Amendment No. 1 of 2022

The Family Justice Courts Practice Directions will be amended as follows with effect from 25 April 2022: -

1. Insertion of new sub-paragraph 1(4A) is to provide accurate references to written law, Rules of Court 1996 and the Rules of Court 2021 within the Family Justice Courts Practice Directions and amendments to sub-paragraphs Paragraph (5), (6) and (8) are to reflect the update in the FJC’s website URL to the new Singapore Courts website;

    

2. Amendments to sub-paragraphs 7(2) and (9) are to refer the user to the updated Singapore Courts website for details on the Liaison Judges and to update the accurate reference to the Family Justice Rules;

    

3. Amendments to sub-paragraphs 14(6) and (7) are to stipulate that the bankruptcy searches conducted on the Plaintiff and Defendant is to be done using the Ministry of Law Insolvency Office e-services;

    

4. Amendment to sub-paragraph 24A(1) is to reflect the update in the FJC’s website URL to the new Singapore Courts website;

    

5. Amendment to sub-paragraph 55(2) is to reflect the accurate reference to the paragraph to provide details of service on defendant(s);

    

6. Amendment to sub-paragraph 58(5) is to accurately refer to rule 184(5)(a) of the Family Justice Rules;

    

7. Amendment to paragraph 82 is to allow the Family Justice Courts to fix hearings in accordance with the timelines as provided and the deletion is for parity with the respective Practice Directions of the Supreme Court and State Courts;

    

8. Amendments to sub-paragraphs 87(1), 162(7) and 171(2) are for language consistency pursuant to section 10 of the Family Justice Act and the amended rule 671 of the Family Justice Rules;

    

9. Amendments to paragraph 88 are to provide for updated directions on electronic filing of documents and authorities for use in Court generally;

    

10. Deletion of paragraph 89 is to remove duplicated directions covered in the respective rules in the Family Justice Rules and the relevant paragraphs in the Family Justice Courts Practice Directions;

     

11. Amendment to paragraph 90 is to clarify the timeline, mode of filing and requirements of various documents for use in trials;

     

12. Amendment to paragraph 91 is to clarify the requirements for bundle of documents and bundle of authorities for use in hearings in chambers;

     

13. Amendment to paragraph 92 is to clarify the requirements for written submissions and bundle of authorities for special hearing dates;

     

14. Amendment to paragraph 93 is to set out the updated practice for citation of written judgments;

     

15. Amendment to paragraph 96 is consequential on the amendment in 1(g) and for consistency within the Family Justice Courts Practice Directions;

     

16. Amendment to paragraph 97 is to clarify that the Court will not have access to documents that are not electronically filed in the electronic case file;

     

17. Amendment to paragraph 99 is to clarify the requirements for written submissions for contested inter partes applications before a Registrar in Chambers, District Judge in Chambers and Registrar’s Appeals before a District Judge in Chambers;

     

18. Amendment to paragraph 102 is to clarify that the Court may give directions on the mode of hearing in exercise of its powers under the new rule 610B of the Family Justice Rules;

     

19. Insertion of new sub-paragraph 103(1A) is to clarify that the Court-approved recording of a hearing which is conducted remotely can be used as the record of proceedings, pursuant to rule 611 of the Family Justice Rules;

     

20. Amendment to sub-paragraph 104(4) is to accurately describe all court proceedings in the Family Justice Courts;

     

21. Amendment to paragraph 106 is to clarify the methods an applicant may verify his or her identity and updates the process for obtaining certified true copies of documents;

     

22. Amendment to paragraph 107 is to provide accurate references to the Family Justice Rules and clarifies the methods a person may verify his or her identity for the purposes of accessing and/or correcting personal data in electronic cause books and registers maintained by the Registry;

     

23. Amendments to sub-paragraphs 108A(1) and (3) and the insertion of sub-paragraph 108A (2B) relate to the new rules 629A and 629B of the Family Justice Rules which sets out the application process for a letter of request to be issued by the Singapore courts to a foreign jurisdiction to enable a person residing in the foreign jurisdiction to give evidence remotely in respect of Singapore court proceedings. The corresponding Practice Directions provides the relevant timelines for such applications to be made;

