XFF v XFG
Catchwords
Practice Areas
Judges (1)
Counsel (4)
Parties (2)
Case Significance
XFF v XFG [2024] SGHCF 45 was decided in the General Division of the High Court (Family Division) on 13 November 2024 by Choo Han Teck J in Registrar's Appeal No 14 of 2024. The appellant father, aged 41, and the respondent mother, aged 36, were married on 26 January 2013 and have two children, boy and girl twins aged around five and a half years old. The mother filed for divorce on 30 August 2023 after a marriage of about ten years, and interim judgment was granted on 14 February 2024 on the grounds of both parties' unreasonable behaviour, with ancillary matters to be determined. The appeal arose from an interim application brought by the father on 30 January 2024 relating to interim care arrangements and the mother's cross-application brought on 18 March 2024. On 6 August 2024, the district judge granted joint custody to both parents, awarded sole care and control to the mother with access to the father, and made various orders relating to the parties' behaviour. The father appealed seeking sole care and control, or alternatively shared care and control, complaining that the access orders gave him insufficient time and amounted to supervised access.
Summary
A father aged 41 appealed against a District Judge's order which, in interim care proceedings during the parties' divorce, granted joint custody of the parties' five-and-a-half-year-old twins but awarded sole care and control to the mother with access to the father, seeking instead sole or shared care and control. The High Court (Family Division), per Choo Han Teck J, considered that the orders below significantly reduced the father's opportunity to build a relationship with the children and that he ought to be given a bigger role in interim care. The court ordered a shared care and control arrangement, maintained the District Judge's orders restricting recordings of the children and insulating them from the proceedings, allowed the mother to retain the children's passports and travel documents, and made no order as to costs.
What did the father seek in the appeal in XFF v XFG [2024] SGHCF 45?
The father appealed against the district judge's 6 August 2024 decision granting joint custody, sole care and control to the mother and access to the father. He sought sole care and control, or alternatively shared care and control, arguing the access orders gave him insufficient time.
What was the family background in XFF v XFG [2024] SGHCF 45?
The father, aged 41, and the mother, aged 36, married on 26 January 2013 and have boy and girl twins aged around five and a half. The mother filed for divorce on 30 August 2023, and interim judgment was granted on 14 February 2024 on grounds of unreasonable behaviour.
Cases Cited (2)
Cited By (1)
Referenced in
Legal concepts & references
Judgment
Read the full judgment on the official Singapore Courts portal.
Read on eLitigationSource: eLitigation ([2024] SGHCF 45)