Kia Meng Loh

Career

Kia Meng is a senior partner in the Trust, Estates and Wealth Preservation and Tax practices. Kia Meng also sits in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practices, focusing on disputes involving trusts, estates and real property.

Kia Meng has advised a wide network of clients including trust managers, private banks, wealth managers, family offices and wealthy private clients. Kia Meng has represented clients in a spectrum of cases from all levels of court, and in arbitrations. He has also worked with foreign counsel from Dubai, the United Kingdom, Jersey, the United States, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia and Malaysia in advising clients on cross-border issues.

Kia Meng was involved as instructing counsel for a high profile dispute which took place in the UK High Court, which later when to the Court of Appeal: [2015] EWHC 1742 (Ch) and [2017] EWCA Civ 2069.

Kia Meng is an affiliate member of the Society of Trust and Estate Planners (STEP).

Professional Memberships

• Member, Specialist Mediator Panel (Singapore), Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC)

• Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb)

• Member, Panel of Arbitrators, Thailand Arbitration Centre (THAC)

• Member, Panel of Arbitrators, Beihai-Asia International Arbitration Centre (BAIAC)

• Affiliate Member, The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)

• Member, The Law Society of Singapore

• Member, Singapore Academy of Law (SAL)

• Member, International Bar Association (IBA)

• Member, International Pacific Bar Association (IPBA)

• Senior Member, Global-Asia Family Office Circle (GFOC)

• Member, Singapore Institute of Directors

Publications

• Author, "New MAS Guidelines: Updated Conditions for Singapore Family Office Schemes," Dentons Rodyk Reporter Issue 03 (2022)

• Co-author, “Coming to terms with COMI”, Dentons Rodyk Client Alert, June 2019

• Author, “When is it illegal to hold private and public property interests in Singapore?” Dentons Rodyk Reporter, October 10, 2017 [Mondaq Top Communicator Award for October 2017]

• Author, “Avoiding the perils of joint investments in real property”, Arbitration Review, March 6, 2017

• Co-author, "Of Showflat And Property Advertisements," Dentons Rodyk Reporter - Litigation Brief, March 2012

Work Highlights

Family Office and High Net Worth

• Private client: Advising a Forbes list client on various legal issues regarding his family office operations and the underlying businesses which are owned by the family’s three trust companies.

• Private client: Advising a HNW Chinese family that has relocated to Singapore and advising them on their Singapore family office, substantial business ventures in SEA, general legacy-planning

• Prime Asia Asset Management: Retained by muti-family office service provider and asset manager regarding its business such as regulatory licenses, compliance, fund structures and its regional expansion. Also advising on their multi-family office offerings and private funds to their HNWI clients.

• Private client: Advising a UHNW individual and family in relation to the management of their family wealth and business interest within and out from Singapore. Also advising on the immigration and relocation of the family to Singapore.

• Private client: Advising a HNW listed on Forbes list in Taiwan with the setting up of family office in Singapore and application for Permanent Residency under the Global Investment Programme Scheme administered by the Economic Development Board of Singapore (EDB).

Trusts, Estates & Probate, Wealth Preservation

• A trust company: Acting for the trustee of a family Trust, which includes the Estate of the deceased settlor, where a suit was commenced by the beneficiaries in the Family Justice Courts against the two joint executors of the Estate on breach of fiduciary duties. A mediation took place to reach a mutual settlement agreement. We continued to advise the client on the administration of the Trust and the receipt of assets from the Estate.

• Private client: Acting for joint-trustees and executors of an estate with various assets in Singapore in relation to a dispute over the distribution of the assets.

• Private client: Advising a wealthy Indonesian family with assets in multiple jurisdictions such as Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and London. Acting for the client in a longstanding dispute concerning probate and trust issues with litigation in Singapore and London spanning over 2 decades.

• Private client: Acting for an elder brother in an action against his younger brother for a share of an investment property, worth over S$1.3 million and which spanned 15 years. Succeed in obtaining a judgment against the younger brother in the High Court of Singapore (Cheong Woon Weng v Cheong Kok Leong [2016] SGHC 263) and subsequently also successfully defended an appeal from the younger brother (Cheong Kok Leong v Cheong Woon Weng [2017] SGCA 47). “Man wins suit for share of condo from brother”, TODAYOnline, December 13, 2016

Private Client

• Private client: Advising a wealthy client based in People’s Republic of China in relation to an injection of USD100 million into a Singapore entity.

• Private client: Acting for a wealthy and prominent individual in a defamation claim against another prominent individual.

• Private client: Acting for the owners of a Sentosa Cove bungalow worth over S$24 million in a claim against a purchaser for reneging on the transaction.

• Bank relationship manager: Acting as defence counsel in relation to prosecution for offences relating to criminal breach of trust and CDSA – PP v Yap Chee Yen [2014] SGDC 219.

• Gianluca Baldassarri and Alessandro Toccafondi: Acting for the private clients who were former finance chief of the world’s oldest bank, MPS, in Italy, as they were charged in various courts for running a “five percent gang” a group of people who alleged demanded fixed fees for themselves for every financial transaction they managed to push through. The clients’ assets in Singapore were frozen and we represented them in both the criminal investigations as well as the release of the frozen assets in the State Courts of Singapore. The clients were eventually acquitted of all charges in the Italian courts. In Singapore, we achieved a favourable outcome where no charges were filed in Singapore and their assets released.

• Private client: Acting in both contentious and transactional matters, we acted for the client in a litigation suit which arose from their purchase of a luxury villa in Cyprus which would enable them to obtain Cypriot citizenship. However, the application was rejected, and the clients are claiming for a refund of the investment made in the villa. We also assisted the client in setting up a family office in Singapore, making an application under the Singapore Resident Fund s13O tax incentive scheme.

Education