fc_judgments: 11
Data source: lawnet.sg/lawnet/web/lawnet/free-resources
This data as json
| _id | _item_id | tags | date | court | case-number | title | citation | url | counsel | timestamp | coram | html | _commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1b4e49cb4a5454bc2b77448cc00cc934702020cc | [
"Family Law",
"Maintenance of children"
] |
2024-01-29 | Family Court | Maintenance Summons No 805 of 2023 | WTJ v WTK | [2024] SGFC 5 | https://www.lawnet.sg:443/lawnet/web/lawnet/free-resources?p_p_id=freeresources_WAR_lawnet3baseportlet&p_p_lifecycle=1&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&_freeresources_WAR_lawnet3baseportlet_action=openContentPage&_freeresources_WAR_lawnet3baseportlet_docId=%2FJudgment%2F30973-SSP.xml | [
"Both parties appear as self-represented litigants."
] |
2024-01-31T16:00:00Z[GMT] | Sheik Mustafa bin Abu Hassan | <root><head><title>WTJ v WTK</title></head><content><div class="contentsOfFile"> <h2 align="center" class="title"><span class="caseTitle"> WTJ <em>v</em> WTK </span><br><span class="Citation offhyperlink"><a class="pagecontent" href="javascript:viewPageContent('/Judgment/30973-SSP.xml')">[2024] SGFC 5</a></span></h2><table id="info-table"><tbody><tr class="info-row"><td class="txt-label" style="padding: 4px 0px; white-space: nowrap" valign="top">Case Number</td><td class="info-delim1" style="padding: 4px">:</td><td class="txt-body">Maintenance Summons No 805 of 2023</td></tr><tr class="info-row"><td class="txt-label" style="padding: 4px 0px; white-space: nowrap" valign="top">Decision Date</td><td class="info-delim1" style="padding: 4px">:</td><td class="txt-body">29 January 2024</td></tr><tr class="info-row"><td class="txt-label" style="padding: 4px 0px; white-space: nowrap" valign="top">Tribunal/Court</td><td class="info-delim1" style="padding: 4px">:</td><td class="txt-body">Family Court</td></tr><tr class="info-row"><td class="txt-label" style="padding: 4px 0px; white-space: nowrap" valign="top">Coram</td><td class="info-delim1" style="padding: 4px">:</td><td class="txt-body"> Sheik Mustafa bin Abu Hassan </td></tr><tr class="info-row"><td class="txt-label" style="padding: 4px 0px; white-space: nowrap" valign="top">Counsel Name(s)</td><td class="info-delim1" style="padding: 4px">:</td><td class="txt-body"> Both parties appear as self-represented litigants. </td></tr><tr class="info-row"><td class="txt-label" style="padding: 4px 0px; white-space: nowrap" valign="top">Parties</td><td class="info-delim1" style="padding: 4px">:</td><td class="txt-body"> WTJ — WTK </td></tr></tbody></table> <p class="txt-body"><span style="font-style:italic">Family Law</span></p> <p class="txt-body"><span style="font-style:italic">Maintenance of children</span></p> <p></p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="80%"><p class="Judg-Hearing-Date">29 January 2024</p></td><td><p class="Judg-Date-Reserved"></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p> <p class="Judg-Author"> District Judge Sheik Mustafa bin Abu Hassan:</p> <p class="Judg-Heading-1">Introduction</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_1"></a>1 The Mother of 2 children applied for maintenance from the Father. After a hearing, I ordered the Father to pay to the Mother a monthly sum of $1,000 for each child as well as 50% of the children’s school fees.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_2"></a>2 The Father appeals against this decision.</p> <p class="Judg-Heading-1">Facts </p> <p class="Judg-Heading-2">The parties </p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_3"></a>3 The Mother and the Father are undergoing divorce proceedings between each other. They have 2 children.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_4"></a>4 The children are a pair of twins aged 3 years old. They are in preschool.</p> <p class="Judg-Heading-2">Background to the dispute</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_5"></a>5 In December 2022, the Mother filed divorce proceedings against the Father in Dxxx/2022. In response, the Father filed a counterclaim against the Mother.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_6"></a>6 The Mother and Father were living separately. The matrimonial home was sold, and the Mother went to live with another man. The Mother has a third child, which is not a child of the Father. The 2 children in question are living with her on most days, and with the Father from Tuesdays to Wednesdays and Sundays.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_7"></a>7 The Mother filed the present summons for maintenance of the children on 12 April 2023. In her complaint form in support of her application, the Mother claimed $3,508.31 for each child. The case came for mention on 22 May 2023, and there was no settlement between the parties. Directions were given to them to submit their documents and to return for a further mention.