Divorce

In Singapore, the law on divorce is found in the Women’s Charter, which you can access through Singapore Statutes Online.

It is very important for you to check that you are eligible to apply for a divorce in the FJC.

You cannot apply for a divorce in the FJC if you and your spouse are Muslims, or were married under the Muslim law.

You can get a divorce in the FJC if either your spouse or you are:

• a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident of Singapore; or
• lived in Singapore for at least three years before you apply for a divorce in the FJC.

In addition, under Section 94 of the Women’s Charter, you cannot apply for a divorce if you have been married for less than three years unless you have the Court’s permission to do so. The Court must be satisfied that you have suffered exceptional hardship or if your spouse has been exceptionally unreasonable and cruel. You must file an originating summons, with a supporting affidavit explaining the grounds of your application.

You will be granted a divorce only if a Judge of the FJC agrees that your marriage has ended. In legal language, the Judge must find that your marriage has irretrievably broken down. This is set out at Section 95 of the Women’s Charter.

To prove that your marriage has ended, you must show the Court that one or more of the following facts is true:

• that your spouse has committed adultery, and you find it intolerable to live with him or her;
• that your spouse has behaved in such a way that you cannot reasonably be expected to live with him or her;
• that your spouse has deserted you for at least two years;
• if your spouse agrees to the divorce, that you and your spouse have been separated for at least three years; and/or
• if your spouse does not agree to the divorce, that you and your spouse have been separated for at least four years.

These requirements are set out at Section 95(3) of the Women’s Charter.

To start divorce proceedings, you must file the following documents in Court using the e-Litigation (e-Lit):

• Writ for Divorce, Statement of Claim and Statement of Particulars:
•  Writ for Divorce (23 KB);
•  Statement of Claim (20 KB) must specify which fact (adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, three years’ separation with consent or four years’ separation) you are relying on to ask the Court to grant you a divorce; and
•  Statement of Particulars (23 KB), you must give details of the fact that you are relying on.
• Proposed Parenting Plan if you have children below 21. File an  Agreed Parenting Plan (22 KB) if you and your spouse have managed to agree on the care arrangements for your children after the divorce;
• Proposed Matrimonial Property Plan if there is a Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat to be divided between you and your spouse. File an  Agreed Matrimonial Property Plan (22 KB) if you have managed to agree on what to do with the HDB flat after the divorce;
• Acknowledgment of Service; and
• Memorandum of Appearance.

You will need to pay the appropriate filing fees.

If you are applying for a divorce, you are the Plaintiff. Your spouse is the Defendant.

You may prepare your own divorce papers, or have a lawyer prepare it for you.

Please note that you must file or send all Court documents, except for maintenance summons and family violence cases, to the Court using the e-Lit. You can file documents through the e-Lit at the Lawnet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau. There are two Service Bureaus in Singapore:

• Supreme Court LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau
  1 Supreme Court Lane,
  Level 1, Supreme Court Building,
  Singapore 178879,
  Tel: (65) 6337 9164,
  Fax: (65) 6337 9980,
  Email: supremesb@crimsonlogic.com.sg
• Chinatown Point LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau
  133 New Bridge Road,
  #19-01/02 Chinatown Point,
  Singapore 059413,
  Tel: (65) 6538 9507,
  Fax: (65) 6438 6350,
  Email: apollosb@crimsonlogic.com.sg

For more information on the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau, you may wish to visit the
e-Lit website.

The officers of the FJC will be able to direct you to the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau located at Chinatown Point, but will not be able to give you any specific information on the procedures and charges administered by the Service Bureau.

If you do not wish to engage a lawyer to represent you, you can apply for a divorce yourself. In legal language, this is known as ‘acting in person'.

But you will not be exempt from the legal, procedural and formal requirements of conducting Court proceedings. For example, you must ensure that the documents you file in Court are in the correct format, that you have paid the correct filing fees, and that you have filed your documents through the e-Lit.

Most importantly, the FJC cannot give you any advice on what you should say or do. Only a qualified lawyer can give you independent legal advice on the merits of your case.

If you would like to seek legal advice on this matter, you may refer to the online directory of qualified lawyers maintained by the Ministry of Law Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA e-Services).

If your divorce is uncontested, proceedings may take at least 4 months to conclude.

If your divorce is contested, proceedings may take at least 18 months to conclude.

If your documents are in order, the Court will accept your documents for filing. Copies of your documents will be affixed electronically with the Court seal and the sealed copies will be given to you.

