SINGAPORE: When a mother of four surviving sons died in 2012, she named only two sons and two granddaughters as beneficiaries in her will, leaving out two other sons.
When the sons’ relationship grew strained, their uncle flew to Singapore to help them reconcile. He proposed that the two sons included in the will use the sales proceeds of a property bequeathed to them by their mother to give S$300,000 (US$234,620) to each of the excluded brothers.
The semi-detached house in Eng Kong Road was sold for S$5 million in April 2022.
Despite the initial agreement, the payment to the excluded brothers was not made and one of the sons took the other to court to compel him to pay their brothers, among other disputes.
In a judgment on Monday (Oct 19), Justice Christopher Tan found that the agreement was binding.
THE CASE
The matriarch in the case, who was not named in court documents, had five sons.
One, Oliver Peter Yip Tong, had died before her. The remaining sons were: the claimant, David Chan Yip Tong, the defendant, Franklin Chan Yip Tong, Jack Chan Yip Tong and George Chan Yip Tong.
In the woman’s last will and testament, she named David and Franklin as the executors of her estate.
She died in December 2012 and named four beneficiaries in her will: David, Franklin, George’s daughter and Oliver’s daughter.
As part of her will, the woman bequeathed a semi-detached house at Eng Kong Road to David and Franklin in equal shares.
She also bequeathed a retail unit in Far East Shopping Centre to her two sons and Oliver’s daughter in three equal shares.
The woman also bequeathed a condominium unit at Hindhede Walk to her granddaughters in equal shares.
After her death, the relationship between the four brothers grew strained, partly because the will left nothing to George and Jack, the judgment said.
Around June 2018, the brothers’ uncle, Mr Tam Sook, flew from Mauritius to Singapore to try to help them reconcile.
He proposed that David and Franklin contribute S$300,000 each to George and Jack.
The brothers agreed orally but the payment was not made.
Franklin contended that the Eng Kong Road property had to be sold by Sep 30, 2018 for the payments to be made, which it was not.
David disagreed and said the Sep 30, 2018 date was merely a target date for payments to be made to George and Jack.
THE OPTION TO PURCHASE
In early September 2021, Franklin informed David that there was a buyer offering to pay S$5 million for the Eng Kong Road property.
Franklin wanted to get David’s signature, as co-owner of the property, on the option to purchase (OTP).
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