Ng Kim Seng v Kok Mew Leng

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Court: Court of Three Judges (Singapore)
• Judge: Chua F A J
• Judgment Date: 22 September 1992
• Neutral Citation: [1992] SGCA 58
• Citation: [1992] SGCA 58
• Plaintiff Counsel: P Suppiah and Noor Mohamed Marican (Noor Mohamed Marican & Associ-ates)
• Docket Number: Civil Appeal No 112 of 1989
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Defendant Counsel: Loong Seng Onn (WK Tan & Co)
• Date: 22 September 1992
• Subject Matter: s 106 Women's Charter (Cap 353),Family Law,Matrimonial assets,Relevance of 'matrimonial factors' not listed in s 106 of the Women's Charter (Cap 353) in deciding on a fair division,Division

This appeal was argued before us on 26 November 1991. At the end of the hearing, we varied the order of the court below to the extent that appears at the end of these grounds of judgment. We now give our reasons for doing so.

Background

The appellant and respondent were formerly husband and wife. They were married in Kuala Lumpur in September 1967 and there are two children of the marriage, a boy born in October 1968 and a girl born in March 1972. The parties were divorced on the petition of the wife. The decree nisi was granted on 15 May 1989 and was made absolute on 12 January 1990. The fact supporting the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage was that the parties had lived separate and apart for a continuous period of four years, commencing from 1984, immediately preceding the presentation of the petition for divorce on 17 June 1988. The petition for divorce also alleged the unreasonable behaviour of the husband as a fact of the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. A similar allegation of unreasonable behaviour was also made against the wife by the husband in his reply and cross-petition. Custody of the children was given to the wife by an order of court dated 25 July 1989, and the husband was also ordered to pay maintenance of $750 per month for the children. Those orders were not under appeal and the appeal only concerned an order of Tan Teow Yeow JC dated 11 October 1989 wherein the interests in the matrimonial home at No 89 Faber Drive, Singapore were divided as follows:

(1) The beneficial share of the matrimonial home at No 89 Faber Drive, Singapore be as follows:

Petitioner [the wife] - four-fifths (4/5)

Respondent [the husband] - one-fifth (1/5)

(2) The petitioner has the sole discretion either to:

(i) sell the whole of the matrimonial home to a third party; in which case the respondent is to execute all such documents as are necessary to convey and transfer the matrimonial home to the said third party and the respondent is to be paid one-fifth (1/5) share of the net sale proceeds (1% broker`s fees and legal fees to be deducted); or

(ii) retain the whole of the matrimonial home for herself; in which case the respondent is to execute all such documents as are necessary to convey and transfer his rights, title and interest to the petitioner and upon such execution, he is to be paid Singapore dollars: one hundred and forty-four thousand (S$144,000)

each party to bear their own legal costs and disbursements in either transaction.

(3) The petitioner`s discretion in para 2 above is to be exercised within one month from the date of this order.

(4) The respondent is to quit and deliver up possession of the matrimonial home on the completion of either of the aforesaid events.

The wife chose to retain the matrimonial home for herself and paid to the husband the amount stated in para 2(ii) of the above order.

Facts relating to the matrimonial home

The matrimonial home was purchased at the end of 1972 and title was conveyed into the sole name of the husband in January 1973. The purchase price of the matrimonial home was $107,000 and the source of funds for the payment of the purchase price and the legal costs and disbursements was made up as follows:

Gift from the wife`s father $ 75,000

Mortgage loan from the husband`s employers

$ 66,000

$141,000

It was not disputed that the gift of $75,000 from the wife`s father was intended as a gift to her and that the mortgage loan was taken out by the husband in his own name from the Jurong Town Corporation where he...