WQX v WQW and another appeal [2024] SGHCF 18

Outcome: Appeals dismissed.

Facts

1          The parties filed cross-applications for divorce. An interim judgment was granted in the Wife’s favour, where the Wife had relied on the Husband’s adultery and unreasonable behaviour in support of a divorce. The issue on appeal was whether the evidence before the DJ sufficiently proved adultery.

Court’s Decision:

2          The DJ did not specifically say which burden of proof he applied. He was not obliged to do so. It is sufficient if he had found that the evidence collectively justifies a finding of adultery.: at [7].

3          There has never been a requirement that adultery is proved by explicit evidence of sexual congress… courts have accepted evidence of adultery on circumstantial evidence, so long as the evidence was properly proved and the circumstances strong enough for the court to conclude that the parties had engaged in adultery.: at [17].

4          Although a solitary slap in itself may not be sufficient to conclude that the Husband had behaved unreasonably, the DJ had found that it was unreasonable for the Husband to have neglected and spent so much time outside of the home. The DJ had taken the circumstances as a whole into account.: at [18].

The full text of the decision can be found here.

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.