The story of one Madam Lim

[THIS IS A FICTIONAL CREATION INSPIRED BY SOME OF THE LEGAL CASES THAT CAME ACROSS OUR DESKS. IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE A LEGAL ADVICE]

Let me tell you the story of one Madam Lim Peck Joo (not her real name). I knew her from her stall in Segambut where she sells her renown pork soup noodle. Her stall opens for the afternoon session to late evening.

Although the stall opens in the afternoon, but work starts well before sunrise. Getting ingredients from the market and brewing her glorious broth were her morning routines. So it’s a 12 hours work.

Work was tiring but she enjoyed it because it was where she found meaning in her life.

You see, Madam Lim had three children where the eldest 2 were in local universities while the youngest was still in the secondary school. The monies she earned from her stall were used to fund their study.

In case you are wondering, Madam Lim was married, not divorced nor widowed. Her husband was unemployed and totally unhireable. He was a drunkard and gambler.

Every week or two he would open up his hand and asked money from Madam Lim to pay for his alcohol fix. All would be well if Madam just pay him off with RM100-RM200 cash. Otherwise, the verbal abuse, shoving and pushing would take place.

The abuse would normally limited to just verbal abuses and body shoving. He would not dare to escalate and cause serious bodily harm. Spineless he might be, he is certainly not stupid. He would not dare “to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs”.

Even though there was no bodily harm, the whole experience was still upsetting and troubling. Sometimes, after a full and tired day of work, what she really needed was just some quiet time to rest. So it may make sense for her to just fork out the RM100-RM200 just so that her husband would shut up and leave her alone.

All these happened in front of the kids who saw everything. So, they too loathed their father.

As a lawyer, I was perplexed and asked Madam Lim: “You are able to self-sustain and the children loves you, just divorce the bastard for god sake. I can help you draft up the papers.”

To my surprise, Madam Lim was not receptive to the idea: “Nick, you won’t understand, it’s not that easy.” She then passed me my bowl of noodle indicating that the conversation is over.

Exactly what was Madam Lim’s concern was really beyond me. The shame and taboo of been called a divorcee? The fear of appearing before a Judge in Court? The risk of affecting her children’s study? I really don’t know.

But I can assure you that legal fees was never a hindrance. At that time, I have yet to come out on my own, but I have no problem speaking with my boss who was known for her generosity and willingness to do pro bono cases. Considering my boss was also a staunch feminist, I was confident in getting her onboard.

After that day, I still met her on a few other occasions whenever I craved for her soup noodle. I was careful not to be nosy and tried my best to avoid personal topics.

Soon after that I moved to Johor Bahru to start my own legal practice together with my mates from university.

Five years then passed in a flash and in one of my leisure trip back to Kuala Lumpur I thought of giving Madam Lim a visit, just to say hello, well that’s an excuse, her pork soup noodle was the chief reason.

“Where is Madam Lim?” I ask a young helper at her usual stall, barely hiding my excitement.

“Who are you?” was the response.

“I was a regular customer, I went abroad for a while and came to send my greetings.”

“You are a bit too late Mister, my mother passed away 3 years ago.”

“WHAT?!”

Turns out Madam Lim met an accident in 2016. She was crossing the road towards her stall carrying with her, kitchen utensils and ingredients for the day’s business.

But then her noodle’s sieve fell on the tarmac and without giving much thought, she turned to pick it up, only to be hit by a motorcyclist beating the red light. From what i gather, the hit itself was not fatal, it was the way she fell.

Normally when we trip, our reflex would automatically kicks in to break the fall and the hands would shield the vital parts of our body. But on that day, her hand was full and basically bound by the utensils that she was carrying.

She fell head first on the ground and remained unconscious for a few days before passing.

After listening to this harrowing news, I was left speechless, do not know how to react. I could only harked back on her infectious laugh and warm smile.

The young lad I was speaking to was Madam Lim’s youngest son Kee Yin who had just finished secondary school. Kee Yin told me that both his elder brothers had already graduated from universities when the accident happened.

I asked Kee Yin why he was not in the university and was it because of financial constraint after the loss of his mother?

To my surprise, this was not the case, with a solemn tone, Kee Yin told me that: “Mom was an industrial woman, she literally work day and night to make sure that brothers and I were able to complete universities. I am forever grateful”.

“Both my brothers graduated as Software Engineers and Accountant respectively. As for me, I have always struggled as a student, university is not for me. In fact, I am very content here with my stall knowing that I am continuing my mother’s legacy. There are still people like you who travelled from all around country to savour my mom’s pork soup noodle.”

