Our firm represented the 2nd Defendant (the Appellant) in a civil appeal (Shanghai Commercial Bank Ltd v. Lee Yau Tak and Another,CACV576/2021).

In the District Court, the Bank claimed by way of mortgagee action for possession of the former matrimonial home of the Appellant and her ex-husband, which was acquired in the ex-husband’s sole name and mortgaged in favour of the Bank. Judgment was granted in the District Court in favour of the Bank and the Appellant’s claim for declaration of beneficial ownership in the property was rejected.

The appeal to the Court of Appeal was allowed on the following grounds:-

(1) the Judge should not have summarily determined against our client on the issue of whether she had a beneficial interest in the property, but should have held that she had produced sufficient evidence for this issue to be tried; and
(2) the Judge erred in holding that even if our client had a beneficial interest in the property and thus had a right to redeem the mortgage, the outcome of the case would inevitably be the same given that our client did not have any right to require the ex-husband’s trustees-in-bankruptcy to transfer the right of redemption to her, and had failed to show that she had sufficient financial means to redeem the mortgage.

Our team for this case was led by our partner, Mr. Tommy Tam, and assisted by our Senior Associate Ms. Jenny Wong and our trainee solicitor Miss Crystal Yip.