This section provides a brief summary of the procedures in filing an application for maintenance or for the enforcement of maintenance orders in the Family Court.*
The information provided is general in nature, and is not intended as legal advice. The staff of the Family Registry cannot provide you legal advice, or assist with drafting the contents of any document.
* Important note: This section deals with applications made and enforced under Part VIII of the Women’s Charter. Maintenance issues may also be dealt with as ancillary matters in divorce proceedings. For more information on divorce proceedings, please see the Processes and Procedures: Divorce page in the Processes and Procedures section of this website.
References to legislation
Women’s Charter (Garnishee Proceedings) Rules (Cap 353, R 6, 1998 Rev Ed)
Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act (Cap 168)
Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act (Cap 169)
Criminal Procedure Code (Cap 68)
Maintenance case flow
How your case may progress through the Family Court:
APPLY for maintenance, or for the enforcement of an existing maintenance order by filing and swearing/affirming a Magistrate’s Complaint
You will be brought before a Magistrate or District Judge. If your application is in order, the Magistrate or District Judge will direct that a summons to the respondent be issued.
The Court will send a letter to the respondent to inform him or her that attendance in Court is required for service of the summons. You must also be present on this date.
First day at Court:
If the respondent is present
If the respondent is absent
The respondent will be served with the summons personally at the Family Court. If both of you are agreeable, your case will be referred for mediation with a court mediator.
You will have to accompany the Court process server to the respondent’s house for service of the summons.
MENTIONS IN FAMILY COURT 1
On your next Court date, your case will be mentioned in Family Court 1 before a District Judge. The District Judge will order both parties to disclose financial documents and salary slips, and fix trial dates if the case is ready for hearing.
Maintenance trials are heard before a Magistrate or a District Judge in open court. The open court trial may take up to one day depending on the complexity of the case.
The Magistrate or District Judge will make the necessary orders after the hearing is over.
1. Starting proceedings
You must come personally to the Family Court to complete the standard Magistrate’s Complaint form. You may do this at the Family Registry, Level 1, Family and Juvenile Court Building.
You must bring:
your Marriage Certificate, if any;
your children’s Birth Certificates, if you are applying for their maintenance; and
a copy of the Court order that you wish to enforce, if you are applying for enforcement.
As you are the person filing the Magistrate’s Complaint, you are known as the Complainant. The person against whom the Magistrate’s Complaint is made is the Respondent.
When you have completed and submitted your Magistrate’s Complaint, you will be taken before a Magistrate or District Judge to have it sworn or affirmed. To swear or affirm the Magistrate’s Complaint means that you confirm that the contents of what you have written in the form are true and correct.
It is a serious offence to include statements that you know to be untrue or incorrect in a sworn or affirmed Magistrate’s Complaint.
If your application is in order, the Magistrate or District Judge will direct that a summons to the Respondent be issued.
You will have to pay the prescribed fee for the issuance of the summons.
The Family Registry will set a date for the personal service of the summons on the Respondent. The Respondent will be sent a letter at the address you have provided, to inform him or her that he or she has to attend at the Family Court for the service of the summons.
2. Service appointment
If both the Complainant and the Respondent are present, personal service of the summons will be effected on the Respondent. If both of you are agreeable, you will be referred for a free mediation service with a Court mediator to see if you can reach a settlement on the maintenance issue. If a settlement is reached, you will both be brought before a Magistrate or District Judge again to have the settlement recorded as a Court order. That will conclude your case. You will both receive copies of the order by post.
If the Respondent is absent from Court on this date, you will have to accompany the Court process server to the Respondent’s address if you wish to proceed with your application. You will have to pay the prescribed fee for service of your summons by the Court process server.
Once the summons has been served on the Respondent, a date will be set for the mention of your case in Family Court 1.
If you fail to turn up on any of your Court dates, including the date for service of the summons on the Respondent, your application may be struck out. This means that you will have to file another Magistrate’s Complaint, and the same fees will apply.
