A $1 million ang pao was included in the matrimonial assets to be split between a divorced couple, after a ruling by a Judge of the Appellate Division (JAD).
The ruling on 18 February reverses a previous ruling by the High Court in Singapore after the couple appealed against the previous decision.
Context
The couple got married on 3 January 2015, and had their first child (a son) in November that year.
The wife then moved out of their home on 28 September 2017 and took their son along with her, before filing for a writ of divorce on 25 July 2018.
An interim judgement was granted on 25 January 2019, with both parties still unsatisfied with the High Court’s judgement that was made on 28 January.
They had disagreed over the division of assets and maintenance, with the appeal being presided by judges Belinda Ang, Woo Bih Li and Quentin Loh.
Ang pao meant for son
On their wedding day, the groom was given a $1 million ang pao (a cheque was inside) by his father, who told the court that it was meant for his son alone.
The father also explained that the bride had received jewellery worth about $20,000 during the tea ceremony, and the groom also gave her a BMW.
The wedding dinner expenses were also not paid for by the bride.
The $1 million cheque that was given to the groom by his father was then deposited into his personal account.
The court found that the cheque was given to the husband in the presence of his wife, and that it “would be viewed objectively as a gift to the couple”, even though the cheque was in the husband’s name.
Wife secretly recorded husband
The wife also had a secret audio recording in July 2017 that was taken without her husband’s knowledge, with the wife asserting to the husband that the $1 million was for the both of them and they had intended to put it in a joint account, which the husband did not do so.
The husband also did not correct his wife (in the recording) that the $1 million was for him alone.
However, even with the inclusion of the ang pao into the total poll of matrimonial assets to be split, the overall pool of the assets decreased from $5.4 million to $2.4 million, after the husband’s $1.744 million share of a Bukit Timah property and $2 million of dividends from the shares of an undisclosed company were excluded.
The judges ruled that the pool will be split with the husband taking 66.5% and the wife taking 33.5% of the $2.4 million worth of assets and money.