The Government of Singapore is considering the introduction of an option to allow couples to divorce through amicable means. This new process could be opted for without citing any fault in the marriage, such as irretrievable breakdown of marriage proved through adultery, unreasonable behavior, desertion, or separation. Hence, none of the five facts that are currently used to establish the grounds for an irretrievable breakdown of marriage will be required if this new law is passed. If such a step is taken and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) enacts such a law, this could lead to making the entire divorce process a bit less hostile or harsh. Since May 2, 2021, the MSF has been seeking public feedback on this concept of “amicable divorce”.
The Minister of State for Social and Family Development, Sun Xueling, spoke about the new model and how under it, the couple can jointly file for divorce without the need for one person to be the plaintiff and one to be the defendant, which generally set them up in an adversarial relationship. While this new “amicable divorce” option will be introduced, the current safeguards will still be in place, including the rule for the couple to be married for at least three years before they can file for divorce. “At the end of the day, we hope to make the divorce process less painful for couples who have decided to embark on divorce, despite their best intentions to save the marriage,” said Ms. Sun. Ms. Sun also noted that the Family Justice Court had already introduced a simplified divorce process in 2015 and that this “amicable divorce” is being built along similar lines to this simplified divorce process.
Lawyer Ivan Cheong said that the concept of an “amicable divorce” option could be very significant as it would mark a transition to a truly ‘no fault’ basis divorce.” Fei Yue Community Services deputy executive director Arthur Ling said a more amicable split is vital to help parents cooperate in their parenting roles post-divorce. However, making the divorce process easy does not mean that the value of marriage is being diminished. Mr. Ling states, “It’s not about minimizing the value of marriage. Rather, in a divorce where the children are in pain, how can we make the process (more) amicable?” In 2019, only 200 out of 6700 children who were part of their parents getting divorced accessed child support programs from the Divorce Support Specialist Agencies. This is less than 3% of the total number.
The MSF had been engaging with divorced parents and social service professionals over the past six months as part of its conversations on women’s development and to understand how to better support both going through the divorce process. One primary concern for the couple was to cite a fault in the marriage. Through these interactions, the MSF sought to enhance support for couples and for children and reduce acrimony in the divorce process for couples who agree on the divorce. The MSF brought up reforms such as having all parents with children under the age of 21 attend a compulsory consultation session, the Mandatory Parenting Programme, provide for mediation to help couples reach an agreement, and the concept of “amicable divorce”. That being said, the five facts that are used for proving the grounds for an irretrievable breakdown of marriage will still remain.
The MSF has called the current proposal “exploratory”, and they are waiting for the public feedback to see what the public thinks of this. They sought feedback to reduce the acrimony of the process and support those undergoing divorce and their children. Until June 3, 2021, the MSF had opened a call for views and opinions from its citizens, and will now read through the feedback and consider the suggestions.
Harsh Mahaseth is an Assistant Lecturer at Jindal Global Law School, and a Research Analyst at the Nehginpao Kipgen Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University. He is currently a Fellow at Kathmandu Tribune.
