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Protecting your Rights before filing for Divorce in Singapore

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Filing for Divorce in Singapore – FAQs

Parties can enter into a marital agreement/ post-nuptial agreement in contemplation of divorce.

  • The agreements set out the ownership of property during the marriage, division of property in the event of a divorce, liabilities and debts owed by parties, spousal and child maintenance, and the governing law of the prenuptial agreements.
  • Prenuptial agreements offer to protect assets acquired by parties before the marriage, from debts incurred by the other party, and protect businesses in the event of divorces.

Record communication between you and your spouse, especially on issues in relation to the custody of children, maintenance issues and division of assets.

  • This will be objective evidence to assist the Court to determine the rights to custody, care and control over the child, spousal and child maintenance, and the division of matrimonial assets.
  • As acrimony increases between the parties, they may hide the truth to obtain an outcome favourable to themselves.

Begin collecting receipts for expenses.

  • This will be useful to assist the Court in determining rights to child and spousal maintenance.
  • A divorcing spouse ought to know that protecting one’s rights does not entail concealing one’s assets from the Court in determining the division of matrimonial assets.
  • During court proceedings, parties have the duty to provide full and frank disclosure of documents in relation to their assets. The Court will take into account a party’s failure to provide full and frank disclosure and concealing evidence which can affect the total value in the division of matrimonial assets. This is also known as drawing an adverse inference against the spouse concealing his or her assets.
Generally speaking, most parties are concerned with their rights over custody, care and control over children, if they have children, their property rights, and spousal and child maintenance.
Rights to custody, care and control over the children

More often than not, during a divorce, arrangements regarding the children are not agreed because parties have allowed their emotions to take precedence over the child’s welfare.

If this is not agreed, custody, care, and control over the children will be contested and parents will put in applications for the reasons that they should have a right to custody, care and control – this will lead to protracted divorce proceedings, increasing costs and acrimony for parties.

Property rights

Matrimonial assets are subject to inclusion into the matrimonial pool of the parties to be divided between the two according to the percentage entitlement that the Court orders.

Protecting property rights is the clients’ that should not be part of the pool is important so that the division is fair.

Spousal maintenance It is common for wives to request for a nominal $1 maintenance, however, the Court’s approach towards nominal maintenance has shifted slightly. Women are now seen as equal to men.
Child maintenance Courts will assess this based on multiple factors such as:
  • Amount of income, or potential income of the father and mother;
  • Father and mother’s income in relation to each other’s income;
  • The relationship of the father and mother (eg. acrimony in the relationship);
  • Income of the child, if any;
  • Child’s educational scholarships and grants, if any;
  • Educational expenses of the child;
  • Age of the child; and
  • Expenses such as household and medical expenses etc.

It is important that you appoint a specialist divorce lawyer to give specific legal advice to cater to your specific needs.