(65) 6226 1233
REQUEST CALLBACK

Some divorces are about splitting what’s on the table. Others are about finding out what’s being hidden under the table. We are a divorce lawyer in Singapore who acts as lead counsel when the case is contested, the assets are high-value or cross-border, and the outcome cannot be left to chance. Salem Ibrahim LLC acts as lead counsel in Singapore’s most contested matrimonial cases — complex divisions of high-value and internationally hidden assets, contested custody, and cross-border matters where family law collides with trust law, corporate structures and multiple jurisdictions. We are the divorce lawyer Singapore turns to when the case is high net worth where the assets are valuable, hidden, cross-border or all three. 

Our record is public, because our cases are reported:

  • Court of Appeal, five judges — lead counsel in the landmark UDA v UDB appeals establishing that the Singapore Family Justice Court has no jurisdiction to make orders against third parties, with previously decided cases to the contrary held wrongly decided
  • $92 million worldwide freezing order — acting for celebrity client Jamie Chua in a hotly contested matrimonial case involving a worldwide Mareva injunction
  • $7.9 million obtained for a wife in an acrimonious division of matrimonial assets — 50% of the pool
  • 100% of the matrimonial assets obtained for a wife, with the husband’s appeal dismissed
  • Teo Geok Fong v Lim Eng Hock — lead counsel in a titanic contested divorce spanning complex psychiatric evidence in a custody battle alongside complex financials
  • Trust challenge won — succeeding in the High Court for the wife in defeating a purported “Ancestral Home” trust claim by the husband over matrimonial assets

Big money or modest means, you get the same team that handles the landmark cases. We also do the ordinary, uncontested and urgent matters — properly, quickly and without emotive theatre.

Why clients choose us for contested divorce

A contested divorce is won on preparation: asset maps built from disclosure, valuation evidence assembled before negotiation, and counsel comfortable taking the case to trial when settlement fails. Our matrimonial team litigates contested divorces to the High Court and Court of Appeal — including the five-judge appeal that established the family court’s jurisdictional limits in UDA v UDB — and has obtained reported outcomes including a $92 million worldwide freezing order and awards from 50% to 100% of the matrimonial assets. The same team that wins the landmark cases also handles the straightforward ones.

How we help

  • Divorce lawyer in Singapore with 38 years at the bar — contested, high-value and cross-border cases
  • Contested divorce — dividing high-value matrimonial assets, complex corporate holdings, properties, shares and business interests
  • Mareva injunctions and asset freezing orders — freezing assets in divorce to prevent and stop the dissipation or transfer of assets during proceedings, worldwide where necessary
  • Asset tracing and discovery — locating and proving assets held through trusts, family companies, nominees and cross-border structures
  • Cross-border matrimonial matters — jurisdiction disputes, overseas assets, and enforcement of Singapore orders abroad
  • Custody, care and control — including hotly contested battles, relocation cases and cross-border child matters
  • Maintenance and financial provision — for spouses and children, including variation and enforcement
  • Protection orders — personal protection orders and family violence applications
  • Uncontested and fixed-fee divorces — the same expertise, for simpler matters

See Reported Cases

Facing a contested divorce, or worried about where the assets really are? Speak to our matrimonial team — call (65) 6226 1233 or request a callback.

 

Why choose us as your family lawyer in Singapore?

We are a family lawyer in Singapore for contested divorces, high-value asset fights, urgent child matters — and for the straightforward things done properly, quickly and without emotive theatre.

FAQ

 Move quickly and through your lawyer. Singapore courts can grant Mareva injunctions — freezing orders — restraining a spouse from dissipating or transferring assets during proceedings, and in appropriate cases these extend worldwide. Supporting measures include disclosure orders, targeted discovery and orders against persons holding or receiving the assets. Timing matters: a freezing order applied for after the assets have moved is a salvage operation, not a rescue. We act as lead counsel in exactly these applications, including one involving a $92 million worldwide freezing order.

No. In UDA v UDB, the Court of Appeal — a five-judge bench — confirmed that the Singapore family court has no jurisdiction to make orders against third parties, and held that past cases granting such orders were wrongly decided. Practical consequence: if matrimonial assets sit inside a company, a trust or a third party’s hands – if you’re dealing with assets in your husband’s company, assets held in trust in a divorce, or in-laws holding assets, you generally need different legal routes — discovery, tracing and, where warranted, separate proceedings against those third parties. In other words, the family court cannot simply make an order against whoever happens to be holding the asset. The decision in UDA v UDB makes precision about third-party jurisdiction in Singapore divorce proceedings especially important. Knowing who you can pursue, what evidence can be obtained, and which legal route is available can be decisive in complex, high-value divorce asset cases.

Under the Women’s Charter, the court divides matrimonial assets applying a just-and-equitable approach, weighing direct and indirect contributions — financial, homemaker and childcare contributions alike. The outcomes range far beyond 50:50: reported decisions include awards where one spouse obtained the entirety of the matrimonial assets, and others where intricate valuations and third-party claims reshaped the pool before division. High-value cases tend to turn on three battlegrounds — valuation, disclosure, and whether an asset is matrimonial at all. 

Spouses sometimes assert that family wealth — or a substantial part of it — was transferred into trusts, family agreements or nominal arrangements with relatives, purporting to remove assets from the matrimonial pool before division. Courts scrutinise these assertions closely. In a case our team handled, we challenged a purported trust said to arise from an “Ancestral Home” agreement and obtained High Court orders that no such trust existed. Where a trust is genuine, third-party property rights sit outside the family court’s jurisdiction — but a trust conjured to dilute the pool is a different animal, and it rarely survives competent challenge.

Possibly, depending on jurisdiction and residence connections, and on whether Singapore is the most advantageous forum. Where proceedings could be brought in more than one country, the choice of forum can materially affect outcomes on division, custody and support — the same marriage can produce materially different outcomes in different courts. We advise on jurisdiction and forum strategy at the outset, before positions harden. 

A parent wanting to remove a child from Singapore — including permanently — ordinarily needs either the other parent’s consent or the court’s permission; doing so unilaterally can amount to wrongful removal. Existing custody orders, border alerts and international child abduction regimes can each come into play. These cases move fast and are strongly fact-dependent, so early advice matters.

An uncontested divorce with agreed ancillary matters proceeds far faster than a contested one. Contested cases — especially those involving valuation disputes, discovery across jurisdictions, or custody trials — take materially longer, and the majority still resolve before trial through negotiation or court-directed settlement. What most influences duration in high-value cases is how much of the true picture has to be forced into disclosure before meaningful negotiation becomes possible.

Yes — contested divorce is the core of our matrimonial practice. We act as lead counsel in Singapore’s most contested cases, including reported decisions on freezing orders, division of high-value assets, custody and third-party trusts. Most cases settle before trial; our results when they don’t are part of the public record.