Court of Appeal says three children’s best interests justify hearing divorce proceedings in the island state.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Wong Kian Kheong, Hashim Hamzah and Alwi Abdul Wahab allowed two appeals by the wife and set aside orders made by the High Court in connection with divorce proceedings initiated by her husband in Malaysia.
The husband, anonymised as XYZ, was ordered to pay RM45,000 in costs to the wife, only identified as ABC.
The court also ruled that the husband had not validly served the Malaysian divorce papers on his wife, who resides in Singapore.
The couple married in Miri on Sept 13, 2001, under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976. They moved to Australia in 2004 before relocating to Singapore in July 2008.
The wife and their three children have remained in Singapore, while the husband returned to Malaysia in April 2011 to live and conduct his business.
The wife commenced divorce proceedings in Singapore’s Family Justice Court on Aug 1, 2023 and the husband subsequently filed divorce proceedings in the Malaysian High Court four months later.
He obtained ex parte leave from the Malaysian High Court to serve the divorce papers on the wife in Singapore by personal service, registered post, email or WhatsApp.
The papers were subsequently purportedly served on the wife through email and WhatsApp.
The wife applied to set aside the leave, but the High Court dismissed her application. The High Court also granted an injunction sought by the husband restraining her from pursuing the Singapore proceedings.
Best interests of the children
In allowing the wife’s appeals, Wong in the 26-page judgment said the High Court had committed several errors of law, including failing to consider the best interests of the couple’s three children in determining the appropriate forum for the divorce.
He said that the eldest child, a daughter, had autism and hereditary angioedema, while one of the twins suffered from dyslexia.
All three children live and attend school in Singapore, where they also have relatives and friends.
Wong said the wife had been the parent caring for the children in Singapore and maintained an emotional and psychological bond with them.
He added that the eldest child was a Singapore citizen and that the Singapore Family Justice Court would be in a better position to enforce orders concerning access to the children as well as their guardianship, custody, and maintenance.
Wong said these considerations outweighed the factors advanced by the husband in arguing that Malaysia was the natural forum.
It also took into account the Singapore Family Justice Court’s earlier finding that Singapore was the “more natural and appropriate forum” for resolving the divorce.
Service of documents to follow Singapore procedures
The Court of Appeal also held that service of the Malaysian divorce petition and other supporting cause papers by email and WhatsApp were not in accordance with the procedural laws relating to service in Singapore.
The court consequently set aside the Malaysian divorce petition and related notices and declared that the Malaysian High Court had no jurisdiction over the wife in respect of the Malaysian divorce proceedings.
Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Goh Siu Lin, Yvonne Lim, and Cheong Khai Ze appeared for the wife while Foo Yet Ngo, Kiran Dhaliwal, John Heng and Naif Amal Zulkiflie represented the husband. - FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.