A 22-year-old Singapore undergraduate, whose parents divorced, got a lump sum of $180,000 from his father after a court ordered the latter to pay for his expenses as part of maintenance.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that the 22-year-old son had described his father as neglectful in court, and made numerous claims against him when filing for maintenance.
The son sought for:
- Education fees of $91,757
- 4 years of living expenses of $87,840
- One-time travelling expenses of $3,000
- Backdated expenses of $1,532.95
The amounts do not include the $600 monthly maintenance the father must pay him until he gets his university degree.
The son also sought a monthly payment of $200 for his “clothing, bags and shoes”, saying that he needed to buy smart attires for his school presentations and items for his CCA activities.
The judge deemed the son’s request to be extravagant and reduced it to $75 monthly, and rejected the son’s request of $200 for social activities and $100 for his gym fees.
The son’s housewife mother reportedly began divorce proceedings against her husband in 2019, and the father was then ordered to pay $1,000 every month from March 2020, which was meant for his ex-wife and then-19-year-old son.
When then son then turned 21, he became ineligible for the maintenance order, and he then filed another order against his father for himself under the Women’s Charter.
He had reportedly just finished his NS and was enrolled in a local university pursuing engineering, and said in his filing that because of his commitments to his studies and CCAs, he didn’t have time to work part time.
District Judge Sarah Chua said that parents have a duty to provide their children with food, accommodation, clothes and education that is reasonable.
She added that the court considered factors such as the financial needs of the child, the earning capacity of the parent/child and the standard of living before the parent stopped providing reasonable maintenance to the child, when ordering maintenance.