DIL v DIM

[2024] SGHC 139 High Court (General Division) 30 May 2024 • DT 3269/2010 ( HC/SUM 235/2024 ) • 5 min read

Cited by 1 case

Key facts

Court	High Court (General Division)
Decided	30 May 2024
Judge	Choo Han Teck
Charges / claim	Family Law
Counsel	AM Legal LLC, I.R.B. Law LLP, Andy Chiok Beng Piow, Mohamed Baiross, Tan Wei En, Uthai Quek Liuyong

Source: [2024] SGHC 139, High Court (General Division), decided 30 May 2024 — eLitigation. Updated 25 June 2026.

Catchwords

Family Law — Maintenance — Wife

Practice Areas

Family Law

Judges (1)

Choo Han Teck Delivered

Counsel (6)

AM Legal LLC Firm I.R.B. Law LLP Firm Andy Chiok Beng Piow Counsel Defendant/Applicant Mohamed Baiross Counsel Plaintiff/Respondent Tan Wei En Counsel Defendant/Applicant Uthai Quek Liuyong Counsel Plaintiff/Respondent

Parties (2)

DIL Plaintiff DIM Defendant

Case Significance

DIL v DIM [2024] SGHC 139 was decided by the General Division of the High Court of Singapore on 30 May 2024, in Divorce (Transferred) No 3269 of 2010 (Summons No 235 of 2024), with judgment delivered by Choo Han Teck J following hearings on 29 April and 23 May 2024. The parties married on 22 July 1988 and divorced in 2012, and on 29 October 2012 the defendant Husband was ordered to pay maintenance of $1,200 to the plaintiff Wife. The application, HC/SUM 235/2024, was the Husband's application to rescind that maintenance order. The Husband, aged 65, retired in July 2023, remarried in 2017 and has a daughter from that marriage; the Wife, aged 69, had been unemployed since 2017 and was diagnosed with a slipped disc in 2010 which left her unable to work because she could not stand for long. The judgment records that the parties have two children from their marriage. The son, aged 33, lives in the United States, graduated from Boston University in 2017, and is in the final year of a PhD while taking part-time jobs; the Husband was last in contact with him in November 2022 when the son worked as a Graduate Research Assistant for a research laboratory in Indiana. The daughter, aged 29, works as a brand manager in Singapore and operates her own business, graduated from University College London in 2017, and lived with her father's new family until December 2020 before staying with her mother. The Husband (defendant/applicant) was represented by AM Legal LLC and the Wife (plaintiff/respondent) by I.R.B. Law LLP.

Summary

DIL (the wife) and DIM (the husband) were married in 1988 and divorced in 2012, and the husband applied to rescind a 2012 order requiring him to pay the wife maintenance of $1,200 per month, on the basis that his retirement and changed financial circumstances meant he could no longer afford it. The proceeding concerned whether there had been a material change of circumstances justifying variation of the wife maintenance order. The High Court found that the change from full employment to no employment was a material change and ordered the maintenance to be varied to $600 per month for a reduced period of two years with effect from June 2024, making no order as to costs.

What was DIL v DIM [2024] SGHC 139 about?

Decided on 30 May 2024 by Choo Han Teck J in the Singapore High Court, the case concerned the Husband's application to rescind a maintenance order requiring him to pay $1,200 to the Wife, made on 29 October 2012 after the parties divorced in 2012.

What were the circumstances of the parties in DIL v DIM [2024] SGHC 139?

The parties married on 22 July 1988 and divorced in 2012. The Husband, aged 65, retired in July 2023 and remarried in 2017. The Wife, aged 69, had been unemployed since 2017 and was diagnosed with a slipped disc in 2010.