On 7 June 2026, The Sunday Times published a feature in its Invest section (paywalled) under the headline “When a wealthy family’s infighting results in multiple court disputes.” The article described a family in which a wealthy couple’s failure to establish clear legal arrangements allowed longstanding domestic tensions to escalate into approximately 10 legal proceedings across the Family Justice Courts and the High Court. The disputes touched on property occupation, the validity of a lasting power of attorney, the management of family company assets, and the circumstances of an eviction. The article’s companion piece offered practical guidance to readers on how to avoid similar outcomes, covering exclusion clauses in wills, no-dispute clauses, and the importance of taking professional legal advice early.
The Straits Times coverage is a timely prompt for any family that owns property, runs a business, or holds significant assets across generations. The legal issues it highlights are not unusual. They arise in Singapore courts with regularity, and they are almost always preventable with the right planning in place.
This seven-part series, When Family Meets the Law, takes the themes raised in that reporting as its starting point. Each article addresses one dimension of the legal landscape that the reported family had to navigate: corporate governance, the role of mediation as an alternative to litigation, no-contest clauses in wills, protection against undue influence over elderly parents, the legal mechanics of evicting a family member from a property, the ring-fencing of inherited assets from matrimonial claims, and a comparative survey of how other jurisdictions around the world handle no-contest clauses. Each article is grounded in current Singapore statute and case law, and each corrects common misconceptions that can expose families to unnecessary risk.
Articles in this series:
- Article 1: When a Family Business Becomes a Battleground
- Article 2: Mediation: The Better Way to Resolve Family Disputes (25 June 2026)
- Article 3: The Power and Pitfalls of No-Contest Clauses in Singapore Wills (2 July 2026)
- Article 4: Beyond the LPA: Protecting Elderly Parents from Undue Influence (9 July 2026)
- Article 5: How to Evict a Family Member Professionally and Legally (16 July 2026)
- Article 6: Ring-Fencing Inheritances from Matrimonial Claims (23 July 2026)
- Article 7: The Global Jury on No-Contest Clauses (30 July 2026)
