Singapore Divorce: Child Maintenance Issues

Who is Responsible for Child Maintenance?

Under Section 68 of the Women’s Charter, it is the duty of parents to maintain their children, whether or not they are in his or her custody. Under Section 46(1), both mother and father are equally responsible in caring and providing for the children.

Child Maintenance includes paying for the costs of the child’s accommodation, clothing, food and education.

How does the Court rule on Child Maintenance Orders?

When ruling on a Child Maintenance Order, the court will consider all the circumstances of the case. The main factors that the court will consider are:

• The financial needs of the child; and
• The ability of the parent who is being sued for maintenance to meet these needs.

Other factors that the court will take into consideration are listed in Section 69(4) of the Women’s Charter include:

-         whether the child has any mental or physical disability

-         the manner in which the child was being (and expected to be) raised and educated

Singapore divorce lawyers can help you understand the process involved in maintenance proceedings.

What will happen when Child Maintenance Costs Increase years down the track?

A Child Maintenance Order will cease once the child turns 21 years old, unless there has been an order made under Section 69(5) to allow the child to continue receiving maintenance from the parent despite having reached adulthood.

As the child grows up, the costs of his clothing, food and education will increase. Thus Section 72 of the Women’s Charter allows for the application for a variation of the Child Maintenance Order.

The court may vary an existing Child Maintenance Order if there is a change in circumstances and the person applying for the variation of the Child Maintenance Order shows proof of that. The court may also consider the changes in the general cost of living when varying a Child Maintenance Order. Seek advice from Singapore divorce lawyer to understand your rights in this issue.

If you need legal advice on Child Maintenance Order or are seeking to vary an existing one, Gloria James-Civetta& Co has a dedicated team of matrimonial lawyers that can help you.

Gloria James-Civetta & Co (“GJC Law”), is an established Law Firm, with one of largest matrimonial law departments in Singapore.

“You don`t just get lawyer – you get an entire team”

Email us or call +65 63370469 to speak to one of our friendly lawyers.

Processes involved with Divorce

Getting a divorce is not an easy task as it involves many complexities. In this blog, we will discuss the process of How to do divorce.

The divorce process starts from filing all the necessary paperwork to the courts, which includes submitting a writ of divorce accompanied by a statement of claim citing the grounds under which you are seeking divorce.

Once done with that the partner who is filing a divorce must also submit a proposal stating how any minor children of the union will be provided for after the separation is finalized. They also need to give a housing plan detailing how the shared home will be divided or disposed. The respondent spouse is informed about the initiation of divorce process, once all documents are received by the court.

The process continues with a Status Conference scheduled by the court within six weeks from the respondent's declaration of having no objection to the grounds. But if the respondent has objected, then the spouses have to enter into court-mandated counselling until they reconcile or they decide that divorce is inevitable.

The court puts an effort to save the marriage by providing a three-month cooling-off period. Also, in order to grant a divorce, it is important that the judge is completely convinced that the marriage is beyond repair. After getting convinced, the judge provides a certificate of divorce. 

Singapore Divorce lawyer – Child Maintenance

Who is responsible for child maintenance?

Under the laws of Singapore, parents are legally obliged to maintain or contribute to the maintenance of his or her children, whether they are in his or her custody or the custody of any other person, and whether the said children are legitimate or illegitimate. Child Maintenance may come in the form or providing them with accommodation, clothing, food and education as may be reasonable having regard to the parent’s means and station in life.

A Court may, on application for maintenance, make an order for maintenance to be paid for the upkeep of the child.

Who may make an application for such a maintenance order?

-          Any person who is a guardian or has the actual custody of the child

-          The child himself or herself, upon attaining age of 21 years

-          Where the child is below 21 years, his or her siblings who are above 21 years of age may apply on his or her behalf

-          Any person appointed by the minister

If you are uncertain whether you have a legitimate claim for maintenance, you may wish to seek legal advice from a Singapore Divorce Lawyer from Gloria James-Civetta & Co.

At Gloria James-Civetta & Co, we offer a free 20-minute consultation with one of our lawyers. Should you have any queries or should like to seek legal representation, kindly contact us at 6337 0469 or email us at consult@gjclaw.com.sg.

How Singapore Divorce Lawyer Blog helps take better decision

We at Singapore Divorce Lawyer Blog give people deeper information about the issues involved with matrimonial law.

