When A Home Is Not A Home

• Published date: 19 April 2022
• Subject Matter: Family and Matrimonial, Family Law, Divorce
• Law Firm: Withers LLP
• Author: Mr Ivan Cheong and Shaun Ho

The matrimonial home occupies a very special place in the family. During the marriage, it is the cradle of the family. It is where the family starts its day, and where it ends its day. It is where the family breaks bread, and it is where bonds are made.

Accordingly, the matrimonial home also occupies a very special place in family law. When a couple file for divorce, the matrimonial home is almost invariably divided between them. After all, having spent the better part of the marriage living in this home, it would seem antithetical to argue that the matrimonial home was not a matrimonial asset. It is even in the name, matrimonial home.

The decision of the Appellate Division of the High Court ("AD") in VOD v VOC, [2022] SGHC6, however, seriously challenges the conventional understanding of what a 'matrimonial home' is.

What is a 'matrimonial home'?

From a layman's perspective, the 'matrimonial home' is not something that really needs to be legally defined. It is simple enough - it is just the place in which the couple and the family they form, resides.

This is supported by the definition of the phrase in dictionaries. The Free Legal Dictionary by Farlex defines it as "the residence in which a husband and wife have lived together". The Legal Choices dictionary defines it as "the house that a husband and wife live in as a married couple". The term 'matrimonial home' is thus, conceptually, uncomplicated. The Legal Dictionary by law.com does not even provide a definition.

It is, however, perhaps a result of this triteness that no Court, and no statute, has attempted a definition of 'matrimonial home'. The Women's Charter defines 'matrimonial asset' in section 112(10), but the phrase 'matrimonial home' is not defined, and is referenced only as an exception to the exceptions of 'gift' and 'inheritance'.

As a result, legal practitioners often assume the definition of a 'matrimonial home', with reported cases slowly shaping the boundaries of this assumed definition. For example:

1. TQU v TQT, [2020] SGCA 8, suggested at [54] that a property that is used by the parties as temporary accommodation whilst awaiting the construction of their permanent home would not qualify as a matrimonial home.

2. Ryan Neil John v Berger Rosaline, [2000] 3 SLR 647, held at [59] to [61] that if a property is lived in for only a short time relative to the length of the marriage, it would not qualify as a matrimonial home.

3. TNC v TND, [2016] 3 SLR 1172, held at [18] that residence in a property for 15 months was sufficient to constitute 'ordinary use for shelter' of a property. This decision was approved on appeal to the Court of Appeal ("CA"). We note that this was not, strictly, a decision on the definition of 'matrimonial home'. It does, nevertheless, influence our understanding in that regard.

We, thus, do not have a comprehensive or conclusive definition of what a 'matrimonial home' is. Like an artist slowly chiselling a statue out of a block of marble, our understanding of what a 'matrimonial home' is has...