keep up the maintenance payments. As at June 1999, the arrears add up to more than $8,000. He only returned to the family 8 years later. Presently, he still resides at the flat.

3. The flat was purchased on 1 April 1977 for $15,800. The initial deposits of $10,120 and $1,107 were paid from the husband’s and wife’s respective CPF accounts. At the time of the hearing, the amount withdrawn by the husband towards the purchase of the flat was over $17,000, with accrued interest in excess of $26,000. As the husband has passed his retirement age, he had pledged the flat for $31,996 in lieu of his minimum sum from the CPF.

4. It was not disputed that the husband’s direct financial contribution towards the purchase of the flat was far in excess of that of the wife. However, the wife maintained that the husband had persistently failed to provide for the family. He was also violent and abusive. She had to work throughout the marriage to support the family. She worked as a domestic helper and a seamstress. The husband then deserted them in 1988 for no apparent reason. The wife was left to fend for herself and the children. He then returned in 1996 only to harass the wife and daughter and intimidate the wife into giving him money. Both the son and daughter had also filed affidavits in support of the wife’s contentions.

5. The wife also sought maintenance at $350 per month. She claimed that the husband had never maintained her throughout the marriage, apart from a brief period when he did pay maintenance pursuant to...