What documents to bring in the first meeting with the divorce lawyer in Singapore?

Hiring a divorce lawyer will be beneficial as he will give you the free legal advice in Singapore related to your case. To choose the best divorcelawyer in Singapore to handle your case, you first need to educate yourself on divorce. Additionally, along with the emotional fallout, you have to struggle of getting up to the speed of divorce procedures such as filling the forms and filling your documents personally at the service bureaus.

You should note that the divorce proceedings consist of 2 main stages:

• The main proceedings which lead to the award of a between time separate from request
• And, the ancillary proceedings that are related to child custody and maintenance which leads to a final judgment.

 When meeting your divorce lawyer in Singapore, you need the following personal documents:

• Your spouse’s personal identification card
• Marriage certificate
• Birth certificates of children (if any).

 These documents will be considered as the preparation of the Statement of Claim, which is filed at the commencement of divorce procedures. It includes the information such as:

• Particulars of the marriage – As you know that you should be married for at least 3 years to get a divorce and this includes the duration of the marriage.
• Particulars of the parties – It includes the information of the both the parties such as ages, citizenship, addresses, education level and occupation. The Singapore court has jurisdiction to hear divorce proceedings only if either party to the marriage is living in Singapore at the time of commencement of divorce, and is a resident in Singapore for 3 years before the commencement of divorce proceedings.
• Particulars of the children (if any) – Where any children of the marriage suffer from any disabilities or any illness. In this case, the medical report of the children is required.

 A proof that the marriage has irretrievable broken down

To give the evidence of the irretrievably broken down of your marriage, you need to prove any one of them to satisfy the court:

1. Adultery – Whether your spouse has committed adultery that you can’t tolerate.
2. Unreasonable behaviour – Unexpected behaviour of your spouse.
3. Desertion – your spouse has deserted you for a continuous period of at least 2 years before either party filed a divorce.
4. Separation – both the parties have lived separately for a continuous period of 4 years before filing a divorce.

 You have to bring the evidence of any one of them to support the situation and the evidences may include:

• Private investigator reports in adultery
• Communications between the parties such as messages.
• Medical reports in case of domestic abuse.

 Documents related to maintenance

The court deals in the ancillary stage includes:

• Maintenance of spouse
• Maintenance of children (if any)
• Care and control of the children
• Division of matrimonial assets.

 The court will consider the financial capacities of both the parties in terms of maintenance. Therefore, you should provide your divorce lawyer in Singapore with the following documents:

1. Documents proving both parties’ debts
2. Payslips
3. CPF statements
4. Income tax documents
5. Bank statements
6. Evidence of employment

 Documents related to assets

The documents for assets include the following:

1. Housing load documents
2. Renovation receipts
3. Bank statements
4. Payslips
5. Valuation reports
6. Insurance policies (if any)
7. Income tax documents
8. Credit card statements

 If you don’t have a divorce lawyer in Singapore, we are the Singapore Lawyer and our expert Mr. Jonathan Wong is an experienced lawyer who will give you the free legal advice in Singapore related to your case.