SINGAPORE – A man lost his appeal that only 50 per cent of a three-room flat owned by him and his mother before she died should be included in the pool of matrimonial assets to be divided upon his divorce.

Even though splitting 50 per cent of the flat's value was what he and his former wife had agreed on, a district judge earlier ruled that 100 per cent of the flat's value should be counted in the pool of marital assets to be divided.

The husband appealed the decision.

The man and his mother bought the flat seven years before his marriage in 1989, and he became its sole owner after she died in 2022.

In a judgment on his appeal which was released on Dec 27, 2023, High Court Senior Judge Andrew Ang said that the flat is the couple's matrimonial home where they lived and raised their only child. As it was their matrimonial home, he ruled that the entire value of the flat would be counted in the pool of marital assets to be split between them.

Justice Ang said that the couple's agreement is but one factor in the overall assessment, adding that “it remains critical for the court to consider all the circumstances of the case when determining the proper weight to be given to such an agreement”.

The judge also rejected the man's argument that the 50 per cent share of the flat he inherited after his mum's death should be excluded from the marital pool, as it was an inheritance.

While a section of the Women's Charter that defines matrimonial assets provides an exception for assets that are inherited, this exception does not apply if the inherited asset is considered a matrimonial home, Justice Ang said.

The couple's flat is considered their matrimonial home, and hence, their matrimonial asset, the judge said.

The couple lived in the flat through their union, which lasted about 30 years even though they led separate lives for the bulk of that time, and raised their daughter there.

The property at the heart of the case is a three-room flat in Chai Chee that the man and his mother bought in 1982 for $40,500.

The flat was bought under joint tenancy, which means all the co-owners have an equal share in the property, regardless of the individual's contribution to the purchase.

In 1989, the man tied the knot and the newly-weds, together with the man's mother, moved to live in the flat. The couple's names, ages and occupations were not stated in the judgment.

A year after their daughter was born in 1993, the marriage fell apart.

Justice Ang wrote: “Parties (referring to the couple) took to sleeping in different rooms owing to constant arguments and ceased all physical and emotional intimacy and development.”

He added that the pair kept communication to a minimum, such as when it was necessary and regarding matters pertaining to their daughter's care, education and health.

In 2019, they filed for divorce.

The couple had agreed that the husband and his mother each owned 50 per cent of the flat, which was fully paid up and worth $305,000 at that time.

And they agreed that only the husband's share of the flat, or 50 per cent, would be counted in the matrimonial pool of assets to be divided.

Justice Ang said the man's argument that the flat was bought before the marriage is “irrelevant” once the flat became the matrimonial home.

“Indeed, matrimonial homes are subject to the court's power of division upon dissolution of the marriage, even if they were acquired before the marriage,” he added.

The judge said the couple had not thought about what would happen should the man inherit his mother's share of the flat if she died after they had reached an agreement.

The couple had decided to split only the man's share of the flat, as they arrived at an agreement before his mother died.

Justice Ang said: “To therefore visit upon the wife the consequence that she is entitled to share in only 50 per cent of the matrimonial flat notwithstanding the fact that the husband has since become entitled to 100 per cent of the property by way of survivorship would, in my view, not be just and equitable.”

Mr Lim Chong Boon, head of family law and litigation at PKWA Law Practice, explained that matrimonial assets encompass all the properties acquired during the course of a marriage.

Typically, properties that are obtained before the marriage are not considered a marital asset, unless they are regularly used by the family, among other criteria.

Likewise, assets that are inherited are not automatically classified as matrimonial assets, but there is an exception to this inheritance rule if an asset is used as a matrimonial home.

The law makes it very clear that any property that is inherited will be considered a matrimonial asset if it was used as a matrimonial home, Mr Lim said.

Ms June Lim, a director at Focus Law Asia, said that the type of ownership of a property does not impact the court's power to divide the property in a divorce.

A person may have bought a flat before marriage in his or her sole name, or with another person like his or her parents, but the status of the flat as a matrimonial home makes 100 per cent of its value subject to division under the Women's Charter.

PKWA's Mr Lim noted that a private agreement, as in this case, on the division of marital assets is highly persuasive, but it is not binding and the courts have the final say.