If you are the Respondent, your failure to turn up will result in the issuance of a Warrant of Arrest against you.
3. Your first Court date
Your first Court date will be a mention of your case in Family Court 1 before a District Judge. A mention is a short hearing. It usually lasts only five minutes. A District Judge may hear up to 30 or 40 mentions per half day session in Family Court 1.
At your mention, the Judge will:
consider whether the case may be resolved by agreement;
give orders on the production of evidence—in maintenance cases, the usual evidence consists of parties’ bank and CPF statements, salary slips, IRAS Notices of Assessments and lists of personal monthly expenses;
give orders on the filing of affidavits, if you or the Respondent have lawyers, or know how to prepare affidavits;
determine how many days are needed for the hearing of your case, and fix trial dates accordingly.
If you have applied to enforce an existing maintenance order, the District Judge may direct the Respondent to show cause as to why he or she has breached the maintenance order, and why enforcement action should not be taken against him or her. If you are the Respondent, you should ensure that all the documents you want to rely on—for example, any medical reports or letters of retrenchment—are ready to be shown to the Judge on the mention date.
4. Hearing in open court
If you are not able to settle the maintenance dispute with the Respondent, you will each have to give evidence before a Magistrate or District Judge to prove your respective cases. This will be done in a trial in open court. If either party wishes to call witnesses at the trial, they should inform the District Judge of their intention during the mention in Family Court 1.
The trial may last anything from an hour or two, to a few days, depending on the complexity of your case. The District Judge in Family Court 1 will assess this, and decide how much time to allocate to your case.
At the trial, the proceedings will generally take the following structure:
The Complainant gives his or her documents to the Court, and takes the witness stand to give sworn or affirmed evidence.
The Respondent may cross-examine the Complainant on what he or she has said.
The Respondent gives his or her documents to the Court, and takes the witness stand to give sworn or affirmed evidence.
The Complainant may cross-examine the Respondent on what he or she has said.
If either party is represented, the trial will be conducted by their lawyers. At the end of the hearing, the lawyers will present arguments on behalf of each party.
The Magistrate or District Judge will then make the necessary orders. This concludes your case.
5. Appeals
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 (Form 114) in the Civil Registry of the Subordinate Courts. 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 $2,000, if you are appealing against a Magistrate’s order, or $3,000, if you are appealing against a District Judge’s order. You may wish to refer to Order 55D of the Rules of Court for further details.
Please note that court staff cannot help you with your appeal papers. If you need a lawyer, or legal advice, you may find it helpful to refer to the General Information page on this website.
6. Respondents residing outside Singapore
If you want to file a Magistrate’s Complaint against a respondent who resides outside Singapore, you may do so if
you know the respondent’s address in the foreign country; and
the country is one of those which has made arrangements with Singapore on maintenance matters.
These countries are listed in the Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act (Cap 168) and the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act (Cap 169).
If you meet these conditions, you may file a Magistrate’s Complaint in the same way that you would if the respondent lived in Singapore.
If you are applying to enforce an existing maintenance order, you must bring a copy of that order when you come to the Family Court to file your Magistrate’s Complaint. After your Complaint is filed, the Court will send the necessary papers to the authorities in the respondent’s country for enforcement.
If you are applying for maintenance for the first time, you will be given a Court date to attend before a Magistrate or District Judge in open court. You must bring:
your Marriage Certificate, or the children’s Birth Certificates, if you are applying for their maintenance;
information on the respondent’s residential address in the foreign country; and
a photograph of the respondent.
You will give sworn or affirmed evidence, and produce any documents in support of the application—such as, for example receipts for expenses incurred by the child, if you are applying for maintenance of a child.
The Magistrate or District Judge may then issue a provisional maintenance order. The provisional maintenance order will be sent to the respondent’s country. The provisional maintenance order must be confirmed there before it becomes effective.
The procedures in each receiving country will vary depending on what mechanisms or practices have been put in place by the competent authorities in that particular country. Staff of the Family Court will not be able to advise you on how long the process will take in the receiving country.
