Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1975 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Orders Made by Courts in Singapore
4. Power to make provisional maintenance order against person residing in reciprocating country
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2019. 2 amendments in all.
Where a complaint is made to a Family Court against a person residing in a reciprocating country and the complaint is one on which such court would have jurisdiction by virtue of any enactment to make a maintenance order if —
court
“court” includes any tribunal or person having power to make, confirm, enforce, vary or revoke a maintenance order that is enforceable by a civil court of competent jurisdiction;
that person were residing in Singapore; and
a summons to appear before such court to answer to the complaint had been duly served on that person,the court has jurisdiction to hear the complaint and may, subject to subsection (2), make a maintenance order on the complaint.
A maintenance order made by virtue of this section is a provisional order.
maintenance order
“maintenance order” means an order (however described) of the following descriptions:(a)an order (including an affiliation order or order consequent upon an affiliation order) which provides for the payment of a lump sum or the making of periodical payments —(i)by a man towards the maintenance of his wife or former wife; or(ii)by a person towards the maintenance of the person’s child; and(b)an affiliation order or order consequent upon an affiliation order, being an order which provides for the payment by a person adjudged, found or declared to be a child’s father of expenses incidental to the child’s birth or, where the child had died, of the child’s funeral expenses,and in the case of a maintenance order which has been varied, means that order as varied;
No enactment empowering a Family Court to refuse to make an order on a complaint on the ground that the matter in question is one which would be more conveniently dealt with by the General Division of the High Court applies in relation to a complaint to which subsection (1) applies.
Where a Family Court makes a maintenance order which is by virtue of this section a provisional order, the following documents:
provisional order
“provisional order” means (according to the context) —(a)an order made by a court in Singapore which is provisional only and has no effect unless confirmed, with or without alteration, by a competent court in a reciprocating country; or(b)an order made by a court in a reciprocating country which is provisional only and has no effect unless confirmed with or without alteration, by a court in Singapore having power under this Act to confirm it;
a certified copy of the maintenance order;
a document, authenticated in the prescribed manner, setting out or summarising the evidence given in the proceedings;
a certificate signed by the prescribed officer of the court certifying that the grounds stated in the certificate are the grounds on which the making of the order might have been opposed by the payer under the order;
a statement giving such information as was available to the court as to the whereabouts of the payer;
a statement giving such information as the officer possesses for facilitating the identification of the payer; and
where available, a photograph of the payer,must be sent by that officer to the Minister with a view to their being transmitted by the Minister to the responsible authority in the reciprocating country in which the payer is residing if the Minister is satisfied that the statement relating to the whereabouts of the payer gives sufficient information to justify that being done.
A maintenance order made by virtue of this section which has been confirmed by a competent court in a reciprocating country is treated for all purposes as if the Family Court which made the order had made it in the form in which it was confirmed and as if the order had never been a provisional order, and subject to section 5, any such order may be enforced, varied or revoked accordingly.
reciprocating country
“reciprocating country” has the meaning given by section 17;