MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS BY EX-SPOUSES

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MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS BY EX-SPOUSES:

2\. Mdm Cynthia Phua asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) over the last three years (i) what is the number of cases of ex-spouses seeking court assistance for maintenance payments; (ii) what is the average number of times the ex-spouses have to see the court officials before payments are resumed; (iii) how many of these cases are still unsuccessful in getting the maintenance payments; (iv) what are the main reasons for non-payment of maintenance; (v) what is the average amount of maintenance granted per child; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider allowing applications for enforcement of maintenance payment at Night Courts.

3\. Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) whether his Ministry is looking at other measures to assist wives to enforce their maintenance orders against errant ex-husbands; (b) whether giving free access to marital records and making public the maintenance payments of divorcees to their former spouses and children, including defaults, are being considered and, if so, when would these measures be implemented.

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Vivian Balakrishnan): Mr Speaker, Sir, with your permission, I would like to take Question Nos. 2 and 3 on the enforcement of maintenance orders together.

Mr Speaker: Yes.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: In 2008, there were 2,860 applications for maintenance orders made by ex-spouses. This is actually a decrease from 3,021 in 2007 and 3,618 in 2006. On average, 86% (around 2,720) of these cases were

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applications for enforcement of maintenance orders, where applicants failed to get payment on an existing maintenance order from their ex-spouse. Some of the reasons cited for non-payment are the ex-spouse’s inability to pay because of a loss of job, increased financial commitments because of a new family or continued unemployment. We do not have available information on the average amount of maintenance granted per child.

The enforcement of maintenance orders follows the process for all other Magistrate’s Complaints under the Criminal Procedure Code. The applicant has to, first, go to court to file the enforcement complaint. If the applicant does not have a lawyer to represent him or her, the applicant would then need to be present in court a second time, when the court issues the summons and fixes a date for a Mention. On the third occasion, the applicant would then have to attend court for the first Mention and, if both parties are present and agreeable, they can go for mediation on the same day. If both parties can reach a settlement through mediation, then the judgment would be recorded by the judge and the case is concluded. Unfortunately, it does not always stop there. Sometimes, parties have to return to court another day for the trial on the matter. Therefore, it takes a minimum of three court appearances and sometimes, many more.

We acknowledge that there is scope to improve the procedures and introduce more effective measures to enforce compliance of orders, while ensuring that the system is fair to all parties. I had, at this House, mentioned during the last Committee of Supply Debate that my Ministry would review how enforcement of maintenance can be enhanced. We have invited views from the public and from Members of this House. My Ministry, the Ministry of Law, the Family Court, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and various

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agencies have been studying the matter in the past few months. We have also received many suggestions from members of the public and organisations, including the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations.

We are currently studying their various suggestions, as well as reviewing proposals. Some of these measures include introducing stiffer penalties to deter defaults, and simplifying the process of seeking enforcement. There were also suggestions such as giving free access to marital records and making public the maintenance payments of divorcees to their former spouses and children – all these are also being considered. The review should be completed in a few months' time.

Mdm Phua has also asked if we could consider allowing applications for the enforcement of maintenance orders to be heard at Night Court. Unfortunately, I have been informed by the Courts that this will not be practical. The Night Court deals with essentially regulatory offences in which the offenders plead guilty. If the offender decides not to plead guilty, his case will be heard in the day court. Such hearings, which often entail Respondents’ and Claimants’ presentations, could be lengthy and there may be insufficient time for such proceedings to be conducted at night.

However, in order to serve the public better, the Subordinate Courts has recently extended its operations throughout the lunch hour, so we can squeeze in some time there. Hence, applications for maintenance and other family matters can now be lodged during lunch hour as well as on Saturdays.

Mdm Cynthia Phua: I would like to appeal on behalf of the ex-spouses. A lot of them are ladies and they have to take on jobs and take care of the children. I

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think the lunch hour is really not convenient for them. Many of them are living far away. Can the Minister consider allowing at least the three applications before the court hearing to be heard after office hours? This is so that if they are required to appear for these hearings, they could at least do so during the day time. Secondly, on the payment of the maintenance fees – some ex-spouses use the excuse that they go overseas. Can the Minister consider tagging their passports or restraining them from going overseas, just like for bankruptcy cases?

Could we not do this for the maintenance payments? Third, can the Minister consider tagging the maintenance payments to the ex-spouse's salary, instead of applying for a garnishee order?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I share the Member's sentiments in making the poor lady – usually it is the lady – go to court at least three times in order to pursue payment of a maintenance order, which has already been made, is too many times. So, rather than just looking at nights or lunch hours, what we are really trying to do is to reduce the number of times that they have to go to court. But, like I said, this is something which I need to do carefully with the courts and the Ministry of Law, because we need to make sure that justice is also done and seen to be done. But give us some time to take this bottleneck out of the system. We will try to shorten it and make it less onerous. I totally sympathise with the Member's views on this.

On her proposal to tag the passport and, in effect, put travel restrictions on people who are in remiss of their maintenance payments, I think that requires further study. The standard counter argument to that will be that they need to travel overseas to work and if we impaired their ability to work, then it would impair their ability to pay. So, let us study that carefully.

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On her third supplementary question, they can actually apply for an attachment order. In other words, the employer of that person would then divert a portion of the salary directly to the ex-spouse. But, again, on the ground, this has not been a popular option. And if the Member speaks to the lawyers, they will explain to her. Part of the reason that this has not been so popular is that it tags that person as a person coming with legal complications. And sometimes that may actually reduce his likelihood of getting employment, because employers will say, "Look, I do not want to take you on because you come with all these complications." We need to achieve a right balance. We want these ex-spouses to be able to get work and to generate enough income to be able to pay off what they owe their ex-spouses and their children. I totally agree with the Member's sentiments. I know where she is coming from. But we got to be careful that the cure that we propose does not make things worse.

Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister to seriously consider making public the marital record as well as to grant access to the maintenance payments by former spouses to their ex-wives and their children, including the defaults. This is really important because, at least, it will help women to make informed decisions and to prevent grief not only for the first set of family members but also for the second and subsequent sets of family members.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, I share Mdm Halimah's views that the next spouse or the prospective family should be aware of the track record of this person whom you are going to marry. We are still studying that. Again, the key thing is that we need to do so without breaching privacy and confidentiality where that is merited. But, again, this is a proposal which I am sympathetic to.