Family Feuds Over Real Estate Show Money Is Root Of All Evil

Source : The Straits Times, 9 Aug 2007

I READ with sadness the article, ‘Families feud over real estate in red hot market’ (The Sunday Times, Aug 5).

The current property frenzy has reduced kinship to the level of dollars and cents. Blood relationships count for nothing when there are millions of dollars at stake.

Mother sues son, brothers sue one another, wife sues husband, children sue their parents - the list goes on. Our society has indeed placed materialism at the top of their priority list.

I remember a similar incident happened to my mother’s family when my dead uncle left behind a private home worth close to $2 million more than 10 years ago.

There was much friction as there was no will and there was also a dispute on the valuation of the property. There was much distrust with each other and a cold war soon ensued.

Naturally, relationships soured among the siblings. The yearly mass gathering during Chinese New Year soon dwindled and vanished altogether. The distribution of the estate was delayed and the wait was also costly as the property market soon nosedived. The lawyers handling the estate also had a hard time trying to persuade all parties to come to a reasonable settlement.

Soon, one by one, my uncles and aunties died within a short 10-year period due to old age or sickness. Sad to say, some of the relatives’ funerals were badly attended as the news was not even relayed to us. Although some of the relatives were enriched by a few hundred thousand dollars later after settlement, they could not live through their old age happily and in unison.

I find the whole episode very sad and discouraging. For having played together as children happily under one big roof, the ending for most of them was one of division and estrangement. Some brothers could not even bade a final farewell to their sisters when they passed away. The love of money perhaps is the root of all evil.

Gilbert Goh Keow Wah