QY v QZ

JurisdictionSingapore
JudgeHoo Sheau Peng
Judgment Date11 July 2006
Neutral Citation[2006] SGDC 139
CourtDistrict Court (Singapore)
Year2006
Published date12 June 2007
Plaintiff CounselIrving Choh (Rajah & Tann)
Defendant CounselNicole Loh (Harry Elias Partnership)
Citation[2006] SGDC 139

11 July 2006

District Judge Hoo Sheau Peng:

Background

1 The petitioner, QZ (‘the wife’), and the respondent, QY (‘the husband’), were married on 18 September 1992. They have two daughters, D (‘the first child’), eight years old, and N (‘the second child’), five years old. On 17 October 2003, the decree nisi was granted, on the ground of the unreasonable behaviour of the husband. The husband stopped instructing his previous lawyers, leading to their discharge on 19 January 2004. On 11 March 2004, the wife obtained orders for the ancillary matters, in the absence of the husband (‘the original orders’).

2 In fact, the husband disappeared from the lives of the wife and the children for a year from August 2003 to August 2004. In September 2004, he returned to the scene. On 8 November 2004, the husband filed an application by way of SIC No. 657612 of 2005 to vary or set aside the original orders. The wife applied by way of SIC No. 650078 of 2005 for a fair and equitable division of the matrimonial assets, upon disclosure of his assets by the husband. On 16 November 2005, I heard the applications. I ordered that the original orders be set aside, and that the ancillary prayers be reheard, with costs to the wife. I also gave directions for the filing of affidavits to update the Court on certain relevant matters. On 10 February 2006, I heard the ancillary matters afresh.

Orders Made

3 On 16 March 2006, I made these orders:

(1) Joint custody of the children of the marriage be granted to the wife and the husband, with care and control to the wife.

(2) Reasonable access to the children be granted to the husband including:

• Alternate weekends, Friday, 6 pm to Saturday, 9 pm;

• On weeks without overnight access, either Wednesday, 6 pm – 9 pm (if children are going away on the weekend with the wife) or Saturday, 2 pm – 7 pm (if children are in Singapore for the weekend);

• Alternate public holidays, 9 am to 9 pm;

• In even numbered years beginning 2006, Christmas eve, 9 am to 9 pm. In odd numbered years beginning 2007, Christmas day, 9 am to 9 pm;

• In odd numbered years beginning 2007, 3rd day of Chinese New Year Eve, 6 pm to 9 pm;

• Two weeks of mid and year end school holidays, with overnight access;

• Telephone access.

(3) The husband is to pay monthly maintenance of $3,500 for the children, being $1,750 each, with effect from 20 March 2006, and thereafter on 20th of each month.

(4) The husband is to pay nominal maintenance of $1 for the wife, with effect from 20 March 2006, and thereafter on 20th of each month.

(5) Payments are to be made into the wife’s bank account, with the number to be inserted into the order of court.

(6) The husband is to pay maintenance of

• $245,766 for 15 May 2001 – February 2004, being $7,300 x 12.5 months, $7,500 x 7 months, $7,127 x 8 months, $7,500 x 6 months.

• $67,500 for March 2004 – November 2004, being $7,500 x 9 months.

• $75,000 for December 2004 to February 2006, being $5,000 x 15 months.

(7) The interim payments of $47,500 and any other payments in February and March 2006 made by the husband are to be offset against the amounts stated in Clause 6. The balance amount is to be paid by 12 equal monthly instalments with effect 20 March 2006, and thereafter on 20th of each month.

(8) The husband is to pay the wife a sum of $116,363.54 for the loans given by the wife to the husband within 1 month of this order.

(9) The husband is to pay the wife a sum of $180,000 as her share of the matrimonial assets within 1 month of this order.

(10) Parties are to retain other assets in their own names.

(11) Liberty to apply.

(12) Costs of the ancillary matters fixed at $2,500 to be paid by the husband to the wife.

Appeal

4 The husband appeals against Orders 2 to 9, on the issues of access, maintenance, recovery of loans, and division of the matrimonial assets. I now give my reasons for the orders.

Access

5 Before me, the parties fought over the issues of custody, care and control. In the best interests of the children, I had granted joint custody to the parties, with care and control to the wife. As for access, the parties wanted specific and detailed access orders. These were the areas of dispute.

