Measures to Help Families Recover Defaulted Alimony Payments

Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the current percentage of divorced spouses who have defaulted on their alimony payments; (b) how is the Ministry assisting families to recover such payments; and (c) how can we better support families during such times of difficulties.

There were 2,651 maintenance enforcement applications filed at the Family Justice Courts in 2016, down from 2,753 in 2015 and 2,927 in 2014. These comprise enforcements for spousal, ex-spousal and child maintenance, and we do not have a breakdown for divorces only.

The maintenance of spouses, ex-spouses and children is fundamentally a family responsibility. To assist families to obtain the maintenance they need, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has implemented the Maintenance Record Officer (MRO) scheme to identify defaulters who seem to wilfully default on their maintenance obligations. This provides greater clarity for the Court, in deciding whether to impose harsher penalties to deter future wilful defaulting.

Maintenance default may occur for a multitude of reasons, such as where the defaulter faces financial hardship. To better support families in such circumstances, MSF has enhanced the MRO scheme by introducing a new early intervention point to assist complainants when they file an enforcement application at the Family Justice Courts. MROs concurrently assist spouses or ex-spouses in financial need by referring them to Social Service Offices for financial assistance. As of 29 December 2017, 148 complainants with minor children have been assisted through this new intervention point, since the scheme was first implemented on 13 November 2017.