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C v F

Judgment Cited authorities 37 Cited in Precedent Map Related
Vincent
Judgment Date14 November 2006
Subject MatterMatrimonial Causes
Judgement NumberFCMC1701/2000
CourtFamily Court (Hong Kong)
FCMC001701A/2000 C v. F

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

MATRIMONIAL CAUSES

SUIT NO. 1701 OF 2000

_________________

BETWEEN

　 C Petitioner
　 and 　
　 F Respondent

_________________

Coram : H.H. Judge Bruno Chan in Chambers

Date of Hearing : 20 – 21 April, 4, 15 – 16 May, 22, 28 – 31 August, 1 & 22 September 2006

Date of Judgement : 14 November 2006

____________________

J U D G M E N T

____________________

1. This is the Respondent Wife’s application for ancillary relief against the Petitioner Husband upon the dissolution of their lengthy marriage. They married in 1967 under some form of marriage which was subsequently formalized by registration in 1994 at the Marriage Registry. They have 4 children out of their marriage, 2 sons who are twins, and 2 daughters, all of whom are now adults and are married. In October 1997 the parties separated when the Husband moved out of their matrimonial home, but the decree nisi of divorce based on the parties’ separation for at least 2 years was not granted until 21st August 2004, which has since been made absolute. The Wife is now 55, while the Husband is 5 years older at 60.

Relevant Background

2. I did deal with some of the background of the parties in my earlier judgment on the Wife’s application for maintenance pending suit on 20th September 2004, but given the emergence of much more evidence and information since, it would be relevant to go into the background again but in more details.

3. The Wife was born in Shanghai, China in 1951 and came to Hong Kong in 1957 when she was about 6 years old. Her grandfather was in the property development business in Shanghai and came to Hong Kong in the early 1950s where he continued his property business and was joined by the Wife’s father in Hong Kong 2 years later. The Husband was also born in Shanghai in 1946 and came to Hong Kong in 1962.

4. The parties met in about 1965 when they were still secondary school students, with the Wife then only about 14 and the Husband 19. The Wife was then living with her parents and siblings in Shan Kwong Road, Happy Valley, while the Husband lived with his maternal grandfather nearby in Yuk Sau Street.

5. In or about the end of 1966 the Wife became pregnant by the Husband and gave birth to twin sons CL and CR on 9th September 1967. As a result she had to drop out of school to become a full time teenage mother. Not surprisingly this situation was met with complete disapproval from her family, in particularly with her father who declared a severance of their relationship and cut off all his financial support for her. She therefore moved to live with the Husband at his grandfather’s home in Yuk Sau Street, while the Husband also quit schooling, as well as his part-time job as a taxi-driver, and through his grandfather, found employment in a printing company at a salary of $350 per month plus commission, which was clearly insufficient to support his family and therefore had to rely on subsidies from his grandfather.

6. At or about this time the Wife’s parents encountered serious difficulties with their property development business and left Hong Kong for Taiwan. As a result the Wife’s younger brother and sister came to stay with the parties until the early 70s when the sister married and moved away, while the brother left in the early 80s after completing his tertiary education.

7. In about 1968 / 69 the Husband left his job and, with some money borrowed from his grandfather, went into the printing business of his own with 2 other partners in North Point. It started off as more of a trading business when he and his partners would only act as agents and broker printing contracts between customers and printing companies. In 1970 the Wife gave birth to the elder daughter A, and by then her relationship with her father had improved, and her contact with her parents had resumed.

8. In about 1972, the Husband and his partners moved their business to Jaffe Road, Wanchai where they rented a shop and an attic and purchased some machinery to do their own productions. Shortly afterwards the Husband moved his growing family to bigger premises by renting a 1,500 sq ft flat at Blue Pool Road, Happy Valley. While business was starting to take shape, his financial situation was still unstable, especially when his grandfather was no longer able to offer any more assistance after he bought a flat to live with one of his sons who had come to join him in Hong Kong.

