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Media Release: New Family Justice Rules to take effect on 15 October 2024
New Family Justice Rules to take effect on 15 October 2024
New Family Justice Rules 2024 will simplify rules and terms used, streamline processes, and enable greater judicial control over family proceedings
1. The new set of Family Justice Rules 2024 (“FJR 2024”), gazetted on 16 September 2024, will be implemented from 15 October 2024 to simplify the family justice rules to make family justice more accessible and to achieve greater efficiency.
2. The FJR 2024 is the culmination of a multi-year effort, where the Family Justice Courts (“FJC”) and the Family Justice Rules Committee undertook a comprehensive review and redesign of the rules. This follows from the reforms recommended by the Committee to Review and Enhance Reforms in the Family Justice System (“RERF Committee”), in which it was recommended that the rules be redesigned to make the process of family litigation simpler, more timely and more affordable.
3. Further, in line with the recommendations made by the RERF Committee, the FJC also conducted a comprehensive review and redesign of key court forms in the FJC Practice Directions 2014. The redesign exercise focused on the most frequently used court forms such as substantive and procedural applications filed in divorce and financial relief proceedings.
4. The FJR 2024 also took reference from the Rules of Court 2021 (“ROC 2021”), which apply to all civil proceedings in the Supreme Court and State Courts. For parity and consistency across the three courts, the same rules are either maintained where possible or adapted and modified to suit the unique nature of family proceedings.
5. Collectively, this ensures that the FJR 2024 remains purpose-built to meet the needs of a specialised court.
6. The FJR 2024 comprises the following volumes:
- Family Justice (General) Rules;
- Family Justice (Probate and Other Matters) Rules;
- Family Justice (Protection from Harassment) Rules; and
- Family Justice (Criminal Proceedings in Youth Courts) Rules.
7. The six objectives under the Family Justice (General) Rules (“General Rules”), which aim to provide clarity especially to self-represented persons, and guide the interpretation of the FJR 2024 and exercise of the Court’s powers, are as follows:
- Fair access to Justice
- Expeditious proceedings;
- Cost-effective resolution of cases;
- Fair and practical results for parties;
- Efficient use of Court resources; and
- Where a child is a party or a subject of the proceedings, placing the child’s welfare as the paramount consideration.
8. There are structural and process changes under the FJR 2024. Some key changes are highlighted below. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, and stakeholders should refer to the FJR 2024 for the entire suite of changes made.
Structural changes to rules
Different volumes
9. The FJR 2024 is broken down into separate volumes, which has allowed the FJC to significantly reduce the number of provisions in each of these volumes, with the advantage that court users would now need to review a thinner set of rules, and differentiate which rules apply to their cases and reference the correct volume, saving them time in the process.
Simplification and streamlining of the rules
10. The FJR 2024 is organised into Parts and arranged according to the life cycle of a case. This allows court users to look at the applicable part of the rules, depending on where they are at each stage of the proceedings. Similar provisions which are now replicated in different sections of the FJR 2014 have also been removed, thus streamlining the provisions.
Nomenclature changes
11. The FJR 2024 – aligned to the change in nomenclature in the ROC 2021 – uses simple terms to describe parties and actions so that the rules are more accessible to the public and easy to understand. Certain terms are also further simplified in the General Rules, for example, counterclaim is simplified to cross application. A summary of the simplified terms is shown in Annex A.
Process changes to rules
Expansion of the simplified track for divorce and judicial separation proceedings
12. In the FJR 2024, the simplified track for divorce proceedings is expanded to also cover proceedings for judicial separation. An order for judicial separation is a court order where a married couple is legally separated but not divorced.
13. The simplified track will also be available so long as parties have reached an agreement on the grounds for divorce or judicial separation, even if they have not reached an agreement on the ancillary matters. This will allow parties to obtain their orders relating to dissolution of marriage or judicial separation on an uncontested basis, moving on to focus on the ancillary matters.
Single mode of commencement in the General Rules
14. There is only a single mode of commencement in the General Rules for all civil proceedings, with a common set of stipulated timelines applying to most cases. To illustrate, the case flow for most cases, at its simplest, can be reduced to 4 key steps. First, a person (the “Applicant”) commences an action by an Originating Application (“OA”). Second, the Applicant serves the OA on the affected party (the “Respondent”). Third, the Respondent will file his response (the “Reply Affidavit”). Fourth, the case proceeds for hearing. With this change, the process is simplified and parties will be able to focus on addressing the relevant legal and factual issues instead.
Enhancement of the judge-led approach
15. The judge-led powers are enhanced in the FJR 2024. This is also in line with one of the key recommendations by the RERF Committee, to strengthen judicial control over family proceedings. To achieve this, legislative amendments have been made to the Family Justice Act 2014 (“FJA”) through the Family Justice Reform Act 2023, which will come into force at the same time as the FJR 2024.
