Women’s Charter 1961 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 9 · Enforcement of Maintenance Orders
91B. Meaning of “maintenance enforcement order”
Last amended by an amending law of 2023.
Official textFrom Singapore Statutes Online, unchanged
For the purposes of this Part, each of the following is a maintenance enforcement order:
maintenance enforcement order
“maintenance enforcement order” means an order mentioned in section 91B(1);
a warrant directing that maintenance arrears be levied in the manner by law provided for levying fines imposed by a Magistrate’s Court;
an order sentencing the respondent to imprisonment for maintenance arrears as at the time the maintenance enforcement application in question is made;
an order for attachment of a debt made in accordance with the Family Justice Rules;
an order requiring the respondent to furnish security against any future default in maintenance payments by means of a banker’s guarantee;
an order requiring the respondent to undergo financial counselling or any other similar or related programme that the court may direct if the court considers it in the interests of the parties in the maintenance enforcement proceedings or their children to do so;
a community service order requiring the respondent to perform unpaid community service;
an attachment of earnings order.
To avoid doubt —
an order mentioned in subsection (1)(d), (e) or (f) may be made on a maintenance enforcement application even though any maintenance arrears as at the time of making of the application have been paid up in part or in whole by the time the order is made; and
an order mentioned in subsection (1)(e) or (f) may be made on a maintenance enforcement application even though the respondent is no longer liable to make any payment under the maintenance order in question by the time the order is made.
Terms defined in this Act
attachment of earnings order
Defined · s 76“attachment of earnings order” means an order by a court requiring the person to whom the order in question is directed (being a person appearing to the court to be a respondent’s employer) to make payments in satisfaction of the order out of the earnings falling to be paid to the respondent;
maintenance arrears
Defined · s 76“maintenance arrears” means payments due and payable under a maintenance order, whether secured or unsecured;
maintenance enforcement application
Defined · s 76“maintenance enforcement application” means an application under section 80;
maintenance enforcement order
Defined · s 76“maintenance enforcement order” means an order mentioned in section 91B(1);
maintenance enforcement proceedings
Defined · s 76“maintenance enforcement proceedings” means the proceedings in court arising from any application under this Part, including any appeal against any decision made by the court on the application;
maintenance order
Defined · s 8“maintenance order” means —(a)an order for the payment of monthly sums or a lump sum for the maintenance of a wife, an incapacitated husband or a child made or deemed to be made by a court under Part 8;(b)an order for the payment of monthly or periodical sums or a lump sum by way of maintenance or alimony to a wife or former wife or an incapacitated husband or incapacitated former husband, or by way of maintenance for the benefit of any child, under Part 10;(c)an order for maintenance made by the Syariah Court under the Administration of Muslim Law Act 1966; or(d)a maintenance order as defined in section 2 of the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1975;
respondent
Defined · s 76“respondent”, in relation to a maintenance order or a maintenance enforcement application in respect of a maintenance order, means the person liable to make payments under the maintenance order;
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Part 9A
Additional Provisions Relating to Part 7, 8 or 9
Part 10
Part 10A
Amicable Settlement of Disputes
Part 10B
Court’S Power to Set Aside and Prevent Dispositions Intended to Defeat Maintenance Claims or Other Orders in Matrimonial Proceedings
Part 10C
Replacement Because of Death
Part 11
Offences Against Women and Girls
Part 12