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224 Singapore Academy of Law Journal (2003) of the said property constituted part of the matrimonial assets subject to division in the pending matrimonial proceedings (the 3 rd party issue). When the originating summons came up for hearing, the High Court held that half of the sale proceeds of the property should be released to the husband’s mistress, and that the other half (amounting to $1,072,511.69) belonged to the husband and formed part of the matrimonial assets. This sum was to be held by stakeholders until the final disposal of the matrimonial proceedings. The Family Court then proceeded to deal with the division of the matrimonial assets (final orders being made on 31 May 2002), giving the wife, inter alia, a 25% share of the husband’s half-share in the sale proceeds, i.e. the $1,072,511.69. It should be noted, however, that there was no pronouncement by the Family Court that the Family Court would have had no jurisdiction to deal with the 3 rd party issue. 10 Only the order in respect of maintenance was appealed (and which was varied by the High Court). No comment was made by the High Court at the appeal regarding the Family Court’s jurisdiction (or the lack thereof) to deal with the 3 rd party issue. 11 In the case of Yu Wei Shin v Yong Kim Ying (m.w.), 11 the husband claimed that certain properties were held by the respondent’s wife’s brothers on trust, or partially on trust, for him. The wife disputed this. The court hearing the ancillary matters (the Family Court) did not deal with this issue, stating that until there was a determination of the parties’ respective right and interest in the properties, they must be excluded from the pool of assets for division. The court ordered that these properties be held for both the husband and wife in equal shares should they succeed in claiming them (“order in respect of the 3 rd party issue”). This implies that a civil suit would have to be taken out by one of the parties for a declaration as to whether the properties were held by the wife’s brothers in trust for the husband or not—and hence that the court hearing the ancillary matters had no jurisdiction to deal with the matter. On appeal, the High Court varied certain of the orders made by the Family Court in respect of the division of matrimonial assets. However, the order in respect of the 3 rd party issue was not varied. 10 11 See Section 2.2 for a discussion on the Family Court’s jurisdiction to deal with 3 rd party issues involving assets worth more than $250,000. unreported, Divorce Petition No. 663 of 2000
15 SAcLJ Matrimonial Assets and the 3 rd Party 225 2.1.2 No—Court dealing with the ancillary matters has the jurisdiction to deal with the 3 rd party issue 12 It is submitted, however, that the better view is that the court dealing with the issue of the division of the matrimonial assets should also have—and does have—the jurisdiction to deal with 3 rd party issues. This is because the court would naturally have to decide what the matrimonial asset is first, before being able to make any orders under Section 112. Deciding the extent of the 3 rd party’s interests would be something that must be done in the course of deciding what constitute the matrimonial assets. Such a decision would be more conveniently and expeditiously decided by the same forum, and therefore should be. 13 The English position appears to support this view. In the English case of Tebbutt v Haynes and another, 12 the court held that on an application by a spouse under section 24 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 for a property adjustment order, 13 the court had the jurisdiction to determine not only the rights and interests of the husband and wife in the 12 13 [1981] 2 All ER 238 Section 24 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (Property adjustment orders in connection with divorce proceedings, etc.) grants the English court the power to make property adjustment orders and is the equivalent of our Section 112. It is dissimilar to Section 112, however, in its wording and scope. Section 24(1) states that: On granting a decree of divorce, a decree of nullity of marriage or a decree of judicial separation or at any time thereafter (whether, in the case of a decree of divorce or of nullity of marriage, before or after the decree is made absolute), the court may make any one or more of the following orders, that is to say— (a) an order that a party to the marriage shall transfer to the other party, to any child of the family or to such person as may be specified in the order for the benefit of such a child such property as may be so specified, being property to which the first-mentioned party is entitled, either in possession or reversion; (b) an order that a settlement of such property as may be so specified, being property to which a party to the marriage is so entitled, be made to the satisfaction of the court for the benefit of the other party to the marriage and of the children of the family or either or any of them; (c) an order varying for the benefit of the parties to the marriage and of the children of the family or either or any of them any ante-nuptial or post-nuptial settlement (including such a settlement made by will or codicil) made on the parties to the marriage; (d) an order extinguishing or reducing the interest of either of the parties to the marriage under any such settlement; subject, however, in the case of an order under paragraph (a) above, to the restrictions imposed by section 29(1) and (3) below on the making of orders for a transfer of property in favour of children who have attained the age of eighteen.
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