VRV v VRW

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Jason Gabriel Chiang
• Judgment Date: 31 May 2021
• Neutral Citation: [2021] SGFC 61
• Court: Family Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: FC/D 2450 of 2019, FC/SUM 2212/2020, FC/SUM 2237/2020, FC/SUM 3065/2020 and FC/SUM 3240/2020 (HCF/DCA 24 of 2021)
• Published date: 04 June 2021
• Year: 2021
• Hearing Date: 01 February 2021,14 December 2020,21 December 2020,08 February 2021
• Plaintiff Counsel: Ms Gloria James-Civetta, Ms Samantha Soh, Ms Johanna Yeow Sze Min and Ms Theresa Chan of Gloria James-Civetta & Co
• Defendant Counsel: Ms Luo Ling Ling and Ms Sharifah Nabilah Binte Syed Omar of Luo Ling Ling LLC
• Subject Matter: Family Law,Women's Charter,Custody,Care and Control,Access
• Citation: [2021] SGFC 61

District Judge Jason Gabriel Chiang: Introduction

This case involved four (4) summons applications filed by parties in FC/D 2450/2019 in relation to the Child of the marriage, their son, currently aged 7 (the “Child”):- FC/SUM 2212/2020 (“SUM 2212”), the Plaintiff Mother’s (“Mother’s”) application for variation of the Interim Judgment, FC/IJ 2773/2019 (“Interim Judgment”) in relation to the Child; FC/SUM 2237/2020 (“SUM 2237”), the Defendant Father’s (“Father’s”) application for variation of the Interim Judgment in relation to the Child; FC/SUM 3065/2020 (“SUM 3065”), the Father’s application to admit a purported agreement reached in mediation; and FC/SUM 3240/2020 (“SUM 3240”), the Father’s application to amend SUM 3065 to remove reference to the Mediation Act.

After hearing submissions on 21 December 2020, I made certain interim orders for the Father to have some school vacation access to the Child for the remainder of the December 2020 holidays and directed counsel to address me on certain outstanding issues in further written submissions.

After 2 half-day hearings on 21 December and 8 February 2021 and considering the Mother’s 3 sets of submissions and the Father’s 2 sets of submissions, in FC/ORC 963/2021 (“ORC 963”), I allowed SUM 3240 for leave to amend SUM 3065 and further allowed SUM 3065 to admit evidence to show a mediated agreement. With regard to SUM 2212 and SUM 2237, I made orders for the variation of the Interim Judgment in relation to the Child: maintaining joint custody of the Child with care and control with the Mother, but made certain specific orders for the Father’s access to the Child.

On 22 February 2021, being dissatisfied with certain facets of my orders, the Mother filed the appeal HCF/DCA 24/2021 against the following portions of ORC 963, that the Father shall have reasonable access to the Child on the following terms: Overnight weekend access from 5 pm on Friday to 9 am on Sunday; and The Father shall ensure that the Child has adult supervision during the Child’s time with the Father.

Even though the appeal is limited in scope, my full grounds of decision is set out below. I will, however, focus on the 2 outstanding issues being raised in appeal for this decision.

Facts The parties

Both the Mother and Father are Singapore Citizens, but had originated from India. Both of them have Post-Graduate Degrees and are fairly successful in their respective fields. They were married in India on 3 March 2008 and had the Child in late April 2014. The Child is their only child and son from the marriage.

Background to the dispute

The Mother filed for an uncontested divorce on 23 May 2019 and the Interim Judgment was granted by consent on 20 June 2019. In relation to the Child, the Interim Judgment provided in paragraph 3(a) (the “Child Orders”) that:- The [Mother] and the [Father] (collectively, “Parties”) shall have joint custody of the child of the marriage the [Child] with sole care and control to the [Mother] and liberal access to the [Father] including overnight weekend access beginning Friday evenings to Sunday mornings with the pick-up and return venues to be the Child’s residence… Parties agree to maintain flexibility and openness in communication in respect of accommodating each other for the said access. Parties agree to seek the consent of each other prior to either of them bringing the Child out of Singapore. [emphasis added]

The divorce was finalized on 23 September 2019. The Mother moved to new residences with the Child, which was a short drive away from the Father, who remained in their original residence. The relationship between the Father and Mother was initially fairly cordial and access appeared to proceed on without a hitch. The Mother even involved the Father in some of the overseas holidays with the Child. Sometime after, the Mother had a new boyfriend, whom she subsequently married (the “Mother’s Husband”). The Mother and the Mother’s Husband then welcomed a new daughter together (the “Sister”).

Close to a year after Interim Judgment, the Mother filed SUM 2212 on 11 August 2020, and the Father filed SUM 2237 the day after on 12 August 2020. This was just before the Child was to start schooling in Primary School in 2021.

