Maintenance Enforcement Process Amendments effective from 16 January 2025

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With effect from 16 January 2025, Singapore will launch the first phase of its new Maintenance Enforcement Process (MEP), aimed at enhancing the existing maintenance enforcement regime. The first phase will apply to applicants and cases where there have been one or more maintenance enforcement actions filed in Court in the past. It is anticipated that the MEP will be rolled out to other categories of enforcement proceedings in late-2025.

Maintenance Enforcement Officers (MEOs) 

Under the new MEP framework, Maintenance Enforcement Officers (MEOs) will operate within the newly established Maintenance Enforcement Division, under the Insolvency and Public Trustee’s Office at the Ministry of Law. MEOs will have broad powers to:  

  • Investigate parties’ respective financial status; 
  • Facilitate conciliation between parties;
  • Refer parties to financial assistance programs, if necessary; and
  • Prepare comprehensive reports on parties’ respective financial status and maintenance defaults to assist the Family Justice Courts (FJC) in determining appropriate maintenance orders.

As public officers within the Ministry of Law, MEOs will have access to financial information that individual parties may not have access to. This will be helpful to applicants and the FJC in situations where the defaulting party is uncooperative.  

Since MEOs are tasked with preparing reports to the FJC, the Court will also be able to distinguish between individuals who lack the financial means to meet their maintenance obligations and recalcitrant defaulters who simply refuse to comply with maintenance orders.

It is our hope that with the new MEP, maintenance defaulters will have less room to play hide-and-seek with their ex-spouses. The current maintenance enforcement regime can be time-consuming and resource-intensive on applicants, and we empathize with applicants whose children who are dependent on timely maintenance payments. A more robust MEP will level the playing field, and this can only be in the best interests of children.

If you or a person whom you know is experiencing persistent failures to comply with maintenance obligations and would like to understand how to enforce such orders, please schedule a Consultation with our lawyers today.