|
|
|
APPLICATION FOR MAINTENANCE
An application for a Maintenance Order may be
made in divorce proceedings, in which case, it will be dealt with
as an ancillary matter under Part X of the Women's Charter, or in
the absence of divorce proceedings, as an application under Part
VIII of the Women's Charter. The Family Court may also enforce a
maintenance order issued by the Family Court, the High Court, and
the Maintenance of Parents Tribunal under Part VIII of the Women's
Charter and the Maintenance of Parents' Tribunal Act.
If a person who is liable or has a duty to pay
maintenance is residing outside Singapore, whether action can be
taken to claim maintenance from him (in the absence of divorce proceedings)
or enforce a maintenance order that has already been issued by a
Singapore court depends on whether there are arrangements between
Singapore and the other country on maintenance matters. If such
an arrangement exists, the claim can be made under the Maintenance
Order (Facilities for Enforcement) Act or the Maintenance Order
(Reciprocal Enforcement) Act.
There are 2 parts under this section:
Part
A:
|
deals
with the procedure to claim maintenance under Part VIII of the
Women's Charter against a person who is residing in Singapore.
The same procedure applies to the enforcement of a maintenance
order issued by the Family Court, the High Court or the Maintenance
of Parents Tribunal against a person who is residing in Singapore; |
| Part
B: |
deals with
the procedure to claim maintenance under the Maintenance Order
(Facilities for Enforcement) Act and the Maintenance Order (Reciprocal
Enforcement) Act against a person who is residing outside Singapore.
It also deals with applications to enforce a maintenance order
issued by the Family Court, the High Court or the Maintenance
of Parents Tribunal against a person who is residing outside
Singapore. |
This section does not deal with applications for maintenance that
are made in divorce proceedings. However, in the event that a maintenance
order is made by the court in divorce proceedings, the procedures
under Parts A and B will apply in applications to enforce the maintenance
order. |
| PART
A: APPLICATIONS AGAINST A PERSON IN SINGAPORE |
|
| |
The steps in an application
for maintenance against a person residing in Singapore are as follows:
Step
1:
|
Make a
Magistrate's Complaint* |
| Step
2: |
Serve the
summons on the Respondent* |
| Step
3: |
Mentions
of the Summons* |
| Step
4: |
Hearing
of the Summons* |
(* denotes a court session where the
attendance of parties and/or their lawyers in court is required.)
|
| Step
1: Making of Magistrate's Complaint |
| A person seeking maintenance
or enforcement of a maintenance order has to appear before a District
Judge or Magistrate to make a "Magistrate's Complaint".
The person making the application is known as the Complainant and
the person against whom the application is made is known as the Respondent.
Before appearing before the judge, the Complainant
should complete the appropriate standard application form . If a
maintenance order has previously been issued by the court and the
application is to enforce, vary, suspend or rescind the maintenance
order, the maintenance order should be attached to the application
form. If the complainant no longer has the earlier maintenance order,
he should apply for a certified true copy from the court.
The completed form should be submitted to the
Family Court Registry. With the application form, an interpreter
will bring the Complainant before a judge and the complainant has
to affirm or swear to the truth and accuracy of the matters stated
in the application form. If the judge is satisfied that the application
is in order, he will issue a Summons.
The Complainant has to pay $1 for the issuance
of the summons. The Registry will fix an appointment for service
of the summons on another day ("the service date"). It
will then write to the Respondent to attend at the Registry to accept
service of the summons on the service date.
|
|
|
| Step 2:
Service of Summons |
The Complainant must serve
the Summons on the Respondent. This is to give the Respondent notice
that a suit has been started against him. Service may be effected
by:
| (1) |
personal service: an authorised
person (usually the Court Process Server if the Complainant
does not have a lawyer) must hand the Summons to the D personally,
and |
if the above service fails, the process server
may obtain the court's approval to serve the summons by:
| (2) |
leaving the summons with
an adult member of the Respondent's household; or |
| (3) |
posting the summons on the
front door of the Respondent's place of residence. |
The Complainant must be present at the Registry on the service date.
If the Complainant is absent, it will be presumed that the Complainant
is no longer interested in pursuing the case and the court will strike
the case off the list.
If the Respondent is present on the service
date, the summons will be handed to him personally. At the same
time, if parties consent, they will be referred for mediation to
assist them to resolve their maintenance dispute. If the Respondent
is absent on the service date, the Complainant must accompany the
court process server to the Respondent's place of residence to serve
the summons. (Note: the Complainant must bring sufficient money
to pay for the transport expenses of the process server).
It should be noted that a summons cannot be
served on a Respondent who is residing outside Singapore. Also,
if the complainant does not know the current address of the Respondent,
the court will try to ascertain the address through available official
records and effect service there. However, if it can be shown that
the Respondent is no longer residing at the address that is reflected
in available official records, the Complainant has a duty to find
out the Respondent's current address (either through his relatives
or friends). If the address cannot be determined, the matter cannot
proceed.
For applications against a Respondent who is
residing outside Singapore, refer to Section
B under this part.
|
|
|
| Step 3:
Mention of the Summons |
|
At the mention of the Summons, a District Judge
will consider the following matters:
| (i) |
whether the case can be
amicably resolved by the parties and towards this end, the District
Judge may mediate the case with the parties' consent; |
| (ii) |
give orders on evidence:
for example, the court may order parties to disclose relevant
bank documents and salary statements etc; |
| (iii) |
give orders on the conduct
of the case to ensure a smooth hearing: for example, directions
to parties to file affidavits (that is, sworn statements); and |
| (iv) |
ascertain the number of days
required and fix the hearing dates. |
In an application for enforcement of a maintenance order, the District
Judge may also, on the mention date, direct the Respondent to show
cause (that is, explain or justify) on whether he has breached the
maintenance order and why enforcement action should not be taken against
him. The Respondent should therefore ensure that his papers and documents
are ready to be presented to court on the mention date.