The Family Justice Rules states that the sealed copies must then be served on the Defendant. This is to alert him or her that you have started the divorce proceedings in Court.

You must serve the sealed copies in one of the following ways:

• by personal service, which means that the documents must be handed to the Defendant directly by someone authorized to do so, such as a court process server;
• by registered post to the Defendant’s address. The Court accepts this form of service only if the Defendant signs and returns the Acknowledgment of Service to you; or
• by e-Lit on the Defendant’s lawyer, if he or she has one, but only if the Defendant’s lawyer indicates on the documents that he or she accepts service on behalf of the Defendant.

If you are unable to find your spouse or if there are difficulties serving the sealed copies on your spouse, you will have to file an application to ask for the Court’s permission to serve the copies by other modes or to dispense with the service.

Please note that if you choose to ignore the divorce papers, the Plaintiff is allowed to ask the Court for a divorce hearing date by filing the Request for Setting Down Action for Trial. The Court may proceed to fix a divorce hearing date, hear the case, and grant the divorce in your absence.

If you want to oppose your spouse’s divorce application, it is very important that you follow the proper procedures. If you simply ignore the Court case, the Court may decide the case without you. You may find that your marriage has been legally ended, and that certain orders have been made on the children, property and maintenance. These orders will still be binding on you/apply to you even if you were not at the Court hearing.

You must be clear as to whether you want to remain married to your spouse, or if you simply want the Court to hear you on the issues relating to the children, property and maintenance. These are the ancillary matters.

If you wish to remain married to your spouse, you must defend the divorce. You must do this by filing a Memorandum of Appearance (26 KB) and a Defence (28 KB). A copy of the Memorandum of Appearance will have been served on you together with the divorce papers.

If you just want the Court to hear you on the ancillary matters, file the Memorandum of Appearance indicating which issues you wish to be heard on. After the Interim Judgment hearing is over, the Court will call an Ancillary Matters Case Conference, and ask you to file an  Affidavit of Assets and Means (43 KB).

Yes. Contested divorce and ancillary matters hearings take time, and are much more expensive, and come at a great personal cost to everyone involved. It is best for you, your spouse and your children, if you are able to agree on how to move forward with a divorce.

The Family Dispute Resolution Centre of the FJC is dedicated to helping you and your spouse come to an amicable arrangement on the divorce and ancillary matters. You can make a request for a Family Dispute Resolution Conference with a Judge. You can make your request through your lawyer if you have one, or to the Assistant Registrar when you attend Court at the Status Conference or Case Conference stage of your divorce proceedings. You can also make a request for counselling.

If the Defendant and you have agreed on a divorce, and if the Defendant has no dispute over what you have said in your Statement of Claim and Statement of Particulars, you must inform the Court that you are ready for your case to be heard by ‘setting down’ your case for hearing on an uncontested basis. You must do this by filing a Request for Setting Down form in the Practice Directions.

If you do not set down within six weeks of filing your Writ for Divorce, the Court will call both parties for a Status Conference to check on your case. You will be notified by letter if you are required to attend Court for a Status Conference.

A Status Conference is conducted by an Assistant Registrar of the FJC in chambers - meaning that the hearing is closed to the public, and only those directly involved in the matter can attend. You do not have to attend a Status Conference yourself if you have a lawyer. Similarly, if the Defendant has a lawyer, his or her lawyer will attend the Status Conference.

At the Status Conference, the Assistant Registrar will check if all the necessary documents have been filed in Court. If the Defendant is contesting the divorce, the Assistant Registrar may refer the case for counselling with a Court Family Specialist, or for a Family Dispute Resolution Conference. Further information on Status Conferences may be found at paragraph 17 of the Practice Directions.

The Court will send you a letter to notify you of your next court date once you have filed your Request for Setting Down Action for Trial.

If your divorce is uncontested, your next court date will be the uncontested divorce hearing date. For uncontested divorces, the divorce hearings are generally done in chambers without the attendance of the parties or counsels. This means that no members of the public are allowed to watch the hearing. For some cases however, the divorce hearings may be adjourned to be heard in the same manner as the uncontested hearings for annulment of marriage set out in the paragraph below.

For uncontested hearings for annulment of marriage, the parties and their counsels will have to attend the hearings in a Court room.

If your divorce is contested, your next court date after the case has been Set Down for Trial will be a Case Conference date.

