Louis Ng on Family Justice Reform Bill

The Family Justice Reform Bill will improve family court proceedings by reducing acrimony in divorce proceedings, enhancing the judge-led approach and facilitating enforcement of maintenance orders, said MP Louis Ng. Speaking in Parliament on Monday (May 8), he noted that under the proposed changes, Maintenance Enforcement Officers (MEOs) would be allowed to seek court orders for banks or prescribed third parties to provide information. He wanted to know who these prescribed third parties may be. He also wanted to know the contemplated timelines of the MEOs for banks and prescribed third parties. Mr Ng asked if there is a limit on the number of conciliation sessions that the MEO can conduct. He also wanted to know more about the training that will be provided to the MEOs in looking for relevant documents and assessing the parties’ actual financial positions. Turning to financial counselling for couples undergoing divorce, Mr Ng stressed the need to sort out finances early when a marriage has broken down to avoid disputes and distress later. He wanted to know how the Government is working at an upstream stage to provide financial counselling even before the divorce application is filed.