BACKGROUND
Mdm Ho owns a shophouse, worth $7.8M
In Dec 2016, Mdm Ho made a will leaving the shophouse to her grandniece, Ms Wong
On the same day, she also signed a document to transfer the property to Ms Wong.
The transfer was registered in 2017.
ISSUE
In April 2020, Mr Ho and Ms Nicola Ho were granted power of attorney to act on Mdm Ho behalf. They took legal action against Ms Wong in relation to the property. Ms Wong argued that the property was a gift, and it was to be held in trust for the family of Mdm Ho’s sister. The suit claimed the the transfer should be invalidated, as Mdm Ho didn’t intend to give the property to Ms Wong within her lifetime, it didn’t seek to invalidate the will.
CONCLUSION
High Court judge concluded that when Mdm Ho signed the transfer document, she had mistakenly believed that she was gifting the property to Ms Wong and did not understand it meant that she would lose ownership of the property during her lifetime. Thus, the Court ordered cancellation of the registration of transfer and rectification of land register to reflect Mdm Ho as property owner. Mdm Wong appealed to Appellate Division of the High Court was dismissed. She is ordered to pay Mdm Ho total of $412,000 in cost and $123,019.17 in disbursements.
MORALE OF THE STORY
There is difference between will and transfer of asset:
It is important to understand the documents that you are signing and not sign blindly.
If you are elderly and vulnerable, do bring along a trusted person who is impartial, to assist you in understanding the documents that you are going to sign.
