Charis Sim

Charis specialises in all areas of family and matrimonial law, including contentious custody, care and control disputes, maintenance for wives and children, division of matrimonial assets, family violence, relocation applications, cross-jurisdictional disputes such as child abductions, and adoption.

As a firm advocate of therapeutic justice, Charis is invested in mediation (both Court directed and private) and amicable resolution of cases whenever possible. She assists parties with negotiating out-of-court settlements to achieve practical and sustainable outcomes with minimal acrimony.

Charis' notable experience includes:

• Acted for the father in a contentious care and control dispute where both parties sought sole care and control of the child. The Court awarded the father sole care and control despite the mother being a homemaker for the majority of the marriage, due to findings of alienation and lack of co-parenting on the mother's part (XDH v XDI [2024] SGFC 80; the mother's High Court appeal was dismissed).
• Acted for the husband in an appeal on the division of matrimonial assets. The Appellate Division of the High Court increased the husband's share of the assets from 55% to 65%, resulting in the husband obtaining about S$1.3 million more. This case involved a novel point of law on how a spouse's substantial pre-marital assets should be factored into the division exercise despite the lack of evidence directly linking them to marital assets (WQP v WQQ [2024] SGHC(A) 34).
• Acted for the husband in resisting the wife's applications for the enforcement and upward variation of a maintenance order. The Court dismissed the wife's applications entirely.