With over 60+ contents of different matrimonial issues, one can get a clear understanding of the following:

·    Divorce legibility

·    Steps involved in the divorce process

·    Spousal and child maintenance

·    Checklist when seeing a Lawyer for the first time

·    Mediation in divorce

·    Collaborative Divorce information

·    Division of Matrimonial Assets

·    Contested and uncontested divorce

·    Annulment of marriage

·    Expat divorce in Singapore

·    Consent divorce

·    Cross-border international divorce

·    Deed of separation

·    Welfare principle of the child

As the divorce law in Singapore is different from other countries, so several steps are taken to resolve the complexities of the rules and regulations that go along with it. The Divorcing couples in Singapore can now access the newly launched app, which contains a brief guidance on Matrimonial Home Contribution and Child Maintenance Calculators. The “Singapore Divorce Calculator” app is user-friendly and can easily be installed from the App store or Google play stores.

Overall, the divorce is one such stressful situation that is hard to tackle. The Singapore divorce lawyer blog supports the individuals by guiding them on how the divorce process in Singapore works with less stress and confusion. Our managing partner, Ms Gloria James, has skilfully written these blogs to provide you a better understanding of the processes that goes along when you plan a divorce.

For further doubts, you can also refer our introductory short video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKOrBCcbASw

Singapore divorce Mediation Services

New Mediation Process – the lesser known facts of it

Collaborative Family Practice (CFP) was introduced in 2013 as an alternative in handling a divorce in Singapore. This is to prevent estranged couples from engaging in acrimonious litigation in the courtroom and as such reduce hard feelings both parties may have against each other.

Under the CFP, parties employ skilled divorce lawyers who are trained in mediation to facilitate the counseling sessions and mediation.

Although counseling sessions may not necessarily help in salvaging a marriage, there are many other benefits to mediation which are often overlooked by parties.

1. Mediation services by divorce lawyers in Singapore cost only a fraction of litigation fees.
2. Parties can have a more direct input to the eventual outcome as the final outcome will be an agreement reached between parties, instead of a judgment reached by a judge, who may make an order that neither party is happy with.
3. Mediation would not only minimize the costs of conflicts, but also the collateral damage to children and third parties surrounding the marriage.

For more information about CFP, kindly contact an accredited Singapore Collaborative Law practitioner.

Why women divorce lawyers are better for women?

As we, all know that divorce is one such tough situation that ruins the personal life of the person. At, such a time one needs to have an emotional support from someone. Especially, when it comes to women, they are highly depressed and needs someone to help and support her with the case.

Hiring the lawyers is important, as these legal cases are complex to handle. A commoner would not be able handle this situation mainly when it comes to representing your own case in the court. It may also lead to more disputes among the spouses.                     

This is the time when women divorce lawyers save the situation. Women can always be a better Divorce lawyers for other women. They have a better understanding and a sense of connectivity among themselves.

This is the reason why it is suggested to have a women divorce lawyer as they not only understand your situation, but also motivate and support you to take the right steps towards the legal divorce proceedings. In addition, one can easily avail these services for a cost effective rate. All you need to do is to hire the right attorney for your case.

Expatriate Divorces – Care, Control and Custody of Child

As an expatriate, you are faraway from your home country. More often than not, you have limited friends and family in Singapore. As such, having your child by your side every day may be of utmost concern, because your child keeps you going.

Terminologies

Custody grants you legal authority to make decisions on the major issues in your child’s life (e.g. with regard to religion, education, health and so on). Custody may be held jointly or solely.

Care and Control allows you to have the child reside with you daily. It also gives you the authority to make decisions relating to the day-to-day activities of the child (e.g. with regard to meal times and bed times). Like custody, care and control may also be held jointly or solely.

Access refers to the time the parent who does not have care and control of the child is allowed to visit and bond with the child. Your Singapore expat divorce lawyer will be able to give you proper advice.

Considerations

In making decisions based on the above matters, Singapore Courts deem the welfare of the child to be of paramount concern.

The Courts will also have regard to (a) the wishes of your spouse and (b) the wishes of your child, where he or she is of an age to express an independent opinion. However, as mentioned, such wishes will be secondary to the welfare of the child.

Seeking Legal Advice

The fear of having your child taken away from you may be strong enough to even convince you to keep a marriage that has already fallen apart. That may not be wise. You should consider seeking legal advice to better understand whether the odds are likely in your favor before you decide if the pros may outweigh the cons in a divorce.

You may wish to seek legal advice from a Singapore Divorce Lawyer from one of the leading law firms in Singapore.