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ABOUT four years ago, Sharifah's (not her real name) former husband disappeared and stopped making the monthly maintenance payments needed to support her two young sons.
Since her divorce in 2004, she has had to apply for the maintenance order to be enforced every few months or so, appearing in court and going through tedious red tape.
She did this to get a monthly payment of $200 and, some time later, her former husband became uncontactable.
"After a while, you lose interest (in chasing him for payments)," said the 28-year-old, who works as a waitress.
Sharifah's predicament is not unique. For the past four years, an annual average of 3,600 applications for maintenance orders to be enforced were filed.
The divorce rate has been steadily climbing too - by about 4 per cent per annum for the past two decades.
Help may soon be on the way if proposed changes to the Women's Charter are passed. The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports yesterday invited members of the public to provide feedback and comments on the proposals.
If the proposals are passed, claimants - or former wives - will be able to obtain their former husband's - or defaulter's - employment information from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board. The amendments will also grant claimants access to a defaulter's workplace address, as well as his CPF contribution history for the preceeding year.
The Family Court will then be able to order a deduction from the defaulter's earnings, which will go towards maintenance payments. To deter defaulters, the court may order him to undergo financial counselling, serve 40 hours of community service or order him to post a banker's guarantee.
Claimants can also report maintenance debts to credit bureaus.
Lawyers my paper spoke to welcomed the proposed amendments, although they said that it remains to be seen how the tightened rules will be applied. More so, they question whether they will be effective.
Describing the current enforcement process as "frustrating", family lawyer Linda Ong said: "Frequently...so long as their income is not affected, they may keep defaulting and you may have to keep chasing them repeatedly for (payment).
"It would make enforcement a lot easier if the courts are now more willing to make such orders."
Presently, the courts rarely order a deduction to be made from a defaulter's earnings, as doing so would alert his employer, explained Ms Ong.
Instead, a defaulter could be ordered to pay his former wife by way of instalments or, in extreme cases, a defaulter could be jailed for non-payment. However, jail sentences are rarely meted out in these instances, said family lawyer Wong Kai Yun.
Ms Wong said: "These proposed measures fill a lacuna in the powers of enforcement that the courts never had before. That's why enforcement was always such a problem."
Ordering that deductions be made from a defaulter's earnings would also reduce the need for claimants to make repeated court appearances due to non-payment, said Ms Wong.
Other proposed changes to the Women's Charter include measures to better protect children of divorced parents.
Such parents with children below the age of 21 may have to attend compulsory counselling and mediation sessions.
They could also be ordered to transfer matrimonial assets into the Children's Development Account, to ensure that their children will be taken care of if both parents fail in their duties.
The public is invited to send their feedback to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports via www.reach.gov. sg by Sept 26.
[email protected]
Since her divorce in 2004, she has had to apply for the maintenance order to be enforced every few months or so, appearing in court and going through tedious red tape.
She did this to get a monthly payment of $200 and, some time later, her former husband became uncontactable.
"After a while, you lose interest (in chasing him for payments)," said the 28-year-old, who works as a waitress.
Sharifah's predicament is not unique. For the past four years, an annual average of 3,600 applications for maintenance orders to be enforced were filed.
The divorce rate has been steadily climbing too - by about 4 per cent per annum for the past two decades.
Help may soon be on the way if proposed changes to the Women's Charter are passed. The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports yesterday invited members of the public to provide feedback and comments on the proposals.
If the proposals are passed, claimants - or former wives - will be able to obtain their former husband's - or defaulter's - employment information from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board. The amendments will also grant claimants access to a defaulter's workplace address, as well as his CPF contribution history for the preceeding year.
The Family Court will then be able to order a deduction from the defaulter's earnings, which will go towards maintenance payments. To deter defaulters, the court may order him to undergo financial counselling, serve 40 hours of community service or order him to post a banker's guarantee.
Claimants can also report maintenance debts to credit bureaus.
Lawyers my paper spoke to welcomed the proposed amendments, although they said that it remains to be seen how the tightened rules will be applied. More so, they question whether they will be effective.
Describing the current enforcement process as "frustrating", family lawyer Linda Ong said: "Frequently...so long as their income is not affected, they may keep defaulting and you may have to keep chasing them repeatedly for (payment).
"It would make enforcement a lot easier if the courts are now more willing to make such orders."
Presently, the courts rarely order a deduction to be made from a defaulter's earnings, as doing so would alert his employer, explained Ms Ong.
Instead, a defaulter could be ordered to pay his former wife by way of instalments or, in extreme cases, a defaulter could be jailed for non-payment. However, jail sentences are rarely meted out in these instances, said family lawyer Wong Kai Yun.
Ms Wong said: "These proposed measures fill a lacuna in the powers of enforcement that the courts never had before. That's why enforcement was always such a problem."
Ordering that deductions be made from a defaulter's earnings would also reduce the need for claimants to make repeated court appearances due to non-payment, said Ms Wong.
Other proposed changes to the Women's Charter include measures to better protect children of divorced parents.
Such parents with children below the age of 21 may have to attend compulsory counselling and mediation sessions.
They could also be ordered to transfer matrimonial assets into the Children's Development Account, to ensure that their children will be taken care of if both parents fail in their duties.
The public is invited to send their feedback to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports via www.reach.gov. sg by Sept 26.
[email protected]