Then Kee Yin’s tone took a spiteful turn: “I think Mom would be proud us, if not for that big chunk of money that we needed to pay out”.

“You boys got into financial problem and accumulated some debt?” I asked.

“No no no.. If it was a genuine creditor, we would be glad to pay off the debt. Mom had hammered into us the value of being trustworthy and credible. We are talking of a spineless and shameless man here.” Kee Yin retorted.

Then everything clicked: “Ah.. your father, Madam Lim had mentioned about him to me before. I am aware of the situation.”

Kee Yin then added: “After Da-ge (Eldest brother) was appointed as the  administrator to manage mother’s estate, that man came knocking asking for his share. Obviously we all wanted to avoid paying him a single cent considering the suffering that he had brought to our family. The money would have been squandered anyway due to his drinking and gambling addictions.”

“Da-ge then consulted a lawyer and asked whether there is a way for us to avoid paying that man, and the answer we got was that unless Mom made a Will before she died, Mom’s assets needs to be distributed according to law and apparently the law said that my covetous father has an entitlement to Mom’s asset.”

“We swear to god that Mom would be in agreement with us. Everyone knows how much Mom despised that man. She would be rolling in her grave if she knows a big chunk of her asset would be given to him as windfall.” Kee Yin now becoming more emotional.

I could not help but asked: “How much are we talking about?”

Kee Yin was understandably a bit hesitant to answer such intrusive question, we barely met each other, but he just could not hold it: “Together with the insurance settlement payment, Mom left behind about RM200,000.00 cash and a low-costs flat where we lived”. The lawyer said that we need to give out 1/3 of that to that man.”

For the benefit of the readers, the applicable provision governing Madam Lim’s case herein is Section 6(1)(e) of the Distribution Act 1958 which reads:

“(e) if an intestate dies leaving a spouse and issue but no parent or parents, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to one third of the estate and the issue the remaining two thirds;”

My mind then immediately works out the maths. If we estimate the total estate to be around RM200,000.00, then the Madam Lim’s husband would get RM66,666.00 whereas the sons would get RM44,444.00 each. The same apportionment is applicable to the flat. No wonder the lads were unhappy. The father whom they detest got the lion share.

I fully understood Kee Yin’s sentiment. Her mother would not have approved such a huge sum of monies to her estranged husband. I have listened to her story before.

Without a Will, it was quite impossible for the boys to argue their case. The truth is, our Distribution Act only provides a “template” on how assets should be distributed if the deceased died intestate (ie without a will). Although the Act aimed to be as comprehensive as possible, but it is by no means perfect.

Each family is different, with their own unique tale and struggle behind closed doors. Madam Lim’s matter is a prime example.

However, Kee Yin and his brothers were determined not to make it easy for the father despite the odds against them. Being weak-willed and just wanted to have a quick cash grab, the father inclined to avoid any prolonged legal battle with the sons.

At the end and after a few exchanges legal correspondences, the father was quick to enter into a family arrangement with the sons. In this agreement, the father was willing to take RM60,000.00 cold hard cash in exchange for him to surrender his claim on the family flat. I reckon that he was not willing invest the necessary resources and time to litigate the matter. The sons already indicated that they are no push-over.  

I have to remark to Kee Yin that it was fortunate that the father was not the pugnacious type, because if he was, then the matter would need to be litigated, consuming considerable amount of time and money from both sides.

Now, sitting alone with my bowl of noodle overlooking the gloomy sky. I find some time to reflect and guilt slowly creeps in, had I insisted back then in helping her to file a divorce petition or at least getting her to sign a Will, the outcome would been much more desirable, RM60,000.00 is still a lot of money.

But the logical part of my brain then gave me a nudge, reminding me that it’s already too late to revisit the question as our protagonist is no longer with us. One of the thing I can do now is to raise awareness, by amongst others writing short stories like this on the importance of preparing a Will before it is too late.

As rain droplet starting to fall, I took the 1st bite of the pork soup noodle in front of me and immediately noticed an imminent crisis, this young lad still has a lot catching up to do before his noodle reach his late mother’s standard. But I am comforted by the fact that Kee Yin is still young, I have no doubt that if he throws in the necessary hard work and dedication, he would reach there in no time.

[Thank you for reading this post. If you enjoy the read, please give me a like and share this story as a fuel of encouragement. It will keep me going. Cheers!]