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Note: To search for hearing details for a specific case, visit the hearing list page.

Preparing your evidence and documents for a protection from harassment case

Find out some examples of evidence you may provide for a case in the Protection from Harassment Court (PHC) or the Family Court (FC), and the instructions to prepare and file the evidence.

Note

What to prepare as evidence

You may include proof or evidence of the harassing act in your application or response.

Examples of evidence you may provide include:

Emails, blogs, websites, photographs, CCTV footage or any other proof of the harassing act or false statement of fact.
- For example, if you claim that the harasser has published information that may be used to identify you, include proof of such information and how the harasser tries to identify you through the information.
- For example, if you claim that a false statement of fact has been published about you, include proof that such statement is false.
(If any) Police report.
(If any) Medical report.

Note: This list is not exhaustive. There may be other evidence depending on your case.

When to submit

You may submit the documents at the following stages:

If you are the...	Submit documents when...
Claimant or applicant	You file your application. The court directs you to do so.
Respondent	You file your response. The court directs you to do so.

How to prepare the evidence

You will need to prepare and submit evidence according to the following instructions. The court may reject evidence that does not comply with these instructions.

What you will need

Protection from Harassment Court

You will need to prepare the following sets of evidence:

1 set for filing in court.
1 set for each party.
(If there are witnesses) 1 set for each witness.

These sets must be identical to one another.

Family Court

You will be required to file your supporting affidavit (or affidavit in reply) via eLitigation, and serve an identical copy of your affidavit on the opposing party.

General format to follow

Protection from Harassment Court

If your evidence is in the form of physical documents, you must:

Number each page consecutively. Every page must contain a page number at the top right hand corner of the page.
(For documents up to 30 pages) Staple the pages firmly at the top left hand corner of the page.
(For documents more than 30 pages) Bind the pages with a plastic ring binding or plastic spine thermal binding. Include a transparent cover in front and at the back.
- If you are filing the application: use red binding.
- If you are responding to the application: use blue binding.
(If the documents are in another language) Include an English translation by a certified translator.

How to submit

How you submit the documents to the court depends on whether your case is under the simplified or standard proceedings.

If your case is under the...	How to submit
Simplified proceedings	Submit through the Community Justice and Tribunals System (CJTS). The documents must be upload as PDF files. The maximum size for each file is 5MB. You can submit the evidence when filing your claim. If you wish to submit additional documents in CJTS, select Submit Supporting Documents under the Online Applications tab. For detailed instructions, refer to the CJTS user guide for protection from harassment claims (PDF, 3366 KB).
Standard proceedings	Submit through eLitigation. If you are not represented by a lawyer, visit the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau to file in person.

If your case is under the...

How to submit

Simplified proceedings

Submit through the Community Justice and Tribunals System (CJTS).

The documents must be upload as PDF files. The maximum size for each file is 5MB.

You can submit the evidence when filing your claim. If you wish to submit additional documents in CJTS, select Submit Supporting Documents under the Online Applications tab. For detailed instructions, refer to the CJTS user guide for protection from harassment claims (PDF, 3366 KB).

Standard proceedings

Submit through eLitigation.

If you are not represented by a lawyer, visit the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau to file in person.

Family Court

The document which you will be preparing is called an affidavit. Please take note of the following when preparing your affidavit (and your witnesses’ affidavit if applicable):

Number each page consecutively. Every page must contain a page number at either the top right hand corner or the bottom right hand corner of the page.
Ensure that all supporting documents are clear.
If you have any documents and/or evidence which is not in the English language, please ensure that such evidence is accompanied with a certified English translation by a professional translator

How to submit

Submit through eLitigation. If you are not represented by a lawyer, visit the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau to file in person.

In addition to submitting your document through eLitigation, you may be directed to submit hardcopies of your documents. If so:

(For documents up to 30 pages) Staple the pages firmly at the top left hand corner of the page.
(For documents more than 30 pages) Bind the pages with a plastic ring binding or plastic spine thermal binding. Where possible, include a transparent cover in front and at the back.
- If you are filing the application: use red binding.
- If you are responding to the application: use blue binding.

Protection from Harassment Court and Family Court

If your evidence is in the form of audio or video recordings, you must save the files in a CD-R or DVD-R. Follow these guidelines:

Guideline	Examples
Save the recordings in a CD-R or DVD-R labelled in this format: [Party's name]-[CD-R or DVD-R number]	[Tan Ah Teck Joseph]-[CD1] [Tan Ah Teck Joseph]-[DVD1]
Save each recording under a file name in this format: [Date of recording in YYYY-MM-DD format]-[Actual time when the recording was taken in HH-MM-SS format]-[Short description of what the recording is meant to show] Note: The actual time is the time on the day when the recording was taken and not the timestamp in the recorded clip.	[2017-06-05]-[23-11-00]-[Loitering outside workplace] [2016-06-10]-[09-07-00]-[Scolding vulgarities] Note: For this example, the recording was taken at 9.07am on 10 June 2016.
Identify and transcribe the important parts of each recording that you wish to highlight to the judge. The transcript must state the actions that are seen, the exact words that are used and the sounds that are heard. Include the transcript in a table with the same headers as the following example table. Save the table as a PDF file.	View the example table below.

