UDA v UDB and another
Court | Court of Appeal (Singapore) |
Judge | Sundaresh Menon CJ |
Judgment Date | 24 April 2018 |
Neutral Citation | [2018] SGCA 20 |
Citation | [2018] SGCA 20 |
Defendant Counsel | Koh Tien Hua and Chew Wei En (Eversheds Harry Elias LLP),Salem Ibrahim, Kulvinder Kaur and Sarah Kee (Salem Ibrahim LLC) |
Subject Matter | Matrimonial assets,Ancillary powers of court,Family law,Division |
Plaintiff Counsel | Foo Soon Yien and Oh Zhen Hao, Thaddeus (Bernard & Rada Law Corporation) |
Published date | 01 May 2018 |
Hearing Date | 08 February 2018 |
Date | 24 April 2018 |
Docket Number | Civil Appeal No 92 of 2017 |
In October 2014, the Family Justice Act 2014 (No 27 of 2014) (“the FJA”) was brought into force. One of the purposes of the Act was to give jurisdiction over family proceedings to a dedicated court system which could design the best processes and approaches to deal with an area of law which has wide-ranging societal and personal impact. To this end, the FJA established three courts as Family Justice Courts: the Family Division of the High Court (the “Family Division”), the Family Courts and the Youth Courts. This judgment is concerned with one aspect of the jurisdiction of a court which is exercising the jurisdiction and powers of the Family Division or the Family Courts, which court we sometimes hereafter refer to as a “family justice court”.
An important function of a family justice court is to handle the disputes that frequently arise when a marriage breaks down. Such disputes often involve the ownership and distribution of property. There are almost as many ways of acquiring and owning a property as there are human relationships. Accordingly, the property that may be the subject of competing claims between husband and wife may also be subject to claims from third parties. The issue which was brought into sharp focus in this case was the extent of the jurisdiction of a family justice court exercising powers in relation to the division of property on divorce when third party interests are involved.
BackgroundThis case involves a husband, a wife, and the wife’s mother. Divorce proceedings were started by the husband in 2008. The proceedings were prolonged due to disputes unrelated to the issue before us. By 2015, matters had reached the stage where the parties were preparing for the ancillary matters hearing on the division of matrimonial property. In July 2015, the mother, whom we shall henceforth call “the intervener”, applied for leave to intervene in the divorce proceedings. The basis of her application was that she wished to dispute the husband’s claim that an immovable property owned by the intervener was actually held by her on trust for the husband and wife and constituted a matrimonial asset. This application succeeded before the Family Court.
Thereafter, the husband applied for leave to cross-examine the intervener and the wife in respect of the dispute over the ownership of the property. The Family Court granted leave for cross-examination of the husband, the wife and the intervener. The wife and the intervener were dissatisfied and appealed to the Family Division against the order for cross-examination. On the hearing of the appeal, the High Court Judge (“the Judge”) raised the question of whether the court, exercising its power under s 112 of the Women’s Charter (Cap 353, 2009 Rev Ed) (“the Charter”), had the jurisdiction and power to determine the intervener’s interest in the property and make orders against her since she was a third party to the divorce proceedings.
The intervener and the wife took the position that the court ought to determine any property dispute involving the intervener together with the issues under s 112 of the Charter. They submitted that although this section did not expressly state that the court which dealt with the division of matrimonial property had such power, such courts had in the past determined the nature and extent of third party interests before dividing the matrimonial assets between divorcing spouses. Further, this jurisdiction arose, if not from s 112 of the Charter, then from ss 22 and 25 of the FJA as well as ss 16 and 17 of and the First Schedule to the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Cap 322, 2007 Rev Ed) (“the SCJA”).
The husband, on the other hand, argued that s 112 of the Charter did not apply to the determination of a third party’s property rights and a separate civil suit had to be commenced by either the intervener or the divorcing parties in relation to the disputed property.
