XCR v XCS

Facts

XCR (the Husband) and XCS (the Wife) grew up in China, married there in February 2015, and moved to Singapore later that year when the Husband found work here. Their son was born in Singapore in 2020 and has been clinically diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The parties filed cross-applications for divorce in 2023, and interim judgment was granted in July 2023, ending a marriage of about 8½ years. The ancillary matters in Divorce No 1469 of 2023 were heard by a District Judge of the Family Court.

The main dispute over assets was a Beijing property the Husband bought in 2011. He paid most of the price before marriage; the balance was paid during the marriage with money from his parents and the property's rental income. The parties had lived in it before and just after the wedding and again in 2017 to 2018 when he worked in China. The Wife also said he had not accounted for a 2021 bonus of about $500,000 and had hidden other wealth. The Husband sought shared care and control of the son; the Wife sought sole care and control, a high level of child maintenance, and lump sum spousal maintenance.

Issues

1. Whether the Beijing property was a matrimonial asset, either because it was acquired during the marriage or because the parties ordinarily used it together for shelter
2. Whether the Husband had accounted for his 2021 bonus or concealed assets
3. What division ratio was just and equitable in this dual-income marriage
4. Whether shared care and control should be ordered, and how child and spousal maintenance should be set

Holding

The court ordered the matrimonial assets divided 63.5% to the Husband and 36.5% to the Wife, including the Beijing property, with the Wife to receive $410,521.99 from the sale proceeds of the matrimonial home. It ordered joint custody and shared care and control on the Husband's proposed schedule, ordered each parent to bear the son's living costs while in their care with the Husband bearing the rest, and ordered the Husband to pay the Wife $2,500/month for four years as spousal maintenance.

Reasoning

On the Beijing property, the court reasoned that "acquired" in s 112(10) of the Women's Charter 1961 covers the whole course of acquisition, so a property still being paid for during the marriage is acquired then, whatever the source of the payments, following BHN v BHO [2013] SGHC 91 and THL v THM [2015] SGHCF 11. It saw no reason to give the word a different meaning in s 112(10)(a)(i) and found USB v USA [2020] 2 SLR 588 did not decide the point. The property was therefore a matrimonial asset. In any event, the parties had lived there together for about 16 months over two periods, not casually, and it was their home at the start of the marriage and again when he worked in Beijing. It was valued on a recent actual offer, less the mortgage.

On the bonus, deposits of the same amounts on the same dates appeared in his bank and brokerage records, and a change in account numbers was explained by the broker's system enhancement. The claims of hidden wealth were conjecture that ignored tax and the family's comfortable spending.

On division, applying ANJ v ANK [2015] 4 SLR 1043, the Husband's direct contributions were much larger. Indirect contributions favoured the Wife: she stopped work to care for the son, moved countries for the Husband's career, and took on more of the home while not working.

On care and control, the Wife's allegation of violence was unparticularised, both parents were committed and capable, acrimony did not rule out co-parenting, and both alleged alienation, which shared care could help address. Her late complaints could not be tested. On child maintenance, the son's needs were set at $2,575 a month. Because the Husband earned far more, an equal split would leave the Wife in deficit. On spousal maintenance, the Wife's claimed expenses were excessive, but she would now have to pay rent, had suffered economic prejudice, and the Husband could afford it; four years suited her age, qualifications and the length of the marriage, paid monthly rather than as a lump sum.

From the judgment