The Complainant must be present in court on
the mention date. If the Complainant is absent, it will be deemed
that the Complainant is no longer interested in pursuing the case
and the court will strike the case off the list.
The Respondent must also be present in court
on the mention date. If he is absent, the court will issue a Warrant
of Arrest against him. The warrant of arrest is passed to the Warrant
Enforcement Unit (a division of the Singapore Police Force) to execute.
The police will arrest the Respondent. Once they have arrested the
Respondent, they will produce him in court. The court will offer
him bail, re-fix the case for hearing, and deal with the application
for maintenance. It may take some time before a warrant of arrest
is executed. Enquiries on the status of execution of warrants of
arrest can be made to the Warrant Enforcement Unit.
|
|
|
| Step 4:
Hearing of Summons |
|
A trial will be conducted if parties are not
able to settle their maintenance dispute. The parties will each
have to give evidence in open court, to prove their respective cases.
They will also have to call witnesses to support their case. The
parties and their respective witnesses will be "cross-examined".
"Cross-examination" is carried out by the other party
or the party's lawyer, who will ask questions on what was said in
evidence. The respective lawyers will also make "submissions",
i.e. present a summary of your case, and make arguments supporting
your case, to the judge. The whole process may take anything from
one day to several days, depending on the number of witnesses and
the complexity of the case. At the end of the hearing, the court
will make the appropriate orders.
If either party is absent on the hearing date,
the same consequences will follow as absence from court on the mention
date (see Step 3).
|
|
|
| (i) Appeals |
| If either party is dissatisfied
with a court order, he may file an appeal against the order. In the
appeal papers (known as the Notice of Appeal), he must state the date
of the order and the name of the judge who had made the order, as
well as specify which part of the order he is appealing against. The
appeal papers must be filed at the Appeal Section at the Civil Court
Registry. You should seek legal advice if you need assistance in drafting
the appeal papers. |
| (ii) Application for Court
Records |
| To apply to search the court's
records or a certified true copy of a court document, the applicant
has to submit a standard form and pay the requisite fee (calculated
based on the number of pages). |
|
| PART
B: APPLICATIONS AGAINST A PERSON OUTSIDE SINGAPORE |
| (b) Applications to enforce
maintenance order |
The steps in an application
for maintenance against a person residing out of Singapore are as
follows:
Step
1:
|
Make a
Magistrate's Complaint* |
| Step
2: |
Hearing
of application* (in the case of application for maintenance) |
| Step
3: |
Relevant
papers sent to foreign authorities |
(* denotes a court session where the
attendance of parties and/or their lawyers in court is required.)
|
| Step
1: Making of Magistrate's Complaint |
|
A person seeking maintenance or enforcement
of a maintenance order against a person who is residing outside
Singapore has to appear before a District Judge or Magistrate to
make a "Magistrate's Complaint". The person making the
application is known as the Complainant and the person against whom
the application is made is known as the Respondent.
Before appearing before the judge, the Complainant
should first ascertain which foreign country the Respondent is residing
in. The application can only be made if the foreign country has
made arrangements with Singapore on maintenance matters. . In addition,
the Complainant must have information on the residential address
of the Respondent in the foreign country.
If the above conditions are met, the Complainant
may complete the appropriate standard application form. The completed
form should be submitted to the Family Court Registry. With the
application form, an interpreter will bring the Complainant before
a judge and the complainant has to affirm or swear to the truth
and accuracy of the matters stated in the application form.
In the case of an application for maintenance,
the court will then fix a date for the hearing of the application
(go to Step 2).
In the case of an application to enforce an
existing maintenance order, the court will proceed to send the relevant
papers to the foreign authority for action to be taken in that country
(go to Step 3). For this purpose,
the Complainant will have to furnish the following to the court
when the application is made:
| (i) |
a copy of the maintenance
order (the Complainant may apply to the court for a copy if
one is not in his possession); and |
| (ii) |
information on the residential
address of the Respondent in the foreign country. |
|
|
|
| Step
2: Hearing of Application |
The hearing of the application
for maintenance is in open court before a District Judge. The complainant
will have to give evidence under oath and produce documents to support
his application (for example, receipts for expenses incurred for the
children). At the end of the hearing, the court will issue a Provisional
Maintenance Order if it deems fit. This provisional maintenance order
has no effect until it is confirmed by a court or competent authority
in the foreign country. The court will thus send the Provisional Maintenance
Order as well as other relevant documents to the foreign authority
for proceedings to be commenced in that country to confirm the order
(go to Step 3). For this purpose,
the Complainant will have to furnish the following to the court at
the hearing:
| (i) |
the marriage certificate
or birth certificate of the children (where appropriate); |
| (ii) |
the residential address
of the Respondent in the foreign country; and |
| (iii) |
a photograph of the Respondent.
|
|
|
|
| Step
3: Sending of papers to Foreign Authority |
|
The Court will send the relevant papers to the
competent authority in the foreign country through diplomatic channels
in order for action to be taken to confirm the provisional maintenance
order or enforce the maintenance order. The procedures involved
in the collection or enforcement of maintenance in the foreign country
will vary from country to country and depend on the mechanism and
practices that have been put in place by the competent authorities
in that country.
|
|
|
