Kow Kim Song & Anor v KOW KIM SIANG (GAO JINGXIANG)

[2024] SGHC 231 High Court (General Division) 9 September 2024 • HC/OA 581/2024 • 16 min read

6 cases cited (5 SG, 1 foreign)

Catchwords

Land — Sale of land — Sale under court order

Practice Areas

Land

Judges (1)

Goh Yihan Delivered

Counsel (7)

Adel Law LLC Firm Kim & Co Firm Lim Kim Hong Counsel Respondent Maximilian Tay Zhan Hui Counsel Respondent Mohammed Shakirin Bin Abdul Rashid Counsel Applicant Nur Amalina Binte Saparin Counsel Applicant Umar Abdullah bin Mazeli Counsel Applicant

Parties (3)

Kow Kim Siang (Gao Jingxiang) Respondent Kow Kim Song Applicant Kow Meow Chuan (Gao Miaozhuang) Applicant

Case Significance

Kow Kim Song and another v Kow Kim Siang [2024] SGHC 231 was decided by Goh Yihan J in the General Division of the High Court, with the hearing held on 8 August 2024 and grounds of decision delivered on 9 September 2024. The matter was Originating Application No 581 of 2024, in the matter of s 18 of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1969. The applicants, Kow Kim Song and Kow Meow Chuan (Gao Miaozhuang), applied under s 18(2) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1969 (2020 Rev Ed), read with the First Schedule to that Act, for the primary order that a property be sold in the open market and the net sale proceeds divided between the applicants and the respondent, Kow Kim Siang (Gao Jingxiang). The parties are biological siblings.

The catchwords identify the case as concerning land and the sale of land under court order. At the end of the hearing on 8 August 2024, Goh Yihan J dismissed the application with brief reasons, providing detailed reasons in the grounds to explain why the application was considered insufficiently particularised and premature in so far as the parties were still engaged in good faith discussions. The judgment observed that a party should not use the procedure under s 18(2) of the SCJA read with the First Schedule to cut short discussions aimed at an amicable resolution to the prospective sale of a property. The judgment referred to the Evidence Act and the Supreme Court of Judicature Act. The applicants were represented by Adel Law LLC, while the respondent was represented by Kim & Co, including Lim Kim Hong.

Summary

The applicants, Kow Kim Song and Kow Meow Chuan, applied under section 18(2) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, read with the First Schedule, for an order that a property they inherited as tenants-in-common with the respondent, their sibling Kow Kim Siang, be sold in the open market with the net proceeds divided between them. The property had belonged to their late mother, who died intestate, and the parties had been in negotiations over the respondent's purchase of the applicants' share. The High Court (Goh Yihan J) dismissed the application with costs to the respondent, finding it insufficiently particularised and premature given that the parties were still engaged in good faith discussions, and that the respondent had not behaved unreasonably and remained willing to effect a sale.

What did Kow Kim Song v Kow Kim Siang [2024] SGHC 231 decide?

Goh Yihan J dismissed the applicants' application in Originating Application No 581 of 2024 for a court-ordered sale of property under s 18(2) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1969, finding it insufficiently particularised and premature while the sibling parties were still in good faith discussions.

Why was the application in Kow Kim Song v Kow Kim Siang [2024] SGHC 231 dismissed?

Goh Yihan J considered the s 18(2) SCJA application insufficiently particularised and premature, observing that a party should not use that procedure read with the First Schedule to cut short good faith discussions between the biological siblings aimed at an amicable resolution.