How to Ease Financial Burden of Divorce by Applying for Maintenance
One of the ways you can ease financial burden of being a single parent is to apply for maintenance (financial support) from your former spouse.
Under the terms of Singapore's Women's Charter, a single parent can apply for maintenance for the children of the union from the other parent if they are neglecting them and not providing financial support.
The wife can also request for maintenance or alimony from her ex-spouse.
Alimony is awarded at the sole discretion of the court and aims to place the wife in a similar financial situation as she would have been had not the marriage broken up.
Note that the wife can apply for alimony or child maintenance at any point in the marriage or divorce if the spouse in neglecting them; active divorce proceedings are not required.
Alimony is provided until the wife or ex-wife re-marries or dies.
At present, however, under Singapore law there is no reciprocal protection provided for husbands or ex-husbands.
Child maintenance is only provided for minor children and automatically stops when the child reaches 21 or when they become financially independent.
However, children over 21 who are still full-time students or NSmen can apply for maintenance from a parent until they complete their studies.
Alimony or maintenance is intended to ease financial burden by paying for essential expenses such as groceries, property maintenance and domestic help.
Note that alimony is purely intended to cover the ex-wife's personal expenses and is separate from maintenance paid for the children of the marriage.
The court will set the amount of alimony or maintenance based on factors such as the earning capacity and financial capability of the spouses, their ages as well as the length of the marriage and the financial needs of the children and the ex-spouse.
To make enforcing maintenance orders easier, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports said it will start to implement the changes made under the Women's Charter Amendment Act in January 2011.
The changes will allow the courts to implement new sanctions and penalties on spouses who default on maintenance orders, in addition to the current penalties.
These include the courts being able to ask the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board for financial and employment information of a defaulter for the purpose of issuing attachment of earnings orders as well as allowing complainants to report maintenance debts to a credit bureau.
Hopefully, these changes will help ease financial burden of single divorced parents by making it easier for them to pursue financial support from their former spouses.
Under the terms of Singapore's Women's Charter, a single parent can apply for maintenance for the children of the union from the other parent if they are neglecting them and not providing financial support.
The wife can also request for maintenance or alimony from her ex-spouse.
Alimony is awarded at the sole discretion of the court and aims to place the wife in a similar financial situation as she would have been had not the marriage broken up.
Note that the wife can apply for alimony or child maintenance at any point in the marriage or divorce if the spouse in neglecting them; active divorce proceedings are not required.
Alimony is provided until the wife or ex-wife re-marries or dies.
At present, however, under Singapore law there is no reciprocal protection provided for husbands or ex-husbands.
Child maintenance is only provided for minor children and automatically stops when the child reaches 21 or when they become financially independent.
However, children over 21 who are still full-time students or NSmen can apply for maintenance from a parent until they complete their studies.
Alimony or maintenance is intended to ease financial burden by paying for essential expenses such as groceries, property maintenance and domestic help.
Note that alimony is purely intended to cover the ex-wife's personal expenses and is separate from maintenance paid for the children of the marriage.
The court will set the amount of alimony or maintenance based on factors such as the earning capacity and financial capability of the spouses, their ages as well as the length of the marriage and the financial needs of the children and the ex-spouse.
To make enforcing maintenance orders easier, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports said it will start to implement the changes made under the Women's Charter Amendment Act in January 2011.
The changes will allow the courts to implement new sanctions and penalties on spouses who default on maintenance orders, in addition to the current penalties.
These include the courts being able to ask the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board for financial and employment information of a defaulter for the purpose of issuing attachment of earnings orders as well as allowing complainants to report maintenance debts to a credit bureau.
Hopefully, these changes will help ease financial burden of single divorced parents by making it easier for them to pursue financial support from their former spouses.
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