ANH v ANI [2019] SGHC 170

Outcome: Order varied

Facts

1            Five years before the present application, the Court ordered the father to pay the mother S$2,500 per month as maintenance for their daughter, in addition to covering all school fees, medical expenses and music examination fees. Both parties applied to vary that order because the daughter had entered university.

Court’s Decision:

2            The obligation to maintain an ex-wife and children remains until the order is rescinded or varied, and a change in circumstances is a ground for a variation of the original order. Remarriage in itself is a change in circumstances but whether it is sufficient to merit a variation of the maintenance order requires further examination of the nature and extent of the change. Either party in a divorce is free to remarry. When the woman remarries, the ex-husband who is maintaining her may have the maintenance order revoked on account of the fact that the new husband is maintaining her. When the man remarries, and has a family with the second wife, any diversion of his income towards the maintenance of the ex-wife reduces the coffers of the new family and that needs to be considered too: at [5].

3            It is a reasonable presumption that no one remarries merely to reduce his obligations of maintenance to the ex-spouse. It is therefore not right to deride the father here for his remarriage as if it were a problem of his own making as counsel submitted. The court has no business commenting, let alone pontificating, upon whether a divorcee should marry or not. What it has to do is compare the needs of the ex-spouse and the new family with the income that the maintenance provider has, and make a fair and reasonable attempt to balance the budget for them: at [6].

4            The Court considered all circumstances of the case and held that a sum of S$48,000 per annum for all expenses would be adequate for the daughter’s education in Monash and the father should pay his contribution amounting to S$35,000 per annum. The balance will be borne by the mother: at [9].

This summary is provided to assist the public to have a better understanding of the Court’s judgment. It is not intended to be a substitute for the reasons of the Court. All numbers in bold font and square brackets refer to the corresponding paragraph numbers in the Court’s judgment.