A Case Conference is conducted by an Assistant Registrar of the FJC in chambers - meaning that the hearing is closed to the public, and only those directly involved in the matter can attend. You do not have to attend a Case Conference yourself if you have a lawyer. Similarly, if the Defendant has a lawyer, his or her lawyer will attend the Case Conference.

The purpose of a Case Conference is to get both parties ready for the contested divorce hearing, which will take the form of a trial. If there is a possibility of settlement, the Assistant Registrar may refer the case for counselling with a Court Family Specialist or for a Family Dispute Resolution Conference.

If the settlement is not possible, the Assistant Registrar will ask both parties to file Affidavits of Evidence-in-Chief. If you are not sure what to say, or need help preparing your affidavit, you should seek independent legal advice immediately.

Further information on Case Conferences may be found at paragraph 86 of the Practice Directions.

A contested divorce hearing is very different from an uncontested divorce hearing. Depending on the number of witnesses and the complexity of the case, the whole process may require from one day to several days. Contested divorces are much more time-consuming and costly than uncontested divorce hearings.

At the end of both types of divorce hearing, the Judge will grant an Interim Judgment if he or she is satisfied that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. Any Ancillary Matters will be adjourned to be heard in chambers.

The Interim Judgment is a provisional order for divorce. It is made final, or confirmed, after three months. You cannot remarry until the Interim Judgment has been made final. This is the end of the first stage of your divorce case.

The second stage of your divorce case begins when an Ancillary Matters Case Conference is called.

The Ancillary Matters Case Conference is usually called within a month of the Interim Judgment being granted. The Court will send you a letter to notify you of the Ancillary Matters Case Conference date.

An Ancillary Matters Case Conference is conducted by an Assistant Registrar of the FJC in chambers - meaning that the hearing is closed to the public, and only those directly involved in the matter can attend. You do not have to attend the Ancillary Matters Case Conference yourself if you have a lawyer. Similarly, if the Defendant has a lawyer, his or her lawyer will attend the Ancillary Matters Case Conference.

The purpose of this Ancillary Matters Case Conference is to get both parties ready for the ancillary matters hearing, which will take place before a District Judge of the FJC in chambers.

If there is a possibility of settlement, the Assistant Registrar may refer the case for counselling with a Court Family Specialist or for a Family Dispute Resolution Conference. In a high conflict case where children are involved, the Assistant Registrar may consider referring the matter to a Court Family Specialist or Social Worker, so that a confidential report on custody or access may be prepared for the purpose of the ancillary matters hearing. The Assistant Registrar may also appoint a Child Representative.

If settlement is not possible, the Assistant Registrar will ask both parties to file Affidavits of Assets and Means (43 KB). If you are unsure of what to say, or need help preparing the Affidavit of Assets and Means, you should seek independent legal advice immediately.

Further information on Ancillary Matters Case Conferences may be found at paragraph 86 of the Practice Directions.

If both parties manage to reach an agreement on the ancillary matters, the Court will give directions for a consent Ancillary Matters hearing to be fixed. You must prepare a Draft Consent Order in the correct form. Both parties must sign the Draft Consent Order. If a party has a lawyer, it is enough for the lawyer to sign it. If a party does not have a lawyer, he or she must sign the Draft Consent Order himself/herself before a Commissioner for Oaths or a lawyer.

If there is no agreement, the Assistant Registrar will fix your case for a contested Ancillary Matters hearing.

The Assistant Registrar will normally ask both parties to file the Ancillary Fact & Position Sheet (Form 242 of Family Justice Court’s Practice Directions) before the Ancillary Matters hearing.

Three months after the Court has granted an Interim Judgment, and if orders on the ancillary matters have been made, you may proceed to apply for the Certificate of Making Interim Judgment Final.

This will confirm your divorce, and conclude all Court proceedings.

You can file a request to obtain a certified true copy of the document(s) at:

CrimsonLogic Service Bureau
133 New Bridge Road
Chinatown Point #19-01/02
Singapore 059413

If you are not satisfied with the order, you may appeal to a Judge of the High Court.

If you wish to appeal, you must do so by filing a Notice of Appeal in the High Court Family Division (level 3) c/o FJC.

The Notice must be filed and served within 14 days of the order.

You must also provide security for the other party’s costs of the appeal in the sum of $3,000.00 when appealing against a District Judge’s order.

Please note that Officers of the Court cannot help you to file your appeal papers.