16. For example, under the new section 11A of the FJA, the Court can disallow the filing of any further application or any document in support of an application without the Court’s permission, when certain conditions are met. The procedure for this is also provided for in the FJR 2024. This strengthens the Court’s existing judge-led powers and provides the Court with enhanced powers to weed out unmeritorious applications which unnecessarily protract proceedings, or when such applications will have an adverse effect on the welfare of the child.
17. In addition, the Court also has greater powers to dispense with the need for formal applications. The Court can make any order on its own motion, even if no application was filed by a party, after ensuring that the Court has given all affected parties a chance to be heard by the Court.
18. The Court now has greater control over the adducing of evidence from vulnerable witnesses under its judge-led arsenal of powers. The new section 11C of the Family Justice Act provides protection to a larger pool of vulnerable witnesses in more types of court proceedings. Under the new regime, the Court, if satisfied that the questioning of the vulnerable witness is unduly intimidating or oppressive, has enhanced powers to restrict the manner, scope and duration of cross examination. The examining party may be required to reframe the questions, provide the questions to the Court, who may ask the questions instead, or limit the questions asked. This protects vulnerable witnesses and prevents victims from being re-traumatised by their aggressors. It is hoped that these measures will encourage those in need of protection to seek help through legal means.
Resources on new Family Justice Rules
19. To assist court users and the Bar in navigating the new Rules, they will be made available on the Singapore Courts website at www.judiciary.gov.sg.
FJC Practice Directions 2024
20. A new set of Practice Directions (“FJCPD 2024”) will also be implemented on 15 October 2024 for use with the FJR 2024. With the primary objective of guiding court users on administrative and procedural matters relating to the FJR 2024, FJCPD 2024 paragraphs and court forms easily, the key changes to the new FJCPD include:
a) reorganisation of the PD requirements to follow the general structure of the General Rules;
b) grouping court forms in appendixes according to the proceedings to which the forms apply;
c) providing a Table of Forms (in Part 27) which serves as a content page to give a quick overview of the forms; and
d) including a list of applicable forms where the particular type of proceedings uses forms from other rules (e.g. ROC 2021).
21. The FJCPD 2024 is attached for reference:
Issued by: SG Courts
16 September 2024
About SG Courts
The Singapore Courts - comprising the Supreme Court, State Courts and Family Justice Courts - is one of the three constitutional pillars of government in Singapore. Known collectively as SG Courts, we are integrated and coordinated to serve as one judiciary. As an organ of state, the judiciary’s function is to independently administer justice. Headed by the Chief Justice, we are a forward-looking, innovative and trusted judiciary. Built on judicial professionalism and transparency, we maintain the highest standards of integrity in safeguarding our community. We pledge to ensure equal and continuous access to justice, and we are committed to deliver justice that is fair and impartial.
About Family Justice Courts
Established in 2014, the Family Justice Courts (FJC) are a restructure of our Court system to better serve litigants by bringing together all family related work under a specialised body of courts. The FJC are led by the Presiding Judge of the FJC, and comprises the Family Division of the High Court, the Family Courts and the Youth Courts. It hears cases relating to divorce, maintenance, family violence, adoption and guardianship, youth, probate, mental capacity and vulnerable adults. As family disputes differ from legal disputes, the FJC applies the principles of Therapeutic Justice, which is an approach rooted in interest-based problem-solving for the family rather than fault-finding between parties. Guided by our mission to make justice accessible to families and youth through effective counselling, mediation and adjudication, we are committed to deliver justice that protects, empowers and restores.
For more information, please visit www.judiciary.gov.sg.
Annex A: Summary of key simplified terms
| Family Justice Rules 2014 | General Rules | Probate Rules |
| Counterclaim | Cross-application* | Counterclaim (no change)** |
| Defendant | Respondent* | Defendant (no change)** |
| Ex Parte | Without notice | |
| Garnishee Order | Enforcement order for attachment of a debt | |
| Leave of Court | Permission of court | |
| Memorandum of Appearance | Notice to contest* | Notice of intention to contest or not contest** |
| Originating Summons | Originating application | |
| Plaintiff/Complainant | Applicant* | Claimant** |
| Stay of Execution | Stay of enforcement | |
| Subpoena | Order to attend Court or produce documents | |
| Taxation (of Costs) | Assessment (of costs) | |
| Writ of Execution | Enforcement order | |
| Writ of Summons | Nil | Originating claim** |
* Note: These terms are unique to the General Rules and differ from the ROC 2021.
** Note: These terms follow the ROC 2021.
Topics:
Change in jurisdiction
2024/09/25
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