MZ v NA

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Choo Han Teck J
• Judgment Date: 06 June 2006
• Neutral Citation: [2006] SGHC 95
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Published date: 07 June 2006
• Year: 2006
• Plaintiff Counsel: Bala Chandran s/o Kandiah (Mallal & Namazie)
• Defendant Counsel: Faizal Wahyuni (Faizal Wahyuni & Co)
• Subject Matter: Family Law,Maintenance,Assessment of division of matrimonial assets by trial judge,Applicable principles in varying trial judge's assessment
• Citation: [2006] SGHC 95

6 June 2006

Choo Han Teck J:

1 The petitioner married the respondent on 18 September 1986. At that time she was 25 years old, and he was 28 years old. They have two children from the marriage, a boy aged 16 and a girl aged 13. The petitioner was a housewife and the respondent, who left the family in October 2003, claimed to be a freelance car polisher earning $1,300 a month, a claim that the judge below was not prepared to accept. In tracing the respondent’s career history, the judge noted that he had reached the position of managing director with Morgan Crucibles Pte Ltd, earning $6,300 a month, and by 2000 he was earning $7,200 a month. But she noted that he was retrenched in 2002. The parties divorced on 24 September 2004 when a decree nisi was granted to the petitioner on the ground of unreasonable behaviour on the part of her husband, the respondent. The district judge who heard the application on the ancillary matters made an order on 3 February 2006 (“the Order”) ordering that:

(a) Custody, care and control of the children of the marriage are to be granted to the wife, with reasonable access to the husband.

(b) The husband is to pay maintenance of $400 per month for each child, being $800 in total, with effect from 15 February 2006, and thereafter on the 15th of every month.

(c) The husband is to pay maintenance of $200 per month for the wife, with effect from 15 February 2006, and thereafter on the 15th of every month.

(d) The maintenance payments are to be made into the wife’s bank account, with the account number to be inserted into the Order.

(e) Within six months of the order, the matrimonial home (a Housing and Development Board (“HDB”) flat at Rivervale Walk) is to be sold in the open market. The sale proceeds are to be used to make payment of the following items, which are stated in order of priority:

(i) to settle the HDB resale levy (if any);

(ii) to effect the requisite Central Provident Fund (“CPF”) refunds to each of the party’s CPF accounts in respect of the moneys utilised for the purchase of the matrimonial property, together with accrued interest, as determined by the CPF Board (“the Board”); and

(iii) to settle the costs, expenses and disbursements relating to the sale of the matrimonial property.

(f) The balance of the net proceeds of sale is to be distributed to the parties equally.

(g) Subject to the Central Provident Fund Act (Cap 36, 2001 Rev Ed) (“the CPF Act”) and the subsidiary legislation made thereunder, and pursuant to s 112 of the Women’s Charter (Cap 353, 1997 Rev Ed), the wife shall be entitled to $162,000 of the husband’s CPF moneys which shall be charged against the CPF moneys then standing to the credit of the husband’s CPF ordinary account with effect from the making of the refund of the requisite CPF moneys from the sales proceeds of the matrimonial home (“the Charged Amount”).

(h) The Charged Amount or the CPF moneys standing to the credit of the husband’s ordinary account are to be paid to:

(i) the husband or his committee of persons and estate when he becomes entitled to and does withdraw his CPF moneys; or

(ii) the husband’s CPF nominees or beneficiaries upon his death; and

(iii) if the CPF moneys are less than the Charged Amount, the lesser sum shall be payable to the wife at such time.

(i) The husband is restrained, whether by himself, his servants, or agents, howsoever from receiving from the Board the Charged Amount or any portion thereof then payable under the CPF Act and the subsidiary legislation made thereunder.

(j) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the husband is restrained, whether by himself, his servants, or agents, howsoever from utilising moneys in his CPF ordinary account for investment purposes under the CPF Investment Scheme, or funding another party’s or his own education under the CPF Education Scheme, or participating in any other CPF scheme which allows the husband to utilise his CPF moneys before he is entitled to withdraw them under s 15 of the CPF Act, unless the moneys so proposed to be utilised are in excess of the Charged Amount after the setting aside of the prescribed or requisite minimum sum, Medisave Minimum Sum/Medisave Required Amount, living expenses and any other prescribed or requisite amounts, where applicable, at the time of the husband’s application(s) for such utilisation.

(k) (i) Save as is provided in sub-para (k)(iii) below, where the wife is entitled to apply to the Board directly, the husband or any person entitled under the CPF Act to apply to withdraw any CPF moneys from the husband’s CPF account is to apply to the Board for the withdrawal of the Charged Amount or any portion thereof then payable under the CPF Act and the subsidiary legislation made thereunder within one month of such entitlement, failing which the Registrar or Deputy Registrar of the Subordinate Courts under s 45 of the Subordinate Courts Act (Cap 321, 1999 Rev Ed) is directed or authorised to execute, sign, or indorse all necessary documents relating to such application to the Board on behalf of the husband or any person so entitled.

(ii) Upon the Board’s approval of the application for withdrawal referred to in sub-para (k)(i) above, the Board shall make payment of the Charged Amount or any portion thereof then payable under the CPF Act and the subsidiary legislation made thereunder, whichever is less (“the Payment”), directly to the wife upon her request in writing.

(iii) For the avoidance of doubt, upon the death of the husband before the...