WTS v WTR

[2024] SGHCF 33 High Court (Family Division) 25 September 2024 • HCF/DCA 116/2023|HCF/DCA 30/2024 • 14 min read

10 cases cited Cited by 1 case

Catchwords

Family Law — Maintenance — Wife Family Law — Maintenance — Child Family Law — Matrimonial assets — Division

Practice Areas

Family Law

Judges (1)

Choo Han Teck Delivered

Counsel (4)

Ika Law LLC Firm Winchester Law LLC Firm Anuradha d/o Krishan Chand Sharma Counsel Appellant Nur Amalina Binte Kamal Counsel Appellant

Parties (2)

WTR Respondent WTS Appellant

Case Significance

WTS v WTR and another appeal [2024] SGHCF 33 was decided by Choo Han Teck J in the General Division of the High Court (Family Division), which heard the matter on 18 July and 2 August 2024 with judgment reserved and delivered on 26 September 2024. The proceedings comprised District Court Appeal No 116 of 2023, brought by the Wife (WTS), and a cross-appeal in District Court Appeal No 30 of 2024, brought by the Husband (WTR). The parties were married on 29 October 2007 in Singapore and lived together for nearly 12 years, with the Husband leaving the matrimonial home together with their child in August 2019; the Husband filed for divorce on 11 April 2022 and Interim Judgment was granted by consent on 29 June 2022. The Wife is aged 42 and the Husband 46 in the relevant year, and their child is 12 years old.

The appeals concerned the division of matrimonial assets and maintenance for the wife and the child, as identified in the catchwords, the latter touching on the Guardianship of Infants Act. The district judge below gave his decision on 7 November 2023. The judgment records that the Wife holds a bachelor's degree in Travel & Tourism Management and a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Travel & Tourism and says she was a homemaker who last worked as a customer service officer earning a gross monthly income of $1,800 (net $1,435), while the Husband, who worked as an IT Project Manager, disputed that she was a homemaker, contending she conducted baking classes and tours and worked on fixed-term contracts. The appellant was represented by counsel from Ika Law LLC and Winchester Law LLC, including Anuradha d/o Krishan Chand Sharma and Nur Amalina Binte Kamal.

Summary

These were cross-appeals by a wife (aged 42) and husband (aged 46), who married in 2007 and had one child, concerning the division of matrimonial assets and the maintenance of the wife and child, in which the husband challenged the valuation of the matrimonial flat and other findings. Choo Han Teck J declined to interfere with the valuation of the flat, noting the husband had not submitted valuation reports for claimed deterioration, and held that the wife should bear 10 percent of the child's expenses, payable as a lump sum to allow a clean break. The court ordered the husband to pay the wife S$20,380 in place of his prior lump sum maintenance obligation and the wife's obligation to maintain the child, recorded that the parties had entered a consent order on the remaining matters, and ordered them to bear their own costs by consent.

What did WTS v WTR [2024] SGHCF 33 concern?

WTS v WTR and another appeal [2024] SGHCF 33 concerned cross-appeals on the division of matrimonial assets and maintenance for the wife and child. Choo Han Teck J heard District Court Appeals No 116 of 2023 and No 30 of 2024, delivering judgment on 26 September 2024.

What were the background facts of the marriage in [2024] SGHCF 33?

In [2024] SGHCF 33, the parties married on 29 October 2007 and lived together for nearly 12 years. The Husband left the matrimonial home with their child in August 2019 and filed for divorce on 11 April 2022, with Interim Judgment granted by consent on 29 June 2022.