The decision below The Judge decided to stay the hearing of the ancillary matters pending further directions on the basis that the family justice court exercising jurisdiction and power to make orders under s 112 of the Charter does not have the jurisdiction and power over a third party such as to enable it to make an order directly affecting the third party’s property rights. Her reasons were given in her written grounds identified as
The Judge began her analysis by setting out the three possible approaches which a family justice court could take in the course of an ancillary matters hearing in which a claim was made that an asset legally owned by a third party was in fact a matrimonial asset:
The Judge noted that there was case support for both versions of Option 1 and for Option 3. Option 1(a) was used in
The Judge went on to reject Option 3 as a lawful and viable option because, in her view, the court lacked jurisdiction in s 112 proceedings to make an order which would affect a third party’s substantive rights and remedies (GD at [31] and [33]). She reasoned that the court’s power under s 112 “lies within the family law regime, and its exercise should be made on family law principles, in contrast to principles that govern other areas of law, such as property law or succession law”. The court’s powers under s 112 are “forceful” and should not be enlarged by
Further, the court’s power in s 112 is ancillary to its matrimonial jurisdiction and gives it the power to “order the division
The Judge also dealt with the intervener’s submission that the court had power to deal with a third party claim by virtue of s 25 of the FJA. In her view, this submission reflected a misunderstanding of the court’s matrimonial jurisdiction and its s 112 power (GD at [32]). While s 25 of the FJA did confer broad civil jurisdiction on the Family Division, the point was that such jurisdiction had to be appropriately invoked by the correct party.
The Judge observed that the participation of an intervener does not expand the court’s jurisdiction and powers when it makes orders under s 112. The supposed basis for intervention, r 353 of the Family Justice Rules (GN No S 813/2014) (“the FJ Rules”), is
The Judge also considered but rejected the notion that the “judge-led approach” (see Part 3 of the FJ Rules) provided a basis for the court to affect a third party’s substantive rights and remedies in s 112 proceedings (GD at [33]). Ancillary matters proceedings under s 112 were not tailored to address property disputes...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
URF and another v URH
...AR added that in her view, the Family Division had jurisdiction to hear all of the matters in Suit 6. The decision of the Court of Appeal in UDA v UDB and another [2018] 1 SLR 1015 (“UDA”) when read in the context of the provisions of the Family Justice Act 2014 (Act 27 of 2014) (“the FJA”)......
-
VSN v VSO
...Wife’s name. It appeared clear that the China property was in the Wife’s Parent’s name, and as such, as decided in UDA v UDB and another [2018] SGCA 20 the Family Justice Courts do not have the power to determine property owned by a 3rd party, on the basis of a resulting trust. Hence, the C......
-
VSN v VSO
...Wife’s name. It appeared clear that the China property was in the Wife’s Parent’s name, and as such, as decided in UDA v UDB and another [2018] SGCA 20 the Family Justice Courts do not have the power to determine property owned by a 3rd party, on the basis of a resulting trust. Hence, the C......
-
UNE v UNF
...Crescent property in the joint summary. There was therefore a dispute as to the ownership of the 10% share in the Toh Crescent property. In UDA v UDB and another [2018] 1 SLR 1015 (“UDA”), the Court of Appeal held that s 112 of the Women’s Charter (Cap 353, 2009 Rev Ed) (“the Charter”) does......
-
ENLARGED PANELS IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF SINGAPORE
...Ltd [2017] 2 SLR 185; Warner-Lambert Co LLC v Novartis (Singapore) Pte Ltd [2017] 2 SLR 707. 22 TMO v TMP [2017] 1 SLR 585; UDA v UDB [2018] 1 SLR 1015. 23 The Royal Bank of Scotland NV v TT International Ltd [2015] 5 SLR 1104. 24 Vinmar Overseas (Singapore) Pte Ltd v PTT International Trad......
-
Family Law
...is when exactly children should begin assuming financial responsibility over their career trajectories. 1 Act 27 of 2014. 2 UDA v UDB [2018] 1 SLR 1015 at [1]. 3 Cap 322, 2007 Rev Ed. 4 [2018] 1 SLR 1015. 5 UDA v UDB [2018] 1 SLR 1015 at [48]. 6 Cap 353, 2009 Rev Ed. 7 UDA v UDB [2018] 1 SL......
-
Muslim Law
...11/2019 at [8]. 25 Appeal Case 11/2019 at [9] and [10]. 26 UDA v UDB [2018] 3 SLR 1433, affirmed by the Court of Appeal in UDA v UDB [2018] 1 SLR 1015. 27 Appeal Case 11/2019 at [14]. 28 Appeal Case 11/2019 at [15] and [16]. 29 Appeal Case 11/2019 at [21]. 30 Appeal Case 11/2019 at [23]. 31......
-
Family Law
...Bill” (Tan Chuan-Jin, Minister for Social and Family Development). 51 It is clear from the Court of Appeal's stance in UDA v UDB [2018] 1 SLR 1015 that the divorce court ought not to override the clear words of a statute in relation to determining an intervener's claim, and is governed by t......