Cheng Tim Jin v Chan Kam Piew

[2026] SGDC 124 District Court 7 April 2026 • DC/OC 563/2024 • 28 min read

8 cases cited (6 SG, 2 foreign)

Catchwords

Trusts — Trustees — Fiduciary relationship — Trustee holding shares in company on trust for beneficiary — Trustee terminating sale of shares in company to third party — Whether trustee’s actions breach of trust — Whether breach of fiduciary duties — Whether trustee’s actions caused beneficiary to lose chance to sell shares to third party –– Whether chance lost real or substantial –– Whether chance lost speculative –– Section 3A Trustees Act 1967

Practice Areas

Trusts

Judges (1)

Chiah Kok Khun Delivered

Counsel (6)

Advocatus Law LLP Firm Lumiere Law LLP Firm Ang Wee Tiong Counsel Plaintiff Ganga Avadiar Counsel Defendant Katie Lee Shih Ying Counsel Plaintiff Lim Yi Zheng Counsel Defendant

Parties (2)

Chan Kam Piew Defendant Cheng Tim Jin Plaintiff

Case Significance

Cheng Tim Jin v Chan Kam Piew [2026] SGDC 124, decided on 7 April 2026 by District Judge Chiah Kok Khun, involved a breach of trust claim brought by Cheng Tim Jin, an advocate and solicitor and director of Wilberforce TJC Law Corporation, against Chan Kam Piew, a former director of Alvamar Capital Pte Ltd. Under a share purchase agreement dated 7 August 2017, Chan agreed to sell 11,100 ACPL shares (including 5,550 Trust Shares held on trust for Cheng) to Moinul Alam, a Bangladeshi businessman, for S$660,000. Cheng alleged that Chan subsequently terminated the sale, causing Cheng to lose a real and substantial chance to sell his shares to Moinul. The court considered whether Chan's termination constituted a breach of trust and fiduciary duty under the Trustees Act 1967 (s 3A), and whether any chance lost was real or speculative.

Summary

The claimant, a lawyer and director of Wilberforce TJC Law Corporation, sued his trustee for breach of trust and fiduciary duty after the defendant terminated a 2017 share sale agreement worth $660,000 covering 11,100 shares in Alvamar Capital Pte Ltd, half of which the defendant held on trust for the claimant. The key issue was whether the termination of the SPA deprived the claimant of a real and substantial chance to sell his shares. The District Court dismissed the claim, finding that the defendant had acted in accordance with his fiduciary duties and that any chance of sale lost by the claimant was speculative rather than real or substantial.

What trust and fiduciary duty issues arose when a trustee terminated a share sale in Cheng Tim Jin v Chan Kam Piew [2026] SGDC 124?

District Judge Chiah Kok Khun examined whether Chan Kam Piew breached his duties as trustee by terminating the 2017 sale of 11,100 Alvamar Capital shares to Moinul Alam for S$660,000, and whether Cheng Tim Jin thereby lost a real and substantial rather than speculative chance to sell his shares.

Statutes Cited

Trustees Act (Cap 337)

s 3A

Cases Cited (8)

SLR (6)

[2005] 1 SLR(R) 661 [2009] 3 SLR(R) 109 [2017] 1 SLR 654 [2018] 4 SLR 1213 [2020] 1 SLR 1199 [2024] 2 SLR 164

UK (2)

[1985] Ch 270 [1995] 1 WLR 1602

Judgment

Read the full judgment on the official Singapore Courts portal.

Read on eLitigation

Source: eLitigation ([2026] SGDC 124)