When Nora* and her ex-husband divorced, she filed for the right to appeal to keep the BTO flat the couple had bought when they were still married. The flat, due for completion next year, was located near a primary school, and Nora thought it would make an ideal home for their son, who would be enrolling in primary school by then.
Little did she expect her ex-husband to fight her on the issue – he wanted the flat, as its prime location meant a potential windfall when it could be sold. Although the judge ruled in Nora’s favour, the tussle meant thousands spent on legal fees, and even more months spent in bitter acrimony.
The dispute over the flat was just one of many that Nora dealt with in her divorce. From the amount of maintenance to support their son to how their matrimonial assets would be divided, nearly every issue had to be resolved with court intervention. In all, Nora estimates that she spent some $20,000 on legal fees.
Not every divorce is like Nora’s – in Singapore, only a small fraction of divorces are contested and require litigation in court to reach a resolution. In 2022, 63 per cent of divorces filed in the Family Justice Courts were uncontested; among contested cases, the majority were eventually resolved without court intervention. “More than 90 per cent of all divorces are eventually resolved through parties sorting things out without adjudication,” said Justice Debbie Ong, former Presiding Judge of the Family Justice Courts, in 2020.
Still, the reality of ending a marriage and separating years of commingled finances and assets often comes as a rude shock to couples.
And when children are involved, the stress is further compounded for their primary caregivers – in Singapore,
