Another family drama over money has arisen again.
This time, a daughter tried to take advantage of her mother’s trust in her and her lack of literacy in English to pocket $1.71 million.
And you can bet your bottom dollar that her mother wasn’t happy with it.
Daughter Takes Advantage of 92-Year-Old Mother to Pocket $1.71 Million in Joint Bank Accounts
To what extent would you go to try and get $1.71 million?
For Ng Peh Wah, she was willing to take advantage of her own 92-year-old mother.
In December 2022, 92-year-old Tan Chwee Lian asked her daughter Ng Peh Wah to accompany her to open two new bank accounts. Tan wanted to set up one bank account for medical use and the other for share investments.
Investing at the age of 92? Age really is just a number.
Under her daughter’s advice, the mother agreed to have the mother-daughter pair jointly hold the two accounts.
Tan then transferred monies from her existing bank accounts held jointly with her son, Ng Yeow Hua, into these two new accounts. These monies came from the proceeds of an en bloc sale of a Craig Road property several years ago.
But why did Tan decide to rock the boat if her monies were fine in her existing accounts?
Well, the mother’s rationale for doing so was simple. Knowing that her son, who jointly held her existing accounts, was swarmed by the family business, the mother wanted to rope in her daughter instead to help manage her share investments.
However, little did the 92-year-old know that her very own daughter would eventually take advantage of this opportunity to try and pocket her money.
Top 10 Anime Betrayals.
So, what exactly did Ms Ng do to try to pocket her mother’s $1.71 million?
Before we get to that, we have to get one thing straight. Tan wanted the two newly opened joint bank accounts to be under an “either to sign” arrangement, meaning that only one signatory from either joint account holder is needed. Her rationale was to have the flexibility to withdraw money whenever needed.
Curiously, the two joint accounts ended up under a “both to sign” arrangement instead, meaning that signatories from both joint holders were required.
And no, this wasn’t because of an accident or hiccup—it was all part of the daughter’s plan.
Ms Ng, knowing that her 92-year-old mother was not literate in English, blindsided her mother and made sure the two joint bank accounts were under a “both to sign” arrangement, giving Ms Ng control over her mother’s money.
Further, Ms Ng’s earlier suggestion to her mother to open joint accounts was so that once her mother passed on, she could pocket the entire $1.71 million in the bank accounts as a joint account holder.
Mother Asked Daughter to Make Things Right; Daughter Refused To Do So
Now, there are two issues.
First, although Tan wanted an “either to sign” arrangement, the joint accounts were under a “both to sign” arrangement. Second, Tan wanted to sever her daughter from the joint accounts as she did not intend to have her $1.71 million given entirely to her daughter upon her death.
However, upon raising these concerns with her daughter and requesting her daughter to make things right, her daughter refused to do so.
Clearly, someone hasn’t visited the Ten Courts of Hell exhibition at Haw Par Villa before.
Regardless, this was Tan’s last straw. She decided to turn to the avenue that every Singaporean turns to when faced with such family dramas—to “sue until your pants drop”.
Mother Argues That Funds in Two Joint Bank Accounts Belonged to Her; Daughter Disputes This
Tan claimed that although in form, funds in the two joint bank accounts appear to be jointly held by the mother-daughter pair, in substance, the funds belonged solely to the 92-year-old herself.
However, this is disputed by the daughter. Instead, the gist of Ms Ng’s claims is that her mother either intended to gift the funds in the joint accounts to her or that these funds were meant to be Ms Ng’s inheritance money.
Justice Valerie Thean rejected the daughter’s arguments in the High Court.
According to the Grounds of Decision released this month, just because the daughter was named as a joint holder of the two bank accounts, it doesn’t mean that funds in the two accounts were intended to be gifted to her.
Affirming so would be equivalent to saying anything can be mine if I scribble my name on it.
That Ridout Road GCB? Mine now, because I marked my name on the walls.
Further, apart from the daughter’s claims, there is no alternative evidence suggesting that the $1.71 million in the joint bank accounts were meant to be gifted to the daughter.
It was also found that the funds in the joint bank accounts were not meant to be preserved for Ms Ng’s inheritance.
Thus, the $1.71 million was found to belong ultimately to Tan. Justice Thean ordered the two joint accounts to be terminated, and the $1.71 million returned to Tan.
Earlier this month, another lawsuit involving a family drama also found its way to the news—and at the heart of this drama, also lay money.
In that case, a mother, alongside her eldest daughter, was sued by her two younger daughters over inheritance money. What was at stake was $4.08 million.
That’s not all. Last month, we saw a 68-year-old sue his younger brother over a bungalow left behind by their late father. This suit puts $9.3 million on the line.
No wonder people say that money is the root of all evil.
Ah… The truth is, the only thing most of us will be fighting with our family members over won’t be money. Instead, it might be about who didn’t flush the toilet last night.