• Lawyers
  • Kasturibai Manickam (Kast)

Kasturibai Manickam (Kast)

East Asia Law Corporation

  • 133 New Bridge Road #10-02 Chinatown Point Singapore 059413
  • Office Hours:

    9am - 6pm Extra hours by appointment

About

Kast read law in England and was called to the English Bar in 1997. She was subsequently called to the Singapore Bar in 1998.

She joined East Asia Law Corporation soon after one of the founders, Colin Kang, passed away, but had close ties to the firm even before that, being the wife of the other founder, Mr Premchand Soman, as well as Colin’s very good friend.

Kast has extensive experience in family matters, adoption, probate, estate planning, criminal matters, Syariah matters and conveyancing. Her sympathetic nature and extensive experience have gained her the trust and respect of her many satisfied clients. Having a daughter of her own, she also understands the concerns that a parent may have regarding their children.

Additionally, Kast is passionate about serving the community and has done so for many years – she regularly gives talks on legal matters, volunteers at legal clinics organized by various grassroots organizations, and carries out pro bono work. Kast is a member of the Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore (ACLS), an organization whose members undertake pro-bono cases.

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Featured Services

Divorce

  • Acting as a lead counsel in the Court of Appeal case, ARX v ARY [2016] 2 SLR 686, which expanded the applicable principles of the division of matrimonial assets in family matters in 2016;
  • Successfully persuaded the Family Justice Courts to order that the wife be granted 75% in terms of indirect contributions : VSZ v VTA [2021] SGFC 74
  • Successfully represented a grieving father and persuaded the Family Justice Court to order access term which span from Thursdays to Saturdays including overnight access. The mother subsequently withdrew her appeal against the lower court’s decision. VBX v VBY[2019] SGFC 114.
  • Successfully persuaded the Family Justice Courts in granting favourable care and control orders in favour of clients.
  • Successfully applied to the Family Justice Courts to vary periodic maintenance to lump sum maintenance after the ex-husband defaulted on his maintenance obligations. The decision was affirmed by the High Court : VBT v VBU [2019] SGFC 111
  • Successfully argued on behalf of a Muslim woman that there was no pronouncement of talak being made by her husband in 1985 which resulted in the entire dismissal of the divorce by the Syariah Court and thereby protecting the client’s interest in claiming her nafkah mutaah. The husband’s appeal was wholly dismissed by the Appeal Board. The research spanned from articles and Islamic verses in Malay for which she has applied in her submissions. See CM v CN (2019) 7 SSAR 190
  • Successfully argued on behalf of many ex-wives against their ex-husband’s variation application to reduce the spousal and children’s maintenance.
  • Successfully applied for leave for committal proceedings against many spouses who flouted access orders.
  • Successfully applied for Personal Protection Orders on behalf of clients against their violent family member(s) and frequently engaged in such PPO trials.
  • Successfully applied for Stay of Execution Pending Appeal on behalf of a client who appealed against the lower court’s decision.

Commercial Disputes

  • Acted as the Lead Counsel in Rahman Mohammad Jillour v Paretam Singh s/o Kishen Singh (alias Pritam Singh Gill) [2021] SGHC 30 in both High Court and the Court of Appeal which eventually culminated in favourable orders.
  • Successfully persuaded the High Court in dismissing a case against an ex son in law who tried to claim his ex father in law’s HDB property in March 2020.
  • Successfully persuaded the District Court in ordering a lorry driver to bear a larger percentage of liability in a pedestrian-crossing scenario. See Cheryl Stephanie Elias Edward v Sun Xin Jian and another (Tan Chong Industrial Machinery (Pte) Ltd, third party) and another suit [2020] SGDC 262.
  • Successfully applied for Security for Costs against Foreigner Plaintiffs in numerous High Court cases.
  • Successfully applied for specific discovery against various parties including third party discovery.
  • Successfully defended various Order 14 applications since commencement of practice.
  • Successfully defended a bogus claim filed by a foreigner plaintiff against a corporate client and involved in engaging forensic expert to analyse the signatures and handwriting in documents.
  • Assisting in various corporate insolvency cases involving moneylending cases.

Criminal Law

  • Represented many clients in various trial proceedings involving charges like criminal breach of trust, forgery, cheating, outrage of modesty, voluntary causing hurt. Some criminal trials will take at least 14 days to end.
  • Represented clients in mitigating their sentence after pleading guilty. One of the reported cases is PP v Muhammad Farhan bin Adnan[2018] SGDC 67.
  • Represented clients in applying for bail after arrest. One of the reported cases is Public Prosecutor v Tan Han Ming, Benedict[2018] SGDC 12.
  • Acted as lead counsel in drafting appeal submissions in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal.

Services & Fees

Fees

To be discussed.

 

Legal Services

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