At your divorce hearing (normal track)

• Agrees only to the divorce and not to all ancillary matters in their Memorandum of Appearance (MOA).
• Fails to file their MOA within 8 days (if the defendant is located in Singapore) or within 21 days (if the defendant is located outside of Singapore) after being served the divorce papers.
• Fails to file a defence within 14 days of filing their MOA indicating their intention to contest the divorce action.

Members of the public are not allowed to attend the uncontested divorce hearing. Parties and their lawyers (if any) also do not have to attend the hearing.

At the hearing, the court will grant an order for divorce known as an Interim Judgment if it is satisfied that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. Parties may then extract the Interim Judgment at the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau.

For cases where the defendant only agrees to the divorce and not on all the ancillary matters, the court will schedule a date for an ancillary matters case conference after the Interim Judgment is granted.

For cases where the defendant fails to file their MOA or defence within the stipulated time periods, parties will have to wait for 3 months from the date the Interim Judgment is granted to extract the Certificate of Final Judgment.

Extracting the Certificate of Final Judgment finalises and completes the divorce proceedings.

If the defendant does not agree to the divorce and all ancillary matters, the case will proceed to a contested divorce hearing after set down.

Depending on the nature of the case, the court may notify parties (or their lawyers, if any) to attend a court session known as a case conference before a date for the contested divorce hearing is scheduled.

Only those directly involved in the matter can attend a case conference. Members of the public are not allowed to attend. You do not have to attend the case conference yourself if you have a lawyer. Similarly, if the other party has a lawyer, their lawyer will attend the case conference.

At the case conference, the court will give directions on how to best prepare both parties for the contested divorce hearing. This may include directions for both parties to file the following:

• Their Affidavit of Evidence-in-Chief (AEIC).
• Their witnesses' AEIC (if applicable).

In some cases, parties may have to attend multiple case conferences.

Bringing witnesses to court

Parties must notify all their witnesses of the date and venue of the hearing. If a witness does not attend court, their AEICs may be rejected by the court.

If a witness is unwilling to attend court, parties may apply for an order called a subpoena via eLitigation requiring them to attend court on the specified date and time.

Arriving for a hearing

If you are representing yourself, on the day of your hearing, you should:

• Arrive early and find your way to the venue.
  • Refer to the building directory for more information.
• Confirm your case is heard in the venue you are about to enter. Inform the court officer (if any) before entering.
• Dress neatly and decently when attending court.
  • Refer to the visitors' guide for the dress code.
• Speak and conduct yourself in a courteous manner.

Attendance is compulsory

Parties (and their lawyers, if any) will have to attend the hearing. If a party is absent without a valid reason, the court may proceed with the case in their absence.

What to expect

Depending on the number of witnesses and the complexity of the case, the whole process may require 1 day to several days.

Parties are expected to take the stand and present evidence at the hearing. The court will then grant an order for divorce known as an Interim Judgment if it is satisfied that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.

Parties may then extract the Interim Judgment at the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau. This is the end of the first stage of the contested divorce process.

The Interim Judgment does not deal with issues about the children, property or maintenance. The court will schedule a date for the parties to attend an ancillary matters case conference to prepare them for an ancillary matters hearing. These issues will be heard during the hearing.

• Divorce in Singapore: the essentials.
  • English (PDF, 776 KB)
  • Chinese (PDF, 753 KB)
  • Malay (PDF, 507 KB)
  • Tamil (PDF, 3574 KB)
• Divorce in Singapore: processes in a glance (PDF, 276 KB)
• Case management handbook for divorce matters (PDF, 4721 KB).
• Information sheet (PDF, 188 KB) on Registrar's Empowerment Clause.
• Sample Affidavit (Word, 29 KB) for use in cases in which the Registrar's Empowerment Clause requires one party to give notice to the other party.

• Part X of the Women's Charter.
• The Family Justice Act.
• Part 5 of Division 2 of the Family Justice Rules.