Singapore legislation
Section 71
Section 71
Enforcement of maintenance order
(1)
If any person fails to make one or more payments required to be made under a maintenance order, the court which made the order may do all or any of the following:
for every breach of the order by warrant direct the amount due to be levied in the manner by law provided for levying fines imposed by a Magistrate’s Court;
sentence the person to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month for each month’s allowance remaining unpaid;
make a garnishee order in accordance with the Family Justice Rules made under section 79;
order the person to furnish security against any future default in maintenance payments by means of a bankerʼs guarantee which —
must be valid for such period (not exceeding 3 years) as the court may determine, starting from the date the order for security is made; and
must be for an amount not exceeding 3 months of maintenance payable under the maintenance order;
if the court considers it in the interests of the parties in the maintenance proceedings or their children to do so, order the person to undergo financial counselling or such other similar or related programme as the court may direct;
make a community service order requiring the person to perform any unpaid community service for up to 40 hours under the supervision of a community service officer.
(2)
A sentence of imprisonment ordered under subsection (1)(b) does not affect or diminish the obligation of the person against whom the maintenance order is made to make the payment or payments under the maintenance order which that person has failed to make, except that the court may, if it thinks fit, reduce the amount of any such payments.
(2A)
The court may make an order under subsection (1)(d), (e) or (f) even though any arrears of maintenance which gave rise to the proceedings in which the order is made have been paid up in part or in whole by the time the order is made.
(2B)
If a person fails to make one or more payments payable under a maintenance order and an order is made by the court under subsection (1) stating the amount of arrears, any of the following persons may lodge a report to a designated credit bureau regarding the unpaid arrears stated on the order of court:
the person to or for whom the maintenance is payable;
the caregiver of such person; (c)an authorised representative of such person.
(2C)
The designated credit bureau may, on receipt of the report mentioned in subsection (2B), provide the information, either on its own or consolidated with other information pertaining to the credit payment history of the maintenance defaulter, to the members of the credit bureau.
(2D)
In this section, “designated credit bureau” means an entity that —
collects and maintains information about the credit payment history of a person and provides such information to its members for the purpose of enabling its members to assess the creditworthiness of a person; and
has been designated by the Minister as a credit bureau for the purposes of receiving a report lodged under subsection (2B).
(2E)
To avoid doubt, a community service order made by the court under subsection (1)(f) is deemed not to be a community service order made under the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 and sections 346 to 352 of that Act do not, except as may be provided in this section, apply to a community service order made under subsection (1)(f).
(2F)
An order made by the court under subsection (1) is to state the name, Singapore identity card number, contact number and address of the person who has defaulted on any maintenance payment and the complainant, except where the court determines it would be inappropriate to do so in any particular case.
(3)
A maintenance order made by the General Division of the High Court may be enforced by a Family Court in accordance with subsection (1) as if that order had been made by the Family Court, except that a Family Court shall have no power to vary an order of the General Division of the High Court.