Data on Family Justice Court Applications for Divorce Maintenance Compliance over Past Three Years

Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked the Minister for Law over the past three years, how many applications have been filed with the Family Justice Courts for enforcement of divorce maintenance orders.

Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: Under the Women's Charter 1961 (WC), the Court may make maintenance orders for the provision of financial support for wives, children or incapacitated husbands. Maintenance orders may be made even without divorce proceedings. The Syariah Court may also make orders for maintenance under the Administration of Muslim Law Act 1966, referred to as SYC maintenance orders.

A maintenance enforcement application refers to an application to enforce an existing maintenance order, if the party who is required to make payment under the order fails to do so.

The number of maintenance enforcement applications filed with the Family Justice Courts (FJC) via the Integrated Family Application Management System (iFAMS) 1 from 2023 to 2025 in respect of (a) maintenance orders made under the WC and (b) SYC maintenance orders is set out in Table 1 below. This represents the number of applications to enforce maintenance orders made during marriage and during divorce, as the breakdown is not available.

Note(s) to Question No(s) 26:

1 Maintenance enforcement applications may also be filed via eLitigation under the civil enforcement procedure provided for in the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024 or the Family Justice Rules 2014. Civil enforcement applications are filed under summons in eLitigation. While the system tracks the total number of summonses filed, it does not specifically track those filed for maintenance enforcement. Hence, the exact number of maintenance enforcement applications filed via eLitigation is not available.