Home Case Studies High Court Sets Aside Appeal for a 5:2 Split of the Care of the Eldest Child in a Custody Dispute; Awards $2,600 to the Respondent Wife

High Court Sets Aside Appeal for a 5:2 Split of the Care of the Eldest Child in a Custody Dispute; Awards $2,600 to the Respondent Wife

Walter Silvester

Tan Hoe Shuen

What We Achieved

The appeal was eventually set aside and costs of $2,600 were awarded to the Respondent Wife.

Case Summary

CLI v CLJ [2021] SGHC(A) 3

[Family Law – divorce, care and control of children of a marriage]

Case Judgement

INTRODUCTION

The Applicant was the Husband of the marriage whereas the Respondent was the Wife. Mr Low and Mr Tan argued for the Applicant to have a 5:2 split of the care and control arrangements of the eldest child, whereby one party would take care of the child for 5 weekdays and the other party would take care of the child for 2 weekdays. Despite our best efforts, the Court did not view this as an equal distribution pursuant to a shared care and control arrangement and ultimately ruled that the children’s interests are still the paramount consideration. 

In arriving to its decision, the Court ruled that subjecting the young 8-year old child to a 5:2 day split would be too disruptive and that the acrimony between the parties would make it difficult to have the higher degree of cooperation needed for this proposed arrangement.