The parties’ cases

In SUM 2212, the Mother sought that paragraph 3(a) of the Interim Judgement be varied as follows: Parties shall continue to have Joint Custody of the Child with care and control to the Mother; The Father shall have access as follows: Alternate Weekend Access: Alternate weekend access, where the Father picks up the Child on Friday afternoons at 5 pm and returns the Child to the Mother’s residence on Sunday at 3 pm. The party who has the Child over the weekend shall be responsible for ensuring the Child’s homework is completed by the Child; The Father shall have video/voice call access with the Child for 2 slots of up to 30 minutes on each day on Saturday and Sunday, when he does not have access; The Father shall have dinner access on Tuesday on the week in which he does not have access to the Child; The Father shall ensure that he is available to care for the Child during all of his access time with the Child and not leave the Child solely to the care of the helpers; Access during long school holidays, which shall supersede the Alternate Weekend Access: For holidays between 14 and 30 days long, the Father shall have access to the Child for 5 consecutive days during dates as mutually agreed between parties; For holidays between 31 and 60 days long, the Father shall have 2 slots of access with the Child for 5 consecutive days (i.e. 10 days in total) during dates as mutually agreed between parties; Access for the 5 consecutive days shall be from 11 am on the 1st day to 6 pm on the last day. The Father shall pick up and drop off the Child from the Mother’s residence The Father shall ensure that he takes leave from work during the aforesaid period of access to ensure the Child is cared for by him; Public/Festive Holidays: The Child shall spend the eve of Deepavali with the Mother and Christmas eve and Christmas day with the Father. The Father shall pick the Child up at 6 am on Christmas Eve and return the Child at 5 pm on Christmas day. On Mother’s Day where the Child is with the Father, the Child shall be returned by 11 am on that Sunday; On Father’s Day where the Child is with the Mother, the Father shall have access to the Child from 11 am to 3 pm; Alternate Public Holiday Access for the Father from 11 am to 5 pm; Birthdays: On odd years, the Child shall spend the eve of his birthday with the Mother and his actual birthday with the Father. On even years, the Child shall spend the eve of his birthday with the Father and his actual birthday with the Mother; If the Father’s birthday falls on a school day, the Father shall have dinner with the Child from 5 to 7 pm. If the Mother’s birthday falls on a weekend during the Father’s access, she can have dinner with the Child from 5 to 7 pm; Overseas Access: The Mother shall be at liberty to bring the Child overseas. The Mother shall inform the Father at least 2 weeks in advance of the overseas trip. The Father shall have make-up access to compensate for any Alternate Weekend Access missed during the overseas trip which shall take place on the 1st weekend of the Child’s return to Singapore. The Child’s passport will be kept by the Mother; The Father shall be allowed overseas holiday access when the Child reaches the age of 12 or subject to the Child being accompanied by the Mother’s domestic helper. The Father shall inform the Mother of the proposes overseas trip at least 2 weeks in advance and shall seek the Mother’s approval for the trip. The overseas access shall only be during the School Holiday Access period (i.e. no longer than 5 days per trip, total of 15 days per year). The Father shall pick up the Child and the Child’s passport one day prior to the overseas trip and return the Child to the Mother immediately upon return to Singapore, along with the Child’s passport. Both parties shall furnish the other party with the full itinerary (including but not limited to flight details, accommodation details, emergency contact details and particulars of any third party that will be present with them throughout the trip) of the overseas trips at least 2 weeks before the date of their intended travel. All overseas access shall be subject to the Child’s school schedule; Replacement Access: If the Child is sick, the Child shall stay with the Mother upon the Mother providing proof (e.g. thermometer reading/symptoms of being sick etc). There shall be replacement access to compensate for any Alternate Weekend Access missed; Penal Notice be inserted into the Order of Court; Each party to bear their own costs; and Such further and other relief as this Honourable Court shall deem fit and just.

Effectively, the Mother sought to vary the Father’s access arrangement from weekly weekend access to alternate weekend access with a Tuesday dinner with the Child during weeks he did not have access to the Child. The Mother also sought to stipulate terms for phone access, holidays, special occasions and overseas access.

In SUM 2237, the Father sought that paragraph 3(a) of the Interim Judgement be varied as follows: Parties shall continue to have Joint Custody of the Child, with the following terms: Both parents shall be entitled to access the Child’s medical, dental and educational records; Both parents shall be entitled to receive information regarding the Child’s progress in school. In this respect, the parents having access to the Child (“Access Parent”) shall be entitled to provide his/her contact information to the Child’s teacher so that he/she can receive updated from them as well; Unless such correspondence has already been provided by the school directly to the Access...