A 90-year-old businessman in Singapore won a lawsuit against his daughter over four joint properties valued at more than S$11 million in total.

According to a court judgment on May 6, Justice Choo Han Teck ruled that Lim Kim Toon, won the rights to sell the properties after his daughter, Lim Hwee Hoon, disputed his rights to do so.

He had sued her on the basis that the properties solely belonged to him and that she had inserted her name in the purchase without him knowing or approving.

The properties involved were indicated as Boon Lay 222, Jurong West 164, 2 Dalhousie, and Jurong West 225.

Bought properties jointly as he was "too old to procure a mortgage"

Lim, co-founder of industrial company Evan Lim Industrial/Warehousing Development Pte Ltd, had bought the properties jointly with his daughter between 2004 and 2018 as investment.

She had become his co-mortgagee at her suggestion as he was "too old to procure a mortgage".

However, he had paid for all four properties himself.

As Lim is illiterate, his daughter had worked as his personal assistant to help him in various matters even though he had named her the director of the company.

She was also the only child employed in the company although he has five other children.

He had trusted her with paperwork pertaining to the mortgages, including any legal or banking matters, such as opening a joint UOB account, which was used to receive rental proceeds.

Sued her after she refused to let him sell the properties

Lim, who testified in Hokkien, said he did not know that his daughter had inserted her own name in the documents.

He only found out about it when he told her that he intended to sell all four properties in order to buy another property for his grandson.

She refused to let him do so and also said she owned the properties.

Lim then filed a lawsuit against her.

She claimed in court that the terms of the purchase were clearly explained to her father by a lawyer and a banker, despite the documents being written in English.

"This action has split the family"

Justice Choo said the lawsuit has "split the family", since different family members have since taken sides with either Lim or his daughter.

Lim’s youngest son and his grandson-in-law had taken his side, while his four other children testified for his daughter.

During the trial, the judge also highlighted that Lim had made a will with his late wife in 2015, in which he listed two of the properties as his assets for distribution.

Lim had previously helped or bought properties for his children using their names only, including his daughter.

Top photo via Canva