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_8"></a>8 In the meantime, the divorce proceedings separately underwent mediations in the Court. On 22 June 2023, there was an agreement on some matters, but when the present maintenance summons came before me, the parties disputed about the agreement. The Father claimed that interim maintenance for the children was agreed to be $300 a month for each child and half of the children’s school fees. The Mother claimed that there was no resolution or agreement on the children’s monthly maintenance, but only an agreement that their school fees would be shared with the Father equally.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_9"></a>9 At the time of the hearing of the maintenance case before me in October 2023, there was as yet no interim judgment dissolving the couple’s marriage, nor was there any consent order on any ancillary issue entered.</p> <p class="Judg-Heading-1">The parties’ positions</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_10"></a>10 The Mother argued that the Father ought to pay $1,200 a month for each child. This is in addition to the already agreed half of the children’s school fees.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_11"></a>11 The Father’s response was that he ought to pay $300 a month instead, in addition to the agreed half of school fees.</p> <p class="Judg-2"><a id=""></a> <b>Issues to be determined</b> </p> <p class="Judg-2"><a id="p1_11-p2_a"></a>(a) Whether there was an agreement between the parties during the mediation of Dxxx/2022, that the Father was to pay $300 a month for the children’s maintenance.</p> <p class="Judg-2"><a id="p1_11-p2_b"></a>(b) What were the reasonable expenses of the children.</p> <p class="Judg-2"><a id="p1_11-p2_c"></a>(c) What share of the children’s maintenance ought to be borne by the Father.</p> <p class="Judg-Heading-1">Findings</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_12"></a>12 The agreement alleged by the Father was not evidenced by anything other than his allegation. One would expect that such an agreement would be evidenced by letters from his lawyer, but the Father did not show any such evidence. Neither was there a consent order to reflect such an agreement.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_13"></a>13 I found that on a balance of probabilities, the Father did not prove the existence of such an agreement.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_14"></a>14 At the hearing before me, the Mother claimed that the children’s expenses were $2,000 each (Notes of Evidence, Page 12, line 2). She asked for the Father to contribute $1,200 for each child.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_15"></a>15 The Father argued that the Mother was inflating what she claimed as expenses. He argued that $300 for each child was fair as he was paying more in terms of school fees and enrichment.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_16"></a>16 The law does not require that every item of expense be proved by receipts or assessed on specific values, as in a reimbursement exercise. Important factors in determining the children’s maintenance are their needs and the financial capacity of the parents to provide for them – <u>UEB v UEC</u> <a class="pagecontent" href="javascript:viewPageContent('/Judgment/21448-SSP.xml')">[2018] SGHCF 5</a> at [13].</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_17"></a>17 The Mother was an assistant project accounting manager. Her monthly income is $7,300. She had some credit card with only a few hundred dollars of debt each. As she has an additional child which is not the Father’s, and she spends several hundred dollars on the expenses of the said child. I was conscious that the Father did not have to contribute to the expenses of this child. The Mother presently lives in her partner’s flat.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_18"></a>18 The Father is a finance manager. His monthly income was $7,373. He did not have any debts. He lived with his mother.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_19"></a>19 I found that both the Mother and the Father had incomes of roughly $7,000 a month each. They were both well-educated and in stable employments. They had equal earning capacities and equal means to pay towards the children’s maintenance.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_20"></a>20 Taking into account the children’s needs and the parents’ financial capacities, I accept that each child’s monthly expense was $2,000.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_21"></a>21 I therefore found that the Father ought to bear half of the children’s expenses, or $1,000 a month for each child, totalling $2,000 a month for their maintenance. I also found that this amount was well within his means.</p> <p class="Judg-Heading-1">Conclusion</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_22"></a>22 For the foregoing reasons, I ordered that the Father bear half of the monthly expenses of each child, at $1,000 each. As already agreed by the parties, I ordered that the Father bear half of the children’s school fees.</p> <p class="Judg-1"><a id="p1_23"></a>23 The Mother did not request for the maintenance order to be backdated, so I made no such order.</p> </div></content></root> | 1288 |
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