FORGOTTEN FORTUNE

Her brother and only son tussle over her assets after her mental state declines

- Tan Ooi Boon

An 87-year-old woman had amassed a wealth of over $17 million but lived frugally on her own until she suffered from dementia, sparking a court battle between two camps of her relatives.

The Singapore permanent resident had the means to live comfortably but apparently did not hire a caregiver, preferring instead to frequently seek help from her condominium's management employees for minor chores, such as looking for her misplaced mobile phone.

When her mental condition started to deteriorate from 2020 onwards, she began to show signs of being unable to take care of herself. Her condo's facility manager noted that her home was "unsanitary, crowded with waist-high clutter and infested with cockroaches and other pests".

She would also become "verbally and physically aggressive when frustrated, striking others with her walking stick or banging on her neighbours' doors at times".

Her only son, 62, lives in Australia but calls and visits her regularly.

However, it was not disclosed why he did not arrange for his increasingly vulnerable mother to have better care, even when he discovered that in December 2022, she had opened a $200,000 joint bank account with two people who were unfamiliar to him.

It was only from July 2023 that she received full-time care, after she fell and was hospitalised. The hospital called her son and her elder brother, 91, who lives in the United States.

The brother, who last visited her over a decade ago, flew in with his son, 60, the following month and wrote themselves into the woman's lasting power of attorney (LPA) as her legal representatives after taking her to see a doctor.

The duo also got her to sign a statutory declaration to renounce her ownership of her apartment and another property. The document stated that her brother would be the sole owner of these two assets, worth about $6 million in total.