Child Custody Matters Divorce Lawyer

What should I keep in mind about my affidavit?

Basically, an affidavit is evidence given before the court regarding the custody and/or access to the child applications through your divorce lawyer.

Your affidavit should mainly consist of these main points

• ·         Why the parent should have custody, care and control of the child
• ·         Present care arrangements for the child
• ·         Future care arrangements for the child
• ·         Access that the custodial parent should be willing to offer the non-custodial parent
• ·         Access to him or her sought by the parent if custody is not granted

Try to avoid rhetorical sentences and keep your words simple and straight to the point. Avoid bombastic sentences as far as possible. Your divorce lawyer will assist you in this matter.

Exhibits in your affidavits should be paginated properly and adequately/clearly explained in the text of the affidavit. Your divorce lawyer will be responsible for this paperwork.

Do keep in mind that children should not file affidavits as it is against their interest to do so, and compromises their emotional wellbeing. If the child needs to be heard, the family court has court counselors and the judges can also arrange child interviews.

This advice does not replace or that of a qualified Singaporean Divorce Lawyer.

Please see a trained professional when dealing with your divorce.

How long will my divorce take to be completed?

Divorce can be a very painful and traumatic process for everyone involved, be it the couple, the children and other members of the family.

One way to lessen the pain would be to minimize the time spent on the procedure as much as possible. This can be done through both husband and wife opting for an uncontested divorce in Singapore.

An uncontested divorce is when both parties can come to an agreement on all outstanding issues.    Such cases can proceed quickly and will normally take less than a year for it to be fully completed. Also, both parties get to save a significant amount of legal cost compared to if they get uncontested divorce. They will only need the services of one divorce lawyer.

However, for couples that are not able to settle and opt for a contested divorce instead, the process may be harder and more costly. Some issues that couples might not be able to settle on may be issues like who will get custody of the children, the timings that the other party will get to spend time with the children, the maintenance amount, and the splitting up of assets, just to name a few. This process is not only much more costly but could take up to anything from a year to 5 years or more, depending on the parties’ willingness to comply with each other’s requests.

Should you have any questions or require legal representation, kindly contact Gloria James-Civetta & Co on 6337-0469 for a free consultation, or email to consult@gjclaw.com.sg

Becoming a Divorce Lawyer in Singapore

A divorce lawyer will represent clients who are wishing to legally terminate a marriage. A divorce lawyer will also represent a client who is seeking to enter into a deed of separation or annulling a marriage.

A divorce lawyer will render opinion and provide information to their client to determine the best method to end a marriage, proceed with annulment or legal separation. A few things will have to be taken into account before this process can begin, eg; if a prenuptial agreement or deed of separation exist, the length of the marriage and most importantly, if the marriage is valid at all. The divorce lawyer will require financial information from his client during the period of the marriage, from here; the divorce lawyer will determine the best course of action to be taken.

Educational Requirements to Become a Divorce Lawyer

Candidates who wish to become a divorce lawyer will require extensive knowledge not only of Singapore law, but also familiarity with other countries laws on divorce in order to cater for expat clients who wish to divorce in Singapore. Candidates will need to complete a law degree and pass the bar exam. During this period, candidates should dedicate part of their university holidays doing internships with divorce law firms in order to become familiar with the divorce process in SingaporeThis will be followed by a 6 month training contract with a specialist Singapore divorce law firm.

Singapore divorce proceedings / important information for your Divorce Lawyer

If you intend to proceed with the divorce proceedings in Singapore, you will need to bring along a copy of the following documentation to your divorce lawyer. Your Marriage Certificate, Birth Certificate, NRIC Copy / Passport and your CPF Statement under the public housing scheme.

You will also need to provide the following information:

Your occupation, date of birth, address

Your highest education qualification

Your religion

Your Spouse’s occupation

Your Spouse’s highest education qualification

Your Spouse’s religion

Your spouse’s date of birth

Your current address

Your spouse’s current address

Children’s names/date of birth/school names/school hours

3.  How your marriage broke down. You need to provide the pointers.

4.  Your views on the Ancillary (financial) issues; what is your claim on the following:

a)       Maintenance of wife and children

b)       Division of matrimonial property

c)       Division of other matrimonial assets.

d)       Custody, care and control of the children.

Kindly contact Gloria James-Civetta & Co, to get the legal advice you need.