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300
Singapore Academy of Law Journal (2003)
6.4.2.3 Civil suit filed in the High Court to be heard with ancillary
matters—transfer up of ancillary matters from the Family
Court
217 An example of a case in which this was done is Wong Ser Wan v
Ng Bok Eng Holdings Private Limited and Another (Suit No. 310 of
2003/H) (“Suit No. 310”). The basis of Suit No. 310 was that certain
shares and property had been transferred to the defendants by the
plaintiff’s husband with the intention to, inter alia, dissipate and dispose
of his assets to deprive the plaintiff of a just and equitable division of the
said shares and property in the event of a dissolution of marriage. The
plaintiff wife in Suit No. 310 had commenced divorce proceedings
against the husband (in Divorce Petition No. 2545 of 1999) and obtained
a decree nisi before the said suit was filed. The plaintiff then applied,
inter alia, for the actions in the divorce petition, as well as several
maintenance summonses which she had taken out, to be transferred to
the High Court. The application was dismissed by the assistant registrar,
but allowed on appeal by the High Court 132 . The ancillary matters had not
been disposed of at the time of the application. The High Court further
ordered that the actions be heard and determined immediately after the
trial of Suit No. 310, before the same High Court judge.
218 The provision governing the transfer of cases from the District
Court to the High Court is Section 38 SCA 133 , which states:
132 Order made on 7 May 2003. No judgment was written by the court.
133 It may be argued that since the Transfer Order and the Second Transfer Order, which
gave the District Court jurisdiction to hear certain family matters, were made by the
Chief Justice pursuant Section 28A SCJA (see the discussion on Section 28A SCJA
at Section 6.4.2.2 (b) above), this removes the power of a High Court judge to
transfer the ancillary matters in a divorce case from the Family Court to the High
Court under Section 38 SCA. It is submitted, however, that the better view is that the
Transfer Order and the Second Transfer Order did not so remove the power of the
High Court judge. This is because, on a plain reading of Section 28A SCJA, the
Chief Justice is empowered to confer jurisdiction on the District Court to deal with
certain matters, but the section does not expressly state that the High Court may no
longer deal with such matters after such jurisdiction is conferred on the District
Court. The latter position would unfairly deprive parties whose divorce petitions have
been filed in the Family Court of a potential avenue in the disposal of their cases
which is available to parties in ordinary civil suits filed in the District Court. It is
therefore submitted that the Transfer Order and the Second Transfer Order were not
intended to preclude the High Court from being able to deal with ancillary matters in
all cases, and that, therefore, in appropriate cases, the ancillary matters may be
transferred up from the Family Court to the High Court under Section 38 SCA.