Hubby to pay wife $2m
By Amanda Phua
The New Paper
Monday, Oct 10, 2011
Her husband would abuse her physically and verbally, she said.
After he had a stroke in 2005, he even forced himself on her several times.
If she refused his sexual advances, he would kick her off the bed.
The woman, 60, filed for divorce in November 2008.
Recently, the couple went to court over the division of the matrimonial assets.
Following a hearing in the High Court, Justice Lai Siu Chiu ordered that the man, 64, pay his wife $2 million.
Their matrimonial home, a condominium unit in Hillview Avenue, is valued at $850,000.
It is to be sold and the woman will receive 60 per cent of the proceeds, which would form part of the $2 million awarded.
In addition, he was also ordered to pay her a lump sum of $20,000 for maintenance.
Her husband is appealing against the decision.
The court was told that the couple married on Oct 2, 1979 and they have a son, 31, who is now married.
About five years before their marriage, the woman left her factory operator job to help out in his company, which sold and serviced fire-fighting equipment.
In addition to her administrative duties, she had to service about 20 fire extinguishers daily.
Two staff were initially hired to help her but the couple stopped hiring in the late 1990s due to high staff turnover.
The woman said that in the three decades that she worked for her husband, she did not receive any salary or allowances.
Justice Lai noted the sums of money her husband gave her were "on a needs basis, for the shop, household and family expenses".
The woman also said that her husband rarely helped out in the business while she dedicated herself to working on weekdays and a half day on Saturdays.
She also managed the household alone, with her husband refusing to help.
In terms of raising their child, the man played with their son occasionally and would chauffeur him to and from school during his son's younger years.
"(She) took care of the son in every other aspect," said Justice Lai.
After his stroke, the couple employed a maid to assist in caring for the man.
Besides managing the business, the woman made twice-daily trips to visit her husband when he was hospitalised.
On the other hand, the man hardly helped out at the shop, even before his stroke.
Their son testified that his father would take a nap after lunch, and when he was at the office in the evening, he would read newspapers while waiting for his mother to end work before going home.
He refuted his father's claims that his mother's contributions were unimportant.
The company closed in August 2005, some three months after he suffered a stroke.
In arriving at her decision, Justice Lai took into consideration the fact that the husband had been "uncooperative and evasive" in revealing the full extent of his assets.
Undisclosed assets
The woman had presented documents proving that he had undisclosed assets such as bank accounts and investments of more than $4 million.
The man claimed that he had lost money in his investments.
He had sold some of them and used his savings to pay for "household expenses, maid salary and levy as well as the maintenance fees, property tax etc for the matrimonial property".
However, Justice Lai was not convinced.
She noted that a total of $116,203.97 was withdrawn from two of the bank accounts disclosed by the man after their divorce, leaving $1,892.90.
Justice Lai thus inferred that he was "dissipating assets from the matrimonial pool to prevent the wife from getting her fair share".
The $2 million awarded to the wife was slightly less than 35 per cent of the overall assets available for division.
Justice Lai also ordered that the wife be in charge of selling their condo.
If the husband does not pay up, her solicitors can retain his share of the proceeds.
By Amanda Phua
The New Paper
Monday, Oct 10, 2011
Her husband would abuse her physically and verbally, she said.
After he had a stroke in 2005, he even forced himself on her several times.
If she refused his sexual advances, he would kick her off the bed.
The woman, 60, filed for divorce in November 2008.
Recently, the couple went to court over the division of the matrimonial assets.
Following a hearing in the High Court, Justice Lai Siu Chiu ordered that the man, 64, pay his wife $2 million.
Their matrimonial home, a condominium unit in Hillview Avenue, is valued at $850,000.
It is to be sold and the woman will receive 60 per cent of the proceeds, which would form part of the $2 million awarded.
In addition, he was also ordered to pay her a lump sum of $20,000 for maintenance.
Her husband is appealing against the decision.
The court was told that the couple married on Oct 2, 1979 and they have a son, 31, who is now married.
About five years before their marriage, the woman left her factory operator job to help out in his company, which sold and serviced fire-fighting equipment.
In addition to her administrative duties, she had to service about 20 fire extinguishers daily.
Two staff were initially hired to help her but the couple stopped hiring in the late 1990s due to high staff turnover.
The woman said that in the three decades that she worked for her husband, she did not receive any salary or allowances.
Justice Lai noted the sums of money her husband gave her were "on a needs basis, for the shop, household and family expenses".
The woman also said that her husband rarely helped out in the business while she dedicated herself to working on weekdays and a half day on Saturdays.
She also managed the household alone, with her husband refusing to help.
In terms of raising their child, the man played with their son occasionally and would chauffeur him to and from school during his son's younger years.
"(She) took care of the son in every other aspect," said Justice Lai.
After his stroke, the couple employed a maid to assist in caring for the man.
Besides managing the business, the woman made twice-daily trips to visit her husband when he was hospitalised.
On the other hand, the man hardly helped out at the shop, even before his stroke.
Their son testified that his father would take a nap after lunch, and when he was at the office in the evening, he would read newspapers while waiting for his mother to end work before going home.
He refuted his father's claims that his mother's contributions were unimportant.
The company closed in August 2005, some three months after he suffered a stroke.
In arriving at her decision, Justice Lai took into consideration the fact that the husband had been "uncooperative and evasive" in revealing the full extent of his assets.
Undisclosed assets
The woman had presented documents proving that he had undisclosed assets such as bank accounts and investments of more than $4 million.
The man claimed that he had lost money in his investments.
He had sold some of them and used his savings to pay for "household expenses, maid salary and levy as well as the maintenance fees, property tax etc for the matrimonial property".
However, Justice Lai was not convinced.
She noted that a total of $116,203.97 was withdrawn from two of the bank accounts disclosed by the man after their divorce, leaving $1,892.90.
Justice Lai thus inferred that he was "dissipating assets from the matrimonial pool to prevent the wife from getting her fair share".
The $2 million awarded to the wife was slightly less than 35 per cent of the overall assets available for division.
Justice Lai also ordered that the wife be in charge of selling their condo.
If the husband does not pay up, her solicitors can retain his share of the proceeds.
If husband really CBL and rarely helped out in the biz, then why got to close after he kenna stroke 
