CHANGES made to the Women's Charter, to better protect women and
their dependents awarded maintenance orders against defaulters,
come into effect on June 1.
To strengthen the current penalties such as recovering arrears
through fines, imposing a third party order and jail term on
defaulters, the amendments give the Courts power to order
defaulters to set up a banker's guarantee against future defaults,
perform community service orders and attend financial
counselling.
The Courts can also direct the Central Provident Fund (CPF)
Board to disclose the employment information of a defaulter for
attachment of earnings orders and provisions will be introduced to
streamline court processes and to allow for new rules to be made on
the practice and procedure of maintenance proceedings.
For divorces that happen overseas, the Courts can apply for
financial relief, especially if the parties involved move back to
Singapore following the divorce or if they have assets here.
And to safeguard the interests of children, matrimonial assets
divided between divorcing parents can be transferred into the Child
Development Accounts (CDA), earmarking a sum of money for the
children's development.
But these amendments do not only apply to divorces. To encourage
marriages, the changed law will do away with the 15-day compulsory
stay in Singapore for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs)
prior to applying for a marriage licence. But this 15-day residence
requirement still applies to couples where at least one party is
not a Singapore Citizen or PR.
-- ST