Overnight access

6 The husband requested for overnight access. The wife was not agreeable to overnight access, on the grounds that the children were young, and were not used to staying with the husband. Also, the wife claimed that the husband was not dependable. She did not know where the husband was actually living as he was using his parents’ address. Overnight access should only begin two years later, with the building of better bonds and with the husband proving to be a reliable parent. I was of the view that the children, being eight and five years old, were old enough to spend nights away from the wife. I granted overnight access.

Weekend access

7 The interim orders provided that the husband has access every Saturday 4 pm to 10 pm. The husband wanted overnight access on Fridays from 1.30 pm to 10 pm on Saturdays for the first child and 3 pm on Fridays to 10 pm on Saturdays for the second child. The wife suggested that the husband should have access on the first and third Saturdays of the month, from 4 pm to 10 pm. On certain weekends, the wife, a Malaysian, would bring the children to visit their relatives in Malaysia. Her family has been her source of support through the proceedings, and the visits would allow the wife and the children to maintain close contact with her family. Further, the wife and children would attend church every Sunday morning.

8 I appreciated the wife’s request for some weekends with the children to bring the children to Malaysia. Further, as she was a working mother, spending time with the children on weekends would also be important to her. Therefore, I ordered alternate weekend access, from Friday 6 pm to Saturday 7 pm for the husband. I did not grant the husband Sunday access as he did not ask for access on Sunday at all, and the access has been on Saturdays thus far. I note that on appeal, the husband has changed his position, and prays for alternate weekends from Friday 6 pm to Sunday 8 pm.

Weekday access

9 Before me, the husband requested for access every Thursday from 1.30 pm to 8 pm for the first child and 3 pm to 8 pm for the second child. The wife disagreed with access on weekdays. Her reasons were as follows. The children were of school going age and also attended various lessons outside of school. Weekday access would be disruptive to their schedules. I agreed with the wife that regular weekday access was not in the children’s interests because of their busy schedules. However, for the alternate weeks without weekend access to the husband, I granted the husband access on either Wednesday, 6 pm – 9 pm (if the children were to go away on the weekend with the wife) or Saturday 2 pm – 7 pm (if the children were to remain in Singapore for the weekend). On appeal, the husband did not request for weekday access. He prays that for weeks without overnight weekend access, there should be access on Saturday 2 pm to 9 pm.

Holiday access

10 The husband requested for half of the June and December school holidays, with overnight access. The wife offered day access for one week during the June and December holidays. I granted two weeks of holiday access during the June and December holidays, with overnight access. The husband has not shown the court that he would be able to spend up to half of the school holidays with the children. During the marriage, he spent most of the time working. I felt that two weeks of the June and December holidays would be sufficient for the time being.

Public holidays and days of obligations

11 The husband asked for access on alternate public holidays from 9 am to 10 pm, including the Chinese New Year period. In addition, he asks for access on Catholic day of obligations being Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Ascension Thursday and Christmas Day. For the Christmas season, the wife proposed that they alternate between spending time with the children on the eve and Christmas day. For Chinese New Year, the wife would like to be with the children for the full period from the eve to the third day. She would bring the children to Malaysia. As the husband was a Eurasian, he would not celebrate Chinese New Year anyway. She offered Easter every year instead.

12 I ordered alternate public holidays, carving out the Chinese New Year and Christmas seasons for specific orders. I did not see any reason to deprive either of all access during this period. In particular, there is no reason why the wife should not have access to the children over the Christmas season. Thus, in alternate years, parties would enjoy Christmas eve or Christmas day with the children. As for the Chinese New Year season, the husband would enjoy the third day in alternate years. As for Good Friday, it would fall within one of the general public holidays. On appeal, the husband prays for alternate public holidays with no access to the husband over the Chinese New Year holidays, but with yearly overnight access to the husband on Christmas eve and Christmas Day and Good Friday.

Telephone access

13 Before me, the husband requested for telephone access. While she was agreeable to telephone access, the wife wanted to restrict access through her handphone, and not the home line. I stated the order as telephone access for the husband, without any restrictions. On appeal, the husband prays for telephone access on a daily basis.

General

14 To sum up, in making the orders, I was concerned with granting as much time as possible for the husband to maintain his relationships with the children. However, the overriding consideration remained the welfare of the children: ss 125 and 126 of Women’s Charter (Cap 353) (‘Act’). In my view, the access granted to the husband should be sufficient as a start. For most of the children’s lives, the husband has been busy...

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