Description
The talk will cover the following issues:
- Customary marriages entered into before the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 (“LRA”) — Sections 4 and 33 of the Act;
- The requirement of registration under LRA — Sections 9, 17, 22, 23, 24, 26, and particularly sections 27 and 34 of the Act;
- Domicile of the parties — Section 48 of LRA;
- The parties to the petition;
- Effect of death of either party to the marriage;
- Recognition of foreign divorces; and
- Joint petitions — Section 52 of LRA.
Participants are encouraged to study the highlighted cases and articles below before attending this session:
- Lam Wai Hwa & Anor. v Toh Yee Sum (1983) 2 MLJ 302 P.C.;
- Yeop Leong Huat v Yeap Leong Soon & Anor. (1989) 3 MLJ 157 S.C.;
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- Nagapushani v Nesaratnam & Anor. (1970) 2 MLJ 8;
- Leong Wee Shing v Chai Siew Yin (2000) 5 MLJ 162;
- Article: Married or Not Married – That is the Question (2002) 3 MLJ cxxix;
- Chai Siew Yin v Leong Wee Shing (2004) 1 CLJ 752 (C.A.);
- Chai Siew Yin v Leong Wee Shing (Federal Court Appeal No. 02-10- 2003 given on 29/ 1/2004 referred to in:
- Koh Lai Kiow v Low Nam Hui (2005) 7 MLJ 143;
- Ting Ai Choon v Loh Ngo Chuo (2010) 2 AMR 173;
- Charnley v Charnley & Betty (1960) MLJ 29;
- Tan Guan Hock v Khor Char Heah (1990) 1 MLJ 422 S.C.;
- Suci Mathews v Thomas Mathews (1985) 2 MLJ 228;
- Gurcharan Singh v Mninder Kaur [2010] 6 MLJ 405; and
- J. Kumaranayagam v K. Chandra (1996) 5 MLJ 612.
Speaker
Balwant Singh Sidhu graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from University of London and was called to the English Bar in 1982 and to the Malaysian Bar in 1983. He has since been in active practice for nearly 40 years with a focus in family law. He has handled well over a thousand family law cases and also criminal, civil, commercial, banking, land and other matters.
Balwant set up Balwant Singh Sidhu & Co, a sole proprietorship, in 1985. He was an External Tutor in Civil Procedure for the Certificate In Legal Practice held in University of Malaya, from 1985 to 1991. He was an Examiner in Civil Procedure for the Certificate In Legal Practice (Qualifying Board) for several years after that. In 1995, Balwant was the contributing editor for The Annotated Statutes of Malaysia on the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976.
Balwant was a speaker on family law at the 10th Malaysia Law Conference and the 11th Malaysian Law Conference, and he has spoken at various talks organised by various State Bar Committees on matters related to family law.
He has been invited to be a judge at moot trials and appeals at University Malaya. Balwant was admitted ad hoc to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Brunei Darussalam as Senior Counsel in 2002 (for a family law/conflict of laws case), 2004 (for a corruption trial as senior counsel); and again in 2010 for an appeal at the Supreme Court for the same corruption case.
He gave opinions on Malaysian family law to the Family Court of Melbourne, Australia, where he was also asked to appear as an expert witness on Malaysian family law, to law firms in the United Kingdom and Singapore; and has published articles on family law in the Malayan Law Journal.
He continues to be in active legal practice. He is a member of the Bar Council Family Law Committee and hopes to contribute meaningfully to the reform of Malaysian family law; as he feels that quite a few reforms are necessary and long overdue.
Terms and Conditions
Event Policy
Places are limited and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.
For events with registration fees, all payments must be made in advance, including bank charges. Registration will be confirmed once proof of payment is provided by email or fax, and full payment is received.
For events that are not organised by Bar Council, please note that you are subject to the relevant terms and conditions specified by the external providers.
Cancellation
Cancellations must be made in writing.
If you have failed to inform the organiser on your cancellation for three consecutive times, you may be blacklisted for future events.
Refunds
Refunds will be processed after the event is completed. This may take up to 30 business days. The conditions for refunds are as follows:
- Full refunds will be issued if the event is cancelled or postponed by the organiser due to some circumstances.
- No refunds for this course. However substitution is allowed.
The organiser reserves the right to modify, cancel or postpone the event, should circumstances arise that make such action necessary, whereupon all registration fees paid will be refunded.
Transferral
You are allowed to transfer your place to another participant, but you must notify the organiser with the necessary details.
Attendance
CPD points will not be awarded to lawyers and pupils in chambers from Peninsular Malaysia who arrive more than 15 minutes late, are not present throughout the event, or leave before its scheduled end.
Privacy
The personal information that you provide to the Bar Council, whether now or in the future, may be used, recorded, stored, disclosed or otherwise processed by or on behalf of the Bar Council for the purposes of facilitation and organisation of this event, research and audit, maintenance of a participant database for the promotion of this event, and such ancillary services as may be relevant.
Disclaimer
- Materials will be emailed only. No printed notes will be provided.
- No recording of the event is permitted via any means at any time.
- No part of the event content may be used/reproduced in any form without the written and explicit consent of the Bar Council and speaker(s).
