SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Loh Wai Mooi, Wang Liansheng, Valerie Goh and Petrina Tan, Bih Li & Lee LLP
• any agreement between the parties with respect to the ownership and division of matrimonial assets made in contemplation of divorce; • the assistance or support one spouse pro - vided to the other; and • the factors considered in the granting of maintenance orders. Identifying Assets Matrimonial assets would include: • any asset acquired during the marriage by one or both parties; • any asset acquired before the marriage but ordinarily used or enjoyed during the marriage by both parties or their children for shelter, transportation, household, education, recrea - tional, social or aesthetic purposes; • any asset acquired before the marriage that has been substantially improved during the marriage by the other party or by both parties to the marriage; and • the matrimonial home. Gifts or inheritance monies received during the marriage and which have not been substantially improved on during the marriage would ordinar - ily not be classified as a matrimonial asset. A matrimonial home is the exception to the rule (subject to any third-party interests). Parties are expected to list all their assets in their FAA. In situations where a party has cho - sen not to participate in proceedings, the court may make orders for the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board to provide disclosure of the non- participating spouse’s CPF monies. Property Regimes Singapore adopts a “deferred community of property” approach, whereby all matrimonial
property is treated as community property (unless otherwise taken out of the pool) upon the termination of the marriage (Lock Yeng Fun v Chua Hock Chye (2007) 3 SLR(R) 520). The regime is reflected in the provisions in Section 112 of the Women’s Charter 1961 and applied accordingly. Trusts Although the family justice courts remain open to concepts such as a resulting trust in favour of one spouse, where it is alleged that a third party holds a property on resulting trust for one spouse, a separate third-party civil action may need to be taken in order to ascertain the ben - eficial ownership of the property. Where the parties to the trust are the spouses themselves, the same may be more appropri - ately regarded and classified as a gift made by one spouse to the other – in which case, it will be returned to the matrimonial pool for division along with other significant gifts (Yeo Gim Tong Michael v Tianzon Lolita (1996) SGCA 14). If a trust property is held by one party for the benefit of the spouse or children, it is also likely that the same would be considered matrimonial property (subject to the nature of the trust – for example, whether the trust is revocable or oth - erwise). 2.4 Spousal Maintenance In Singapore, the only persons who may apply for maintenance are current or former wives, or incapacitated husbands. An incapacitated husband is defined in the Women’s Charter 1961 as a husband who: • during the marriage, becomes:
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