This is an ongoing family nightmare that is currently destroying my family. Need to put this out here to warn others and seek advice on legal recourse.
My parents (70s) own an old semi-detached landed property in the East side (Katong area) that my late grandfather bought decades ago. It’s fully paid off and easily worth around $4.5 million to $5 million today. My sister (38F) married her husband (42M, let’s call him Eric) about 8 years ago. Eric works in wealth management / real estate corporate law and has always presented himself as a super polished, high-flying corporate guy who “knows all the legal loopholes.”
Around 2021, my dad suffered a mild stroke, and my mom started showing early signs of dementia. They were struggling to handle property tax, estate maintenance, utility bills, and tenant agreements for the back studio unit. Eric stepped up very enthusiastically, offering to handle all property matters for my parents. He told my parents and my sister: “Pa, Ma, don’t worry, you guys are getting old. Let me help you manage the property structures, set up trust/power of attorney so if anything happens, the government won’t take high inheritance tax or probate fees.”
At that time, I was stationed overseas in London for a 3-year work posting. I trusted my sister and Eric to look after my parents. Whenever I did Zoom calls back home, Eric seemed very attentive, bringing my dad to doctor appointments and handling house repairs.
Fast forward to late 2025: I finally relocated back to Singapore permanently. Last month, I wanted to help my parents organize their estate planning properly and write a formal will separating the assets equally between my sister and me. I requested a property title search on the SLA (Singapore Land Authority) MyProperty portal just to verify the current title deed details.
When the PDF document downloaded, my jaw literally dropped.
The registered sole owner of the Katong property was NO LONGER my parents. The property was registered entirely under a Private Limited company name, and when I did an ACRA search on that company, Eric was listed as the 100% shareholder and sole director!
I immediately stormed down to Eric and my sister’s house with the documents. When confronted, Eric didn’t even flinch. He calmly sipped his coffee and gave me a super cold explanation: He claimed that back in 2022, my dad signed a legal Transfer of Title / Deed of Gift and Power of Attorney authorizing the transfer of the house into Eric’s private holding company “for tax optimization and asset protection purposes.” He claimed my dad did it willingly with a lawyer present.
I went back to ask my dad. My dad was completely bewildered and started crying. He remembered Eric bringing a lawyer and a thick stack of legal documents to the hospital while he was recovering from his stroke in 2022, telling him to “sign here for hospital bill coverage and property tax waiver.” My dad had ZERO idea he was signing away the entire ownership of his multi-million dollar ancestral home!
My sister is completely brainwashed by Eric. She defended him, saying Eric did it to “protect the family asset from being sold off by outsiders” and that Eric promised to give us allowance from rental returns.
We are currently consulting a senior litigation lawyer to file a lawsuit for undue influence, unconscionable transaction, and lack of mental capacity during the signing of the deed. But the legal fees are estimated to cost upwards of $80,000 to $100,000 just to fight this in the High Court, and Eric is using the rental income generated from my parents’ own property to fund his defense lawyers!
To anyone with aging parents: NEVER, EVER let an in-law or even family member handle title deeds or legal paperwork without independent legal counsel representing the parents directly. Has anyone successfully overturned a property transfer based on medical records of stroke/dementia capacity in Singapore courts?