Guideline

Examples

Save the recordings in a CD-R or DVD-R labelled in this format:

[Party's name]-[CD-R or DVD-R number]

[Tan Ah Teck Joseph]-[CD1]

[Tan Ah Teck Joseph]-[DVD1]

Save each recording under a file name in this format:

[Date of recording in YYYY-MM-DD format]-[Actual time when the recording was taken in HH-MM-SS format]-[Short description of what the recording is meant to show]

Note: The actual time is the time on the day when the recording was taken and not the timestamp in the recorded clip.

[2017-06-05]-[23-11-00]-[Loitering outside workplace]

[2016-06-10]-[09-07-00]-[Scolding vulgarities]

Note: For this example, the recording was taken at 9.07am on 10 June 2016.

Identify and transcribe the important parts of each recording that you wish to highlight to the judge.

The transcript must state the actions that are seen, the exact words that are used and the sounds that are heard.
Include the transcript in a table with the same headers as the following example table.
Save the table as a PDF file.

View the example table below.

Example table listing the important parts of each recording:

CD or DVD Label	File name of the recording	Time location in the format "[HH:MM:SS] to [HH:MM:SS]"	Transcript
[Tan Ah Teck Joseph]-[DVD1]	[2016-06-05]-[23-11-00]-[Loitering outside workplace]	Actual time: [23:11:23] to [23:11:30] or Recording time: [01:05:22] to [01:05:25]	Respondent loiters outside the main entrance of the applicant's workplace.
[Tan Ah Teck Joseph]-[DVD2]	[2016-06-10]-[09-07-00]-[Scolding vulgarities]	Actual time: [09:10:22] to [09:12:50] or Recording time: [00:35:21] to [00:40:23]	Respondent stands outside the applicant's flat and scolds the applicant vulgarities ("state the exact words").

Additional guidelines:

(If you are submitting video recordings) It is preferable to include screenshots of the important frames in the video recording to support what is stated in the transcript. it is highly recommended that the screenshots are saved as PDF files.
(If the words that are used in the audio or video recording are in another language) Include a certified English translation by a professional translator.

How to submit

You need to submit all of the following to the court:

The CD-R or DVD-R containing the recordings.
The table of important parts of the recording as a PDF file.
(If applicable) Screenshots of important frames in the video recording as PDF files.

How you submit depends on whether your case is under the simplified or standard proceedings:

If your case is under the...	How to submit
Simplified proceedings in PHC	Submit the CD-R or DVD-R in person at the State Courts Service Hub during the operating hours. Submit the other files through the Community Justice and Tribunals System (CJTS). The maximum size for each PDF file is 5MB.
Standard proceedings in PHC	Submit all evidence through eLitigation. If you are not represented by a lawyer, visit the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau to file in person.
Proceedings in FC	Submit all evidence through eLitigation. If you are not represented by a lawyer, visit the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau to file in person.

If your case is under the...

How to submit

Simplified proceedings in PHC

Submit the CD-R or DVD-R in person at the State Courts Service Hub during the operating hours.

Submit the other files through the Community Justice and Tribunals System (CJTS). The maximum size for each PDF file is 5MB.

Standard proceedings in PHC

Submit all evidence through eLitigation.

If you are not represented by a lawyer, visit the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau to file in person.

Proceedings in FC

Submit all evidence through eLitigation.

If you are not represented by a lawyer, visit the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau to file in person.

Need help?

The information here is for general guidance as the courts do not provide legal advice. If you need further help, you may want to get independent legal advice.

Find out more

Resources

Legislation associated with this topic includes:

Family Justice (Protection from Harassment) Rules 2024.
Family Justice (General) Rules 2024.
Division 1 of the Third Schedule of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024 (regarding fees).
Protection from Harassment Act.
Supreme Court of Judicature (Protection from Harassment) Rules.
Appendix B of the Rules of Court (for matters commenced before 1 April 2022).
Fourth Schedule of the Rules of Court 2021 (for matters commenced on or after 1 April 2022).

Refer to the Family Justice Courts Practice Directions 2024 as well as Appendix D for proceedings that are governed by the Family Justice (Protection from Harassment) Rules 2024.

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