TBG v TBH
Court | Family Court (Singapore) |
Judge | Sowaran Singh |
Judgment Date | 07 April 2015 |
Neutral Citation | [2015] SGFC 36 |
Citation | [2015] SGFC 36 |
Docket Number | Divorce Petition No.1309 of 2013 |
Hearing Date | 13 March 2015,06 February 2015,27 February 2015 |
Plaintiff Counsel | Ms. Loo Ming Nee Bernice (Allen & Gledhill LLP) |
Defendant Counsel | Ms. Cheong Yen Lin Adriene (Harry Elias Partnership LLP) |
Subject Matter | "Family Law,ancillary hearing,division of matrimonial assets,maintenance ." |
Published date | 05 January 2016 |
The parties married in December 1995 in Kuala Lumpur. The Plaintiff (wife/mother) was described1 as being a 42 year old xxx (UK citizen) and the Defendant (husband/father) as being a 49 year old xxx (US citizen) with both having tertiary qualifications. They have three children ages 15, 13 and 8 years old2. The wife filed for a divorce on the 14 March 2013 and Interim Judgment (IJ) was granted on the 16 December 2013 on account of the husband’s unreasonable behaviour. As part of the IJ parties had consented and detailed orders were made giving them joint custody of the 3 children with care and control to the wife and reasonable access to the husband. The other ancillaries were adjourned to Chambers and came up for hearing on the 6, 27 February 2015 and concluded on the 13 March 2015. It was a long marriage.
In the Statement of Particulars3 (SOP) which was not disputed, it was stated that the husband had an improper association with another lady with whom he had a child born in March 2013. He had started to spend very little time with the wife and between July/August 2012 he spent weekends in KL. The wife was saddened by his behaviour and distressed. He had denied being unfaithful to her and when she indicated that she was willing to salvage their marriage, he was unresponsive.
The Parties Positions in Brief The wife’s written submissions were marked as exhibit
As the parties lived in rental premises there was no issue of a matrimonial home. However, the parties had considerable other assets and properties both local and overseas which required to be ascertained and divided. The wife wanted a 50:50 division of all their assets although she accepted that her direct contribution was only 16% and the husband’s 84%.
The husband offered the wife a 40% share of their assets and his calculations were that the wife’s direct contribution came to only 15% and his was 85%. This would give the wife an increase of 25%. He estimated that their assets came up to some $4,893,277 hence his share would be $2,935,966 and the wife’s share would be $1,957,311. He wished to retain all the assets in his own name (except the Toyota car which was driven by the wife) and their joint assets (including the various properties).In satisfaction of her claims, he would pay the wife a sum of $1,326,311. This sum was derived by deducting the value of the wife’s assets of $600,000 (rounded up from $582,473 as she failed to disclose the value of 3 of her jewellery items and gold coins) from her share of the assets and the value of the Toyota ($31,000). He would pay this sum to the wife in 6 instalments over a 24 month period.
Maintenance The husband’s position was that the wife had an income in 2013 (YA 2014) of $18,9436 and his income was $40,7767 (YA 2014). Accepting this as being the appropriate figures to be used, would mean that the proportions were (total of both incomes being $59,872) 68% and 32%. He urged that there be no maintenance ordered for her as she was self-sufficient and able to sustain her expenses of $11,086 (which he felt were inflated). However, he was willing to provide her a nominal sum of $1 “
The wife calculated the husband’s monthly income based on his Notice of Tax Assessment for YA 2014 to be $61,392. Less his reasonable expenses which ought to be about $18,680 would leave him with a balance of more than $52,000 and therefore, he could afford to pay her maintenance. The husband’s claim that he had to pay for the expenses of his mistress and child was not sound in law as he was not obliged to maintain her and secondly the mistress too earned an income and ought to contribute towards her expenses. The evidence showed that the mistress had from August 2013 to March 2014 contributed on average $3,337 per month into the husband’s personal bank account.
Her take home salary was now $15,240 a month. For YA 2014 her annual income was $227,620 or $18,968 a month. Her bonus varied from year to year. Her monthly expenses came up to a total of $37,564 which comprised:
After the initial hearing on the 6 February 2015 the parties submitted a table (marked as exhibit
The parties agreed that the assets in the wife’s sole name including her CPF funds11 came up to about $501,78412 and those in the husband’s sole name including his CPF funds13 to $878,688. There was also another disputed sum of $29,628 which was in the husband’s sole name (total in husband’s name = $908,316). The total of the assets in their sole names was about $1,410,100. Hence, the wife’s share was about 36% and the husband’s about 64%. The court ordered that each party was to keep what was in their own names. In regard to their other assets, the court awarded the wife an uplift of 25 % in addition to her direct financial contribution to that particular asset. This was a marriage of some 18 years in which the parties had three children with both parties working. In view of this the wife was entitled to another 25% for her indirect contributions.
There were other assets in parties joint names on which parties were agreed as follows:
The parties did not agree on several other assets as well as the quantum of their expenses and the sums that the husband ought to pay the wife and the children for their monthly maintenance. The assets that the parties did not agree on were:
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