New measures to reinforce amended maintenance laws
To support previous enhancements to enforce maintenance payments introduced in 2011, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) yesterday announced new measures to reinforce the amended laws.
Both the ministry and the courts will introduce a new role: Maintenance record officers, who will help the courts identify those who default on maintenance payments.
These officers will assess the defaulter’s ability to pay by obtaining information on parties’ financial circumstances to help the court in its fact-finding process. They will also have the standing in court to tender the information obtained as evidence for the court to consider.
For those who are genuinely unable to fork out the maintenance, such as when they are incarcerated or are not medically fit to work, timely financial assistance will be extended to the vulnerable wives, ex-wives and children through the MSF’s Social Service Offices. They can also be referred to the Community Justice Centre for legal assistance.
Help will also be given to a husband or ex-husband whose circumstances have changed such that he genuinely cannot pay maintenance, said Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin, who announced these changes in Parliament yesterday during the second reading of the Women’s Charter (Amendment) Bill.
Following the amendments introduced in 2011, there is no “need (for) more legislative changes this round”. Instead, the challenges lie with the implementation of these measures, said Mr Tan.
While recalcitrant maintenance defaulters who have the means but choose not to honour their maintenance payments will be firmly dealt with, a “more empathetic approach” will be taken for defaulters in genuine difficulty, he said.
And to help spouses in acrimonious divorces with access to their children, the MSF will double the capacity of Divorce Support Agencies for supervised exchange and visits for children by July. SIAU MING EN
