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Sunday, 4 October 2009
Tycoon’s kids lose appeal in dispute over fortune
The children of the first wife of Singapore Crocodile Farm founder Tan Gna Chua failed yesterday in their final appeal to declare their father’s second marriage invalid.
The children of the first wife of Singapore Crocodile Farm founder Tan Gna Chua failed yesterday in their final appeal to declare their father’s second marriage invalid.
But the door has not been completely slammed shut on them.
In an unusual move, the three-judge Court of Appeal expressly left the door open for them to file a new suit over the same matter - within a month’s time - under another legal provision.
The appeal judges, though, suggested that the family dispute may be better resolved through a third-party mediation.
Yesterday’s appeal hearing was the latest development in an ongoing fight over Mr. Tan’s estate, which is believed to be worth more than $30 million.
Mr. Tan, also known as Tan Kiam Poh, died in 2000 at the age of 85. He had six children from his first wife.
At his wife’s funeral in 1994, he introduced his long-time mistress, Madam Lim Soo Foong, and the son she bore him, then 42, to his children.
Mr. Tan and Madam Lim got married two years after that. He was then 81, wheelchair-bound and suffering from Parkinson’s disease. She was in her 60s.
The union effectively nullified the will he had then, which left his wealth to his six children.
After his second marriage, he made a new will, this time leaving his entire fortune to Madam Lim and her son.
After he died, the two administrators of his estate - his eldest son and second daughter - successfully contested the new will in court and got it declared invalid.
Mr. Tan’s assets were ordered to be distributed under intestacy laws, which meant that Madam Lim, as his wife at the time of his death, was entitled to half of his estate. The other half is to be split among his seven children.
But Mr. Tan’s two children went a step further, going to court again to try to get their father’s marriage to Madam Lim declared null and void so that she would have no share in the estate at all.
They argued that their father’s second marriage was ‘voidable’ under the Women’s Charter as it had not been consummated after the wedding.
They said that Madam Lim had unduly influenced their father to marry her, and her motive was to revoke his earlier will, which left her nothing.
Their case was dismissed in May by High Court judge Judith Prakash, who drew a distinction between ‘voidable’ marriage and a ‘void’ marriage.
A voidable marriage is one that is valid until declared void on certain grounds, Mr. Quek Mong Hua, the lawyer for the children, told The Straits Times. A void marriage is one which is considered to have never taken place at all.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by Mr. Tan’s children, but allowed them to file a new suit under another provision in the Women’s Charter relating to void marriages.
The court also ordered the legal costs to be paid out from Mr. Tan’s estate, reversing the lower court decision that the two children have to foot the bill.
Mr. Quek said his clients will heed the judges’ advice to try to settle the matter through mediation first.
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Tycoon’s kids lose appeal in dispute over fortune
Selina Lum, The Straits Times
02 October 2009
The children of the first wife of Singapore Crocodile Farm founder Tan Gna Chua failed yesterday in their final appeal to declare their father’s second marriage invalid.
But the door has not been completely slammed shut on them.
In an unusual move, the three-judge Court of Appeal expressly left the door open for them to file a new suit over the same matter - within a month’s time - under another legal provision.
The appeal judges, though, suggested that the family dispute may be better resolved through a third-party mediation.
Yesterday’s appeal hearing was the latest development in an ongoing fight over Mr. Tan’s estate, which is believed to be worth more than $30 million.
Mr. Tan, also known as Tan Kiam Poh, died in 2000 at the age of 85. He had six children from his first wife.
At his wife’s funeral in 1994, he introduced his long-time mistress, Madam Lim Soo Foong, and the son she bore him, then 42, to his children.
Mr. Tan and Madam Lim got married two years after that. He was then 81, wheelchair-bound and suffering from Parkinson’s disease. She was in her 60s.
The union effectively nullified the will he had then, which left his wealth to his six children.
After his second marriage, he made a new will, this time leaving his entire fortune to Madam Lim and her son.
After he died, the two administrators of his estate - his eldest son and second daughter - successfully contested the new will in court and got it declared invalid.
Mr. Tan’s assets were ordered to be distributed under intestacy laws, which meant that Madam Lim, as his wife at the time of his death, was entitled to half of his estate. The other half is to be split among his seven children.
But Mr. Tan’s two children went a step further, going to court again to try to get their father’s marriage to Madam Lim declared null and void so that she would have no share in the estate at all.
They argued that their father’s second marriage was ‘voidable’ under the Women’s Charter as it had not been consummated after the wedding.
They said that Madam Lim had unduly influenced their father to marry her, and her motive was to revoke his earlier will, which left her nothing.
Their case was dismissed in May by High Court judge Judith Prakash, who drew a distinction between ‘voidable’ marriage and a ‘void’ marriage.
A voidable marriage is one that is valid until declared void on certain grounds, Mr. Quek Mong Hua, the lawyer for the children, told The Straits Times. A void marriage is one which is considered to have never taken place at all.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by Mr. Tan’s children, but allowed them to file a new suit under another provision in the Women’s Charter relating to void marriages.
The court also ordered the legal costs to be paid out from Mr. Tan’s estate, reversing the lower court decision that the two children have to foot the bill.
Mr. Quek said his clients will heed the judges’ advice to try to settle the matter through mediation first.
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