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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.
15 SAcLJ Matrimonial Assets and the 3 rd Party 301 General power to transfer from District Court to High Court 38. Where it is made to appear to the High Court, on the application of a party to any civil proceeding pending in a District Court, that the proceeding by reason of its involving some important question of law, or being a test case, or for any other sufficient reason, is one which should be tried in the High Court, it may order the record to be transferred to the High Court. (a) Important question of law, test case, any other sufficient reason 219 It is submitted that the condition of “any other sufficient reason” under Section 38 SCA would be satisfied if (i) there are strong reasons (of the kind set out in Section 6.1(a)-(d) above) for why the civil suit ought to be heard by the same court which deals with the ancillary matters, and (ii) the civil suit may not be transferred from the High Court to the Family Court as it was not commenced by a writ of summons—for example, it is a bankruptcy matter which was commenced by way of a petition—or if it was commenced under specific legislation giving jurisdiction only to the High Court. (See Section 6.4.2.2(a) and (b) above.) 220 Therefore, the question that has to be asked first, is whether it is possible for the High Court suit to be transferred to the Family Court. If not, then the next question that has to be asked is whether the ancillary matters in the Family Court involve an important question of law or would be a test case. If so, then they should be transferred up to the High Court, to be heard with the civil suit. 221 If the ancillary matters do not involve an important question of law or do not constitute a test case, then the considerations set out in the Australian Master Builders case, supra (i.e. issues of fact which are so complicated, issues of law which are so complex, etc. that to allow them to be tried by a district court would merely open another tier of appeal and thus prolong the ultimate disposal of the case) must be considered, both in relation to the ancillary matters as well as the civil suit, in order to decide whether the civil suit should be transferred to the Family Court, or whether the ancillary matters should be transferred up to the High Court. (b) Order 89 Rule 2
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