He said that to ensure that an agreement, whether it is a pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement, made by the couple becomes ironclad and binding, it has to be turned into a consent court order.

Lawyers typically submit draft consent orders for the court to approve and issue.

He said: “The consent court order becomes binding on both parties, and it becomes extremely difficult to change it.”

Hole bump

The Thai food was so good

!leafs is this revenge for having too many people over there?

I think they anticipated a huge crowd but it's pretty empty

Can they beat daddy Starbucks?

Lol I remember back then the top EM1 class got the "cars" and bicycles, everyone else were pedestrians.

Our school allocate by the most recent test result. My result was usually quite bad but for that day miraculously was good enough for bicycles.

However, when trying out the bike at the park, I was so short that I have to tip toe when stationary on the bike and wasn't very stable. The person in charge thought I was scared and didn't allow me to ride. Very sad :(

In hindsight, it was probably for the better because I was so blur that I didn't even know how to read a map then and had to follow a classmate that could.

I remember getting rammed by my classmate in the pedal car while I was riding a bike. 10/10 realism

I never really liked this park, I remember the bad memories when in Primary School, we had a field trip. And when I was role-playing as a pedestrian, one of those "die die must follow the rules" prefects gave me a fine for "not raising my hand when crossing the road".

First of all, frick her. And second of all, frick the automobile industry for trying to brainwash children using the park to serve as peasants to the vehicles (brainwashing children to raise their hands when crossing the road innit?)

And yes, for those wondering, the park was built with the support of oil and gas companies, why else did y'all think Shell allowed a replica of their petrol station to be built there?

most sane /r/frickcars poster

Maybe 2022 was the outlier with "patchy rain" (still rain I guess) but after just getting caught in the fricking heavy rain (the big-butt gay umbrella I was using didn't work because the rain was relentless) I seemed to remember how every Christmas was the same shitty weather every year so I decided to check if I was right and

Maybe if we had freezing weather I'd be seeing snow here

Source: https://www.worldweatheronline.com/singapore-weather-history/sg.aspx

I know the end of the year is the monsoon season here but that's still quite the record

And I left my home when it was so sunny and hot out fricking tropical weather

Anyway have a blessed and happy Christmas dramatards, just ranting because I'm soaked

I snorted at "temperate climate" and "balmy weather" 😂 since when are we a temperate country and Singapore winds aren't cooling.

But please, I need some suggestions, what are you guys doing for Christmas?

For context the guy in the photo is Dee Kosh who was an influencer that was convicted of being a p-do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dee_Kosh#Sex_crimes_conviction

I generally love SQ so I normally ignore the subtle micro aggressions but my flight yesterday felt like I was being pranked.

Flew from Sydney to Singapore and despite the extremely busy airport, the ground crew was amazing. I chose the aisle seat next and had a lovely Caucasian lady and her pre-teen daughter next to me. I started noticing immediately that the crew would initially ask questions only to the lady and move on (“Any drinks for you Ma'am?”) and I had to call them back for water.

The strange thing happened during the first meal time. They bought out the daughter's meal first and then the lady's standard chicken meal. I thought it makes sense because of special dietary requirements and family and all. Two hours passes and they're cleaning up and I politely remind the crew lady in my area that I never received a meal. She looked surprise and provides a hasty apology and says she'll look into it after clean up. Nothing happens. I'm starving and realised they forgot about me again when they start serving the refreshments (more than 6 hours into the flight). The lady notices and complains on my behalf as my stomach is actually growling now. A senior male crew member joins then and apologises profusely, mostly to her but also somewhat to me? Turned out that they ran out of most of the food option and asked if I was ok with a vegetarian meal. I said yes as I'm that hungry then. I never got the refreshment meal or an offer of that in the end.

While the missed meal part was the worst, throughout the whole flight, I think I never had more of a challenge to get service. I used the call button 4 times for water and got ignored. The lady had to order 3 water every time to make sure I actually stayed hydrated.

