In Re Kornrat Sriponnok [2015] SGHC 81, the brother of a deceased man made an application to the Court seeking that he and his siblings, as the next of kin of the deceased were entitled to CPF monies amounting to $150,000 left behind by the deceased. The deceased, Ho Kum Yuen was however married to a Thai woman, named Kornrat Sriponnok. The marriage was in 2001 but the deceased and Ms Kornrat never lived together and in fact had split up in 2002. Ho Kum Yuen did not have any contact with his Thai wife, thereafter despite making five trips to Thailand to trace Ms Kornrat. He had also wanted to divorce her in 2004 but could not afford to do so and she remained his legal spouse when Ho Kum Yuen died in 2012.

Although Ms Kornrat was entitled to his CPF money as his widow, Mr Ho’s brother, claimed that she had not been heard from in seven years and applied for a court declaration that she is presumed dead. The applicant’s lawyer had also placed a notice in a Bangkok newspaper seeking information about her whereabouts for the purposes of the application.

In his judgment, Justice Choo Han Teck, ruled that it has not been proven that Ms Kornrat has not been heard from for seven years by those who knew her well. He commented that the fact that Kornrat cannot be contacted is not proof that she is dead and that she may still be alive somewhere in Thailand and while the applicant had only proven that Kornrat cannot be found in Singapore, there was insufficient evidence to prove that she was dead.