SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Loh Wai Mooi, Wang Liansheng, Valerie Goh and Petrina Tan, Bih Li & Lee LLP
If a prenuptial agreement is entered into by for - eign nationals and governed by (as well as valid according to) a foreign law (and assuming the foreign law is not repugnant to the public policy of Singapore), then the court may afford signifi - cant weight to the terms of that agreement, in order to avoid forum shopping. However, the court has maintained that it retains the overall discretion in determining the division of matri - monial assets. 2.6 Cohabitation Singapore does not recognise de facto relation - ships or cohabitation under the matrimonial law regime. For unmarried couples, the assets would be governed by principles of contract, trust or property law. Parties also do not acquire addi - tional rights by virtue of the length of cohabi - tation. Children born of unmarried couples are considered illegitimate. Assets acquired during premarital cohabitation are not subject to division unless they have been transformed into matrimonial assets by meet- ing certain statutory criteria. Similarly, the court should not take into account parties’ indirect contributions during the period of premarital cohabitation when determining the extent of each party’s contribution to the marriage (USB v USA and another appeal (2020) 2 SLR 588). 2.7 Enforcement A party may apply for the following enforcement orders: • an enforcement order for attachment of debt; • an enforcement order for seizure and sale of property; and • an enforcement order for delivery or posses - sion of property.
Naturally, if the other party fails to comply with a court order, then an application for committal may also be commenced against the defaulting party. A party may also apply for the following to enforce maintenance orders: • sentencing of the respondent to a maximum of one month’s imprisonment for each month of unpaid maintenance; • an enforcement order for attachment of debt, which could include an order for the respond - ent’s employer to deduct the portion of main - tenance from the respondent’s salary and make direct payment to the applicant; • an order for the respondent to give a banker’s guarantee against future defaults; • an order for the respondent to undergo finan - cial counselling; and/or • an order for the respondent to perform com - munity service. 2.8 Media Access and Transparency The media and press are allowed to report on family justice court proceedings, save that Sec - tion 10 of the Family Justice Act 2014 provides that all hearings in the family justice courts are generally heard in camera, and Section 112 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993 pro - hibits the publishing or broadcasting of any information that could lead to the identification of any child or young person concerned in the proceedings. Judgments for matrimonial proceedings that involve children below the age of 21 years are also redacted and/or anonymised to adhere to Section 112 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993.
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