http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapor...ry_764581.html
Mum loses bid for half share of en bloc sale
She gets 10% after judge rejects claim daughter had agreed to 50% split
Published on Feb 9, 2012
By K.C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent
A WOMAN who wanted half of the proceeds of over $617,000 from the collective sale of a privatised HUDC flat co-owned with her daughter will get 10 per cent instead.
The High Court, in a judgment released yesterday, ruled that Madam Lim Geok Swan, 76, was entitled to about 10 per cent while the rest belonged to her daughter Lim Shook Luan, 49.
Justice Judith Prakash rejected Madam Lim's claim that when the flat was bought in 1991, both mother and daughter had agreed upon a half-share each.
In a case filled with revelations about bitter differences between the two during court hearings last April, the judge ordered the division of the sale proceeds be pro-rated based on their contributions to its purchase.
The mother had claimed she had a verbal agreement with her daughter that they were joint tenants and the sale proceeds of the Minton Rise unit would be shared equally if it was sold. She claimed her daughter reneged on this.
The privatised HUDC apartment in Hougang Street 11 was part of a collective sale in 2007. Of the $617,737 proceeds, Madam Lim had sought about $308,800.
The flat cost $280,000 when it was bought in 1991. Madam Lim argued that she had paid for her share, including more than $87,700 between 1991 and 2009 for conservancy fees, utilities and property-tax charges.
Her daughter, an accountant, argued that she had made all the mortgage payments on a $200,000 loan taken in 1991.
Madam Lim claimed she had been persuaded by her daughter to buy the property. She had to sell her three-room Housing Board flat in Ang Mo Kio so proceeds could be used for its downpayment.
She did so on an understanding that her daughter would make her an equal owner and that the latter would buy her a three-room HDB flat should she decide to keep the Minton Rise unit for herself.
At issue was whether there was an agreement between the two when the HUDC flat was bought.
Justice Prakash was not convinced there was one. 'I am satisfied that at the material time the parties had a poor relationship and were not prone to long discussions with each other,' she said.
Among other things, the daughter and two brothers were not happy that Madam Lim's business partner Png Teck Kim lived in the same flat with them.
Madam Lim became 'abusive when drunk', creating a difficult relationship with her children. She and Mr Png would drink together frequently and this led the children to dislike him, noted the judge.
Against this backdrop of frequent quarrels, Justice Prakash found Madam Lim's version of events had many inconsistencies, and she was a difficult witness, 'frequently evasive or non-responsive'.
Madam Lim had also said in her evidence that her daughter was to use her CPF money to pay the mortgage instalments for the Minton Rise flat at the time it was bought.
'(She) cannot argue that she should be taken as having contributed half the housing loan simply because she was party to the mortgage,' said Justice Prakash.
After tabulating the monies spent on various items in the run-up to the flat's purchase, totalling $379,188, Madam Lim's contribution was found to amount to 9.56 per cent while her daughter paid some 90.44 per cent. The $617,737 collective sale proceeds was ordered to be shared based on those percentages.
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