Debated in Parliament on 14 Feb 2022.
Ms Hany Soh asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) for each year over the past three years, what is the number of maintenance enforcement applications filed in the Family Justice Courts; and (b) of these, how many are (i) incapacitated male applicants, (ii) female applicants, (iii) male applicants filed on behalf of minor children, (iv) female applicants filed on behalf of minor children, (v) filed during the course of marriage and (vi) cases that managed to reach an amicable resolution at the mediation stage, respectively.
Maintenance enforcement applications are filed under section 71 of the Women's Charter. Section 71(1) empowers the Court to order any of the enforcement measures listed if any person fails to make one or more payments required to be made under a maintenance order. Such a maintenance order may be granted to a wife, incapacitated husband or on behalf of a minor child.
The number of maintenance enforcement applications filed for the last three years is shown in Table 1 below.
The statistics on the number of maintenance enforcement applications filed during the course of marriage and the number of cases that managed to reach an amicable resolution at the mediation stage are not available, so the Ministry is unable to provide such a breakdown for the past three years.
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