Singapore — Three siblings are currently fighting for their right to the inheritance left by their parents, with the eldest claiming he was the favourite.
The inheritance, involving a semi-detached house along Sunrise Avenue and a shophouse unit in Ang Mo Kio, is said to be worth S$3.1 million.
The siblings’ mother passed away in 2013 and their father in 2019.
Both parents stated in their individual wills that the shophouse and the landed unit would go to their youngest son.
However, the parents had co-owned the properties, with the eldest brother being a joint owner.
The semi-detached house was sold in 2020 for S$1.6 million, with two-thirds of the proceeds currently being held by the court, reported Chinese newspaper Lianhe Wanbao.
Meanwhile, the shophouse, with an approximate S$1.5 million market price, is currently being leased out.
It was reported that the eldest son, 48, had helped pay the down payment for the house, although their parents largely covered the sum.
The shophouse’s loan repayments, on the other hand, was paid for by the parents.
The younger siblings, aged 46 and 36 years old, claim that the shophouse and two-thirds of the house should be considered their parent’s property and not solely belonging to their older brother.
In response, the older brother claimed that he was the “favourite” of their parents, given he excelled academically and graduated from the University of Cambridge.
Their parents only made the eldest son a co-owner of the properties to gain a more extended loan repayment period, said the younger siblings.
The eldest son was 21 when made a co-owner of the shophouse, and 26 when they had purchased the semi-detached house.
The siblings’ case was tried in court last week and scheduled to resume on Jul 7.
The law on joint tenancy states that each co-owner of a house together own the whole interest in the property.
Therefore, the ownership of a house would automatically transfer to the surviving joint tenant if one of the owners dies.
“In joint tenancy, the right of survivorship applies. This means that upon the demise of any joint owner, his interest in the flat would automatically be passed on to the remaining co-owners. This is regardless of whether the deceased joint owner has left behind a Will,” as explained by the Housing & Development Board on its website.
The Land Titles Act further notes that a joint tenancy is not protected from being divided into specified shares. /TISG
Read related: Sons of former S’pore president face off in court over shareholdings
Sons of former S’pore president face off in court over shareholdings