S'pore woman ordered to repay mother-in-law S$175,000, claimed money given was gift instead of loan

A woman was ordered to repay S$175,689 to her mother-in-law after a judge rejected her claims on various loans she received from 2018 and 2021.

The woman and her husband were undergoing divorce proceedings when the case was heard.

Nine loans

A judgment on the case showed that there were nine loans in total, ranging from S$1,500 to S$200,000.

Various loans were documented in four IOUs, written in Chinese and signed by the daughter-in-law.

The daughter-in-law, however, said the IOUs were for her mother-in-law's record-keeping and there was no intention of "forming legal relations".

The daughter-in-law also denied taking five of the loans, instead arguing that in the cases where she did receive them, they were for various expenses.

The S$200,000 loan

One of the loans she denied receiving was the S$200,000 loan.

The daughter-in-law said that while she had received the sum, it was a gift from her mother-in-law to her son for crypto trading.

The money was then transferred to the daughter-in-law's account.

The daughter-in-law subsequently transferred S$110,000 to her mother-in-law, but claimed that it was due to "familial deference" rather than legal obligation.

The judge said she found the daughter-in-law's claim that the S$200,000 was a gift "inherently unbelievable" for a number of reasons, one of which was how the money had been transferred to the daughter-in-law's account instead of her own son.

There was also no evidence that it had been used for crypto trading.

Deputy registrar Jasmin Kang also pointed out that the presence of documents such as IOUs, which "by their very nature" are indicative of money owed, made the daughter-in-law's claim that her husband's intention was only for record-keeping purposes "curious".

The court granted the mother-in-law part of the claim for the sum of S$175,689, and also ordered the daughter-in-law to pay S$4,500 in legal costs.

Image from Canva and Mothership