I fly with SQ about thrice a year and this was the first time the service was ever this bad. The funny thing is, all the crew members on this flight looked South Asian and I am of Indian descent so I'm not even sure if this is a whole “we can ignore her, she's one of us” thing. Either way, very unpleasant experience and not sure what to do with it.

internalised racism

Pinkerton Syndrome is a term for the perceived tendency of some Asians to regard Whites as superior or more desirable, especially for marriage or relationships.

SINGAPORE - Fifteen-year-olds here have emerged top performers in an international benchmarking study to measure how well students use their knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems.

Based on the performance of 6,606 students from 149 secondary schools and 15 private schools, including international schools and madrasahs, Singapore was ranked No. 1 for mathematics, science and reading in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) 2022.

The study, which is done every three years by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), was delayed by a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the last Pisa study in 2018, Singapore was ranked second after China, which did not participate in the latest study because its schools were closed when the study was being conducted.

Compared with 2018, Singapore students who took part in Pisa 2022 maintained their performance in mathematics and improved substantially in science, but their performance declined slightly in reading.

The Education Ministry said the decline in reading for Singapore students is similar to that of their peers in many other countries and may reflect the impact of a global change in reading habits.

The latest Pisa cycle also showed that Singapore continued to have high proportions of students who did well.

In reading, for instance, 23 per cent of students in Singapore were top performers. For mathematics and science, the figures were 41 per cent and 24 per cent respectively. Top performers achieve proficiency of level five and six.

Similarly, Singapore had fewer students who were low performers in reading at 11 per cent and in mathematics and science at 8 per cent. Such students achieve proficiency below level two.

MOE said in a press release that the Pisa 2022 results, taken together with the results of another international benchmarking study, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls), affirm the resilience of Singapore's education system.

In the Pirls study released in May, Primary 4 pupils in Singapore emerged as the top readers in the world.

MOE paid tribute to teachers here and said the results reflect the dedicated efforts of schools and teachers in supporting the learning and well-being of students throughout the pandemic.

Noting that Pisa tests students' ability to apply what they have learnt to unfamiliar settings and real-world contexts, MOE said: "Singapore students have shown that they are good in mathematical reasoning, can distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, and use computational thinking (for example, pattern recognition, defining algorithms) as they solve complex problems in a variety of modern contexts."

These are critical skills that will prepare students well for global changes like digitalisation, the emergence of new technologies and the advent of new professions.

MOE also said “Singapore students continue strong performance despite Covid-19 disruptions, including those from lower socio-economic status homes”, based on figures that showed students from disadvantaged homes did better than the OECD average in all three domains tested.

The Pisa 2022 survey highlighted a few problem spots for Singapore students.

One was their perception of a lack of support from their parents, and another was the lack of physical activity among them, with 29 per cent reporting that they do not exercise at all after school.

Commenting on the results, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said on his Instagram page: "Great job to our students for persevering with their learning despite disruptions caused by the pandemic.

"My deepest gratitude to our educators too, who adapted quickly when learning pivoted online, and came up with many innovative teaching methods to ensure that learning continued."

He added: "We will not rest on our laurels and continue to work closely with schools, parents and partners to support our students in their education journey.

"Let us always strive to surpass ourselves, rather than focusing on outperforming others."

Dr Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills and special adviser on education policy to OECD's secretary-general, praised Singapore for continuing to lead the global league tables in Pisa.

"It has been one of the few countries that saw no negative effects on learning outcomes during the pandemic," he said, adding that there are many factors at play, including the consistent and high expectations on students and an instructional system that provides rigour in terms of cognitive demand and focus.

He said another factor is the push to teach fewer things in greater depth, and coherence -- in terms of modelling learning progressions carefully, for example, in Singapore mathematics.

Noting some areas of concern, he said: "Social disparities in learning outcomes remain clearly visible in Singapore. Also, in terms of students' sense of belonging, Singapore is more an average rather than a high performer.

"Not least, we have seen a decline in parental support and engagement in Singapore, an area in which Singapore used to be strong."

Are you as smart as Singapore's 15-year-olds?

Try answering these four maths questions. Tap the image to enlarge.

Singapore???

15% of $NVDA Rev came from there??? suspect... pic.twitter.com/Up67xPPkOM

— Bluechip (@blue_chip1) November 21, 2023

Hug every one you see today :D