WWI v WWJ

Case Significance

WWI v WWJ [2024] SGHCF 28 was a judgment of the General Division of the High Court (Family Division) delivered by Choo Han Teck J on 6 August 2024, following a hearing on 31 July 2024. It was District Court Appeal No 10 of 2024 and concerned succession and wills, specifically testamentary capacity and mental disability, and the revocation of a will by a later instrument. The appellant, WWI, was represented by counsel from CNPLaw LLP, including Daniel Koh and Hu Huimin; the respondent, WWJ, was represented by Chung Ting Fai of Chung Ting Fai & Co.

The judgment recorded that the respondent was the third of 14 children and the eldest son, in his sixties, working as a businessman, while the appellant was the twelfth child and fourth son, in his fifties, working as a schoolteacher. Their father carried on a business of cleaning and recycling oil barrels. The family home, referred to as "4 JM", had been occupied even before 1980, and the father bought another house in the respondent's name in the 1980s, referred to as "Old VR", which the appellant claimed was meant to be held on trust. The respondent mortgaged and demolished Old VR, built two semi-detached units ("10 VR" and "10A VR"), sold 10 VR and used the proceeds to rebuild 4 JM into two units. The father died on 21 June 1993.