wendy_reborn
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Most women seeking maintenance in Family Courts are married, not divorced
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 11 Jan 2020
Author: Theresa Tan
Family lawyers note that many people assume that maintenance can only be claimed after a divorce, but this is not true.
Figures released for the first time by the Family Justice Courts (FJC) show that the bulk of applicants seeking maintenance orders are women still married to their husbands.
In fact, two in three of the 1,315 applications filed, on average, each year between 2016 and 2018 were by wives against their husbands for financial support for themselves or their children.
The remaining one third of applications were filed by other family members such as ex-wives, the child's grandparents and the child's legal guardians. They were asking for financial support for the children, an FJC spokesman told The Sunday Times.
Family lawyers note that many people assume that maintenance can only be claimed after a divorce, but this is not true.
Under the Women's Charter, the wife can apply for maintenance against her husband during their marriage if he has "neglected or refused to provide reasonable maintenance for her", the FJC spokesman said.
Even though many women work and have their own incomes, the legal provision for husbands to provide for their families is still necessary, say family lawyers who were interviewed.
Lawyer Gloria James-Civetta said: "The fact that many women work today does not make this provision less necessary than before. Women who work may still earn relatively less income than her spouse - inadequate to fully support themselves and the household. They may also be working part-time while raising children."
Another lawyer, Shone Aye Cheng, said that filing a maintenance application is often the "last resort" for these women who need their husbands to contribute to make ends meet at home.
By the time they go to court, the marital relationship would have been very strained, the lawyers note.
Lawyer Lim Chong Boon said: "Even if the women have a job, it is natural for a woman to feel that their husband should also contribute. They feel how can the husband abdicate financial responsibility and leave it to the woman?"
Some women may also have put up with the bad behaviour of their husbands for years and would turn to the court only because they stumbled upon their husband's infidelity, for instance, said lawyer Ellen Lee.
Ms Lee said: "Then they feel they can't tolerate it anymore. So by then, they think about divorce but some do not divorce their husbands for various considerations, like they are afraid it would affect their children."
Mr Lim said that errant husbands claim they have no money when asked by lawyers why they have not provided adequately for their families.
Some of the husbands are not working but most are employed. Dig deeper and often there are underlying reasons behind their actions, lawyers say.
For example, some men have found another woman and they intend to divorce their wives, Ms James-Civetta said. Or the marital relationship is so strained that they do not want to support their wives.
Take for example, Alice, 40, who has a 10-year-old daughter. When her daughter was a toddler, her husband, an engineer, moved out of the marital home to live with his mistress. He stopped providing for his family.
Alice (not her real name) - who was then a home-maker - had to work as a clinic assistant to pay the bills but it was insufficient to make ends meet on less than $2,000 a month.
She filed for maintenance and the court ordered her husband to pay $1,100 a month - $1,000 for their daughter and $100 for Alice.
Her husband later pleaded for forgiveness. She forgave him, they got back together and she cancelled her maintenance claims.
But her misery continued.
He started to become abusive, even once putting a knife to her neck, and she found out he was still seeing his mistress. Last year (2019), she divorced her husband of over 10 years.
"I tried my best to save this marriage and I have forgiven him so many times," she said. "He hit me until there are bruises all over my face. I felt so ashamed."
The amount in maintenance ordered ranges from a few hundred dollars a month to about $20,000 a month, lawyers interviewed say about the cases they have handled.
A spokesman from the Maintenance Support Central Committee run by the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations said: "Many people don't have basic legal knowledge. I would imagine that many wives, ignorant of this fact (that they could apply for maintenance while still married), would only think of divorce as a means of getting maintenance."
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 11 Jan 2020
Author: Theresa Tan
Family lawyers note that many people assume that maintenance can only be claimed after a divorce, but this is not true.
Figures released for the first time by the Family Justice Courts (FJC) show that the bulk of applicants seeking maintenance orders are women still married to their husbands.
In fact, two in three of the 1,315 applications filed, on average, each year between 2016 and 2018 were by wives against their husbands for financial support for themselves or their children.
The remaining one third of applications were filed by other family members such as ex-wives, the child's grandparents and the child's legal guardians. They were asking for financial support for the children, an FJC spokesman told The Sunday Times.
Family lawyers note that many people assume that maintenance can only be claimed after a divorce, but this is not true.
Under the Women's Charter, the wife can apply for maintenance against her husband during their marriage if he has "neglected or refused to provide reasonable maintenance for her", the FJC spokesman said.
Even though many women work and have their own incomes, the legal provision for husbands to provide for their families is still necessary, say family lawyers who were interviewed.
Lawyer Gloria James-Civetta said: "The fact that many women work today does not make this provision less necessary than before. Women who work may still earn relatively less income than her spouse - inadequate to fully support themselves and the household. They may also be working part-time while raising children."
Another lawyer, Shone Aye Cheng, said that filing a maintenance application is often the "last resort" for these women who need their husbands to contribute to make ends meet at home.
By the time they go to court, the marital relationship would have been very strained, the lawyers note.
Lawyer Lim Chong Boon said: "Even if the women have a job, it is natural for a woman to feel that their husband should also contribute. They feel how can the husband abdicate financial responsibility and leave it to the woman?"
Some women may also have put up with the bad behaviour of their husbands for years and would turn to the court only because they stumbled upon their husband's infidelity, for instance, said lawyer Ellen Lee.
Ms Lee said: "Then they feel they can't tolerate it anymore. So by then, they think about divorce but some do not divorce their husbands for various considerations, like they are afraid it would affect their children."
Mr Lim said that errant husbands claim they have no money when asked by lawyers why they have not provided adequately for their families.
Some of the husbands are not working but most are employed. Dig deeper and often there are underlying reasons behind their actions, lawyers say.
For example, some men have found another woman and they intend to divorce their wives, Ms James-Civetta said. Or the marital relationship is so strained that they do not want to support their wives.
Take for example, Alice, 40, who has a 10-year-old daughter. When her daughter was a toddler, her husband, an engineer, moved out of the marital home to live with his mistress. He stopped providing for his family.
Alice (not her real name) - who was then a home-maker - had to work as a clinic assistant to pay the bills but it was insufficient to make ends meet on less than $2,000 a month.
She filed for maintenance and the court ordered her husband to pay $1,100 a month - $1,000 for their daughter and $100 for Alice.
Her husband later pleaded for forgiveness. She forgave him, they got back together and she cancelled her maintenance claims.
But her misery continued.
He started to become abusive, even once putting a knife to her neck, and she found out he was still seeing his mistress. Last year (2019), she divorced her husband of over 10 years.
"I tried my best to save this marriage and I have forgiven him so many times," she said. "He hit me until there are bruises all over my face. I felt so ashamed."
The amount in maintenance ordered ranges from a few hundred dollars a month to about $20,000 a month, lawyers interviewed say about the cases they have handled.
A spokesman from the Maintenance Support Central Committee run by the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations said: "Many people don't have basic legal knowledge. I would imagine that many wives, ignorant of this fact (that they could apply for maintenance while still married), would only think of divorce as a means of getting maintenance."