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222 Singapore Academy of Law Journal (2003) the District Court the jurisdiction to hear and determine any proceedings under Part X of the Women’s Charter, save for contested applications for the division of matrimonial assets where the gross value of the matrimonial assets are asserted by any party to the proceedings to be worth S$1.5 million or above, in respect of divorce petitions filed on or after 15 December 2003) have in relation to all the above questions, if any 6 This article organises and categorises the questions set out above, in order to provide a framework which can be used to analyse any situation in which 3 rd party issues arise. It will also put forward the author’s views on how these questions should be answered, and illustrates these with examples of how the Singapore, English and Malaysian courts have answered such questions in the past. 2 Jurisdiction of court hearing ancillary matters to hear the 3 rd party issue 7 Under Section 112(1) of the Women’s Charter (Cap. 353), 8 the court has the power to order the division between the parties of any matrimonial asset or the sale of any such asset and the division between 2. —(1) Subject to paragraph 2(2), any proceedings under — (a) section 59 and Part X of the Women’s Charter (Cap. 353); or (b) the Guardianship of Infants Act (Cap. 122), commenced in the High Court on or after 15 December 2003 shall be transferred to and be heard and determined by a District Court. (2) In matrimonial proceedings under Part X of the Women’s Charter transferred to a District Court under paragraph (1), where (a) an application is made for the division of matrimonial assets; and (b) the said application is contested; and (c) the gross value of the matrimonial assets is asserted by any party to the proceedings, in the manner required by the Registrar of the Subordinate Courts, to be of or above the value of $1.5 million, the proceedings shall, upon the direction of the Registrar of the Subordinate Courts that the ancillary issues are ready for hearing, be transferred to and be heard and determined by the High Court. (3) In sub-paragraph (2), “gross value of the matrimonial assets” means the total value of the assets, disregarding any outstanding liabilities attaching thereto or any personal liabilities. 8 Section 112(1) (Power of court to order division of matrimonial assets) states: The court shall have power, when granting or subsequent to the grant of a decree of divorce, judicial separation or nullity of marriage, to order the division between the parties of any matrimonial asset or the sale of any such asset and the division between the parties of the proceeds of the sale of any such asset in such proportions as the court thinks just and equitable.
15 SAcLJ Matrimonial Assets and the 3 rd Party 223 the parties of the proceeds of the sale of any such asset in such proportions as the court thinks just and equitable. 8 Does this section give the court dealing with the issue of the division of the matrimonial assets the jurisdiction to also deal with 3 rd party issues, or must a separate civil suit be taken out to deal with the 3 rd party issues 9 Note: This question is discussed in section 2.1 on the basis that the civil suit to be taken out in respect of the 3 rd party issues is to be taken out in a court of the same jurisdiction as the court dealing with the ancillary matters—i.e. either both the civil suit and the ancillary matters would be heard in the High Court or both the civil suit and the ancillary matters would be heard in the District Court. The particular jurisdictional issues which would arise if the civil suit is taken out in the High Court, but the ancillary matters are being heard in the District Court will be discussed in section 2.2. For the purposes of this article, the term “Family Court” will be used to refer to the District Court which deals with the ancillary matters. 2.1 Must a separate civil suit be taken out to deal with the 3rd party issues 2.1.1 Yes—Court dealing with ancillary matters has no jurisdiction to deal with 3 rd party issue 10 One view is that 3 rd party issues should not be dealt with by the Family Court, as Section 112 appears only to refer to the parties to the divorce proceedings (i.e. the husband and wife). On this view, a civil suit should be taken out to resolve the 3 rd party issues, and, if necessary, the ancillary matters should be adjourned to await the outcome of the civil suit. This approach was taken by the parties in the case of Liu Ah Moy@Liu Ah Lin (m.w.) v Lim Seck Yeow and Another. 9 In this case, the husband acquired a property in the names of himself and his mistress during the course of the marriage, which property was subsequently sold. The wife filed a divorce petition in the Family Court on 15 April 1999, and a decree nisi was granted on 18 August 2000, with the ancillary matters being adjourned to chambers. The wife then filed an originating summons in the High Court on 20 April 2001 seeking a declaration that the husband’s mistress held her half share of the said property in trust for the husband and that the husband’s mistress’ share of the sale proceeds 9 unreported, Divorce Petition No. 581 of 1999
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