9. In about 1973 / 74, the Husband broke up with his 2 partners and formed his own printing company as a sole proprietor. In 1976 he purchased his first real property, the first of several industrial units on Sing Teck Industrial Building, at No. 44 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Hong Kong in the Wife’s name for use of his business. In the same year the Wife gave birth to their youngest child E, and a domestic servant was hired for the family. It was also at around this time when the Husband’s younger brother and cousin came to live with the family, both of whom ended up helping out at the Husband’s company.

10. In 1981 the Husband’s business was incorporated into a limited company known as T Printing Company Limited (“TPCL”) in which he made himself and the Wife a director and equal shareholder, and arranged for the industrial units to be transferred to TPCL.

11. The business continued to grow and in the early 80s the company obtained a substantial printing contract from Coco-Cola which caused his business to flourish further. Soon the parties moved into a 3,300 sq ft luxurious flat in Estoril Court at mid-level Hong Kong purchased for $24 million under the name of TPCL, employed 2 domestic servants and a driver for the family, and sent their sons to study in the U.S.

12. In about 1991 / 1992 the Husband moved the production line of his business into Wong Kong, China. In order to expand his business, he formed a new company in 1994 known as T Printing (Holding) Company Limited (“TPH”) with an investor headed by a Mr Fong of the Fong Family which had their own company listed in Hong Kong and their own factory and printing machines in Shajing Town, Shenzhen, China. TPH is a B.V.I. company with 76.19% shareholding held by TPCL and the remaining 23.81% shares held by a company of the Fong Family known as G Electronics (Overseas) Ltd (“G Electronics”). TPH does not carry out any trading activities and only hold investments in its following subsidiaries : -

(a) T Printing (H.K.) Company Limited (“TP Hong Kong”) principally involved in trading activities and to receive orders from external customers for printing services, with TPH and the said Mr. Fong each holding 1 share, with the latter, I understand, in fact holding on trust for the former.

(b) T Printing (China) Company Limited (“TP China”), a B.V.I. company principally involved in manufacturing activities and prints production with TPH as the only shareholder.

13. In or about the same year the Husband also formed another B.V.I. company under the name of R International Limited (“R International”) for the purpose of receiving his income from his printing business. In 1995 the Husband and R International entered into a consultancy agreement with TP China to pay a monthly consultancy fee of $155,000 plus a year end bonus to the Husband through R International up to the year ended 31st March 1999. Since then no new consultancy agreement had been entered into but the Husband has been receiving a monthly consultancy fee well in excess of the original sum of $155,000, a matter which I will no doubt return to later in this judgment. I am also given to understand that the T Group of Companies has also used this company to pay commissions to some of its customers in order to secure business.

14. A further company known as G Printing Company Limited (“GP”) was formed in 1999 specifically to receive orders from a single customer F in order to minimise any potential conflict of interest between F which sells mainly in Europe, and the customers of TP Hong Kong which sell similar products in the US market. The Husband is the sole beneficial shareholder of this company.

15. It was also in 1994, on 11th April when the parties formally registered their marriage at the Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry, which the Husband says was for the main purpose of the parties’ subsequent application for emigration to the U.S. in 1996 at the suggestion of their sons due to their concern over the stability of Hong Kong upon her return to the sovereignty of China in 1997, and upon the advice of their U.S. lawyers to avoid any tax implication on their application, the parties transferred their respective shareholding in TPCL to their younger daughter E on trust. The shares were subsequently transferred by E to 2 nominee companies on trust for the Husband.

16. The expansion of business naturally brought in more wealth to the Husband and enable the parties to enjoy a high standard of living and life style, including large sums of spending money for the Wife and the family, membership of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, regular consumption of bird’s nest and shark fins at home, the use of several luxurious family cars and holidays in the U.S. and Europe. The Wife also started to frequent karaoke clubs in the evenings with her friends, as well as throwing dinner and drinking parties with them at her home. In addition to substantial sums for living expenses every month from the Husband and the use of his supplementary credit cards for shopping, the Wife also received a salary from TPCL, mainly for the company’s tax purpose, initially at $15,000 per month, gradually increasing to $50,000 per month in the year of 2000.

17. The parties also started to invest in the stock market, and in 1994 the Husband purchased an apartment at the Convention Plaza...

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