The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) will implement the changes made under the Women’s Charter Amendment Act which were passed in Parliament in January 2011. Most of the amendments will take effect from 1 June 2011, with the remainder starting on 1 September 2011.
The objectives of the amendments are to strengthen the enforcement of maintenance orders, to provide better support to parties affected by divorces as well as to address emerging trends on marriages and divorces. The new measures, formulated after extensive studies and consultation with the public between 2009 and 2010, and their operational dates, are listed at the Annex.
Highlights of Measures Commencing 1 June 2011
From 1 June 2011, additional measures will be implemented to enhance the enforcement of maintenance orders. The Courts can impose new sanctions and penalties on persons who default on maintenance orders, in addition to current penalties which include recovering the arrears in the manner of a fine, imposing a garnishee order and imprisonment on defaulters of maintenance. The new sanctions include ordering defaulters to set up a banker’s guarantee against future defaults, perform community service orders and attend financial counselling. Complainants can also report maintenance debts to a credit bureau.
The Courts will be empowered to direct the Central Provident Fund Board to disclose the employment information of a defaulter for attachment of earnings orders. Provisions will be introduced to streamline court processes and to allow for new rules to be made regarding the practice and procedure of maintenance proceedings. In addition, Court summons and attachment of earnings orders can be served to respondents via registered post.
New measures pertaining to divorces will also be introduced. The Courts will be empowered to make ancillary orders for divorces that occur overseas, especially if the parties involved move back to Singapore following the divorce or if they have assets in Singapore. To safeguard the interests of the children in divorces, matrimonial assets divided between parents after dissolution of a marriage can be transferred into the Child Development Accounts (CDA) of the affected children following an order from the Court, thus earmarking a sum of money for the children’s development.
Couples who are Singapore citizens (SC) and/or Singapore permanent residents (SPR) will no longer be required to fulfil a 15-day residence requirement prior to applying for a marriage licence in Singapore. With this change, overseas SC and/or SPR couples who wish to marry in Singapore no longer need to take long periods of leave to get married in Singapore. The 15-day residence requirement will however continue to apply to couples where at least one party is not a SC or SPR.
Highlights of Measures Commencing 1 September 2011
Two such measures pertain to marriage requirements. The Minister will be empowered to prescribe certain groups of people to attend marriage preparation programmes before their marriage. To mitigate the risk of divorce arising from marriages involving minors, minors applying for civil marriages will be required to attend such programmes before they can be issued with a marriage licence. Divorcees who remarry will be required to make a statutory declaration on whether they have outstanding maintenance orders and arrears, so that their potential spouses are aware of any such financial obligations.
A new divorce-related measure is the mandatory mediation and counselling for all divorcing couples with at least one child below 21 years old. The Courts will require in phases these couples to attend counselling and mediation. The intent is for the couple to come to an agreement on what is in the best interests of the children. Trained counsellors and mediators familiar with the legal, emotional and psychological dimensions of a custodial dispute will assist parties to work out effective post-divorce parenting and care arrangements for the children. More details on the age group of children affected in the provisions, will be released later by the Subordinate Courts.
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