     

24. Insertion of sub-paragraph 109(3) is to clarify that the Court accepts hard copies of affidavits printed on both sides of each page;

     

25. Amendment to paragraph 117 is to refer the user to the relevant rules in the Family Justice Rules and to update the interest rate for orders made under Part 18 Divisions 7 and 26 of the Family Justice Rules in these Practice Directions;

     

26. Amendment to sub-paragraph 120(3) is to accurately refer to the Family Justice Rules;

     

27. Amendment to paragraph 125 is to clarify the requirements for filing of records of appeals and written cases for the various types of appeals under Part 18 Divisions 58, 59 and 60 of the Family Justice Rules;

     

28. Amendment to paragraph 126 is to clarify the requirements for filing of documents for appeals under Part 18 Division 55 of the Family Justice Rules;

     

29. Amendment to paragraph 138 is to reflect the update in the FJC’s website URL to the new Singapore Courts website;

     

30. Amendment to paragraph 142 is to remove reference to the repealed rule 13A(2) of the Singapore Academy of Law Rules;

     

31. Amendment to paragraph 143 is to clarify the procedure for applications to become a registered user and for designating authorised users for the electronic filing service;

     

32. Deletion of sub-paragraph 147(6) is to remove references to manual handling fees and administrative charges imposed by the service bureau, for the purposes of aligning these Family Justice Courts Practice Directions with that of the respective Supreme Court and State Courts Practice Directions;

     

33. Amendment to paragraph 155 is to update the process and directions to Accountant-General for payment in and out of court;

     

34. Amendment to paragraph 156 is to achieve parity with the Supreme Court Practice Directions 2021;

     

35. Amendments to sub-paragraphs 158(3) and (4) are to clarify the criteria and process for urgent applications to be heard outside of office hours;

     

36. Insertion of new paragraph 159A is to stipulate the requirements for an applicant’s request for urgent hearing before a Duty Judge or Registrar;

     

37. Insertion of new sub-paragraph 160(4) is to achieve parity with the Supreme Court Practice Directions 2021 and to reiterate the importance of punctuality for court hearings;

     

38. Amendment to paragraph 161 is to set out the directions and conduct of hearings by video and/or telephone conferencing;

     

39. Amendment to sub-paragraph 165(5) is to correctly reference the management system used at Supreme Court;

     

40. Amendment to paragraph 167(1) is to clarify the attire for advocates and solicitors attending the proceedings physically in the courtroom even if the proceedings are conducted through the live video link or live television link;

     

41. Insertion of new sub-paragraph 168(8A) is to achieve parity with the Supreme Court Practice Directions 2021 and to reiterate parties’ attendance before the Court for adjournment applications, where applicable;

     

42. Amendments to sub-paragraphs 169(3) and (10) are to update the form number references as referred to in the Supreme Court Practice Directions 2021.

     

43. Amendment to Form 8 is to clarify that the bankruptcy search results annexed to the Statement of Particulars must be the search results obtained from the Ministry of Law Insolvency Office;

     

44. Amendment to Form 21 is consequential from the removal of the term “juvenile” from the Family Justice Courts Practice Directions;

     

45. Amendment to Form 128 is for linguistic consistency with rules 616 and 617 of the Family Justice Rules;

     

46. Amendments to Forms 130 and 131 are for parity with the equivalent Rules of Court forms;

     

47. Insertion of Form 131A is to incorporate Form 131A as referred to in rule 629A of the Family Justice Rules;

     

48. Amendment to Form 217 is to limit the scope of the deputy(ies)’s powers to incidental powers required to give effect to the orders made by the Court, in line with the wording of Section 20(5) of the Mental Capacity Act 2008;

     

49. Amendment to Form 239 is to ensure consistency of injunction forms across all Courts;

     

50. Amendment to Form 257 is for parity with the equivalent form B3 found in the Supreme Court Practice Directions 2021;

     

51. Insertion of Form 270 is to incorporate Form 270 as referred to in the new paragraph 159A in the Family Justice Courts Practice Directions; and

     

52. Amendments to Appendix B, Parts 1 and 2 are to provide for accurate reference to the equivalent rules in the Family Justice Rules.