Judge Ordered Wife to Give Her Husband $400 in Monthly Maintenance As He Can’t Work

You don’t read this often: a man certified permanently unfit for work is to receive $400 monthly maintenance from his estranged wife.

Here’s what happened.

Injured At Work; Deemed Permanently Unfit

The reason for him receiving spousal support is an unfortunate one; he was met with an accident at work back in 2017, causing him to lose his job.

The nature of his job, along with his name and age, were decidedly not listed by District Judge Jason Gabriel Chiang. However, it was made known that the man held a “labour intensive” job.

In case you were wondering, his injuries are not minor. The medical reports show that he suffers from an ankle injury, chronic back pain, joint pains, and an adjustment disorder with a depressed mood.

These are amongst other problems.

Taking into consideration the extent of both his mental and physical problems, he is deemed “permanently unfit for work”.

Estranged Wife To Provide $400 Monthly Maintenance

Admittedly, challenges exist within marriage. The man and his wife, who wed in 2020, have since separated. However, at the time the case was heard, the wife had not filed for divorce.

The man had requested $750 a month in alimony, but his wife rejected his request.

He only had $200 in his bank and owed the hospital over $13,000. Furthermore, his Central Provision Fund (CPF) savings had also been depleted. Saliently, it was hard for him to get by.

Though uncommon, he applied for spousal support under the Women’s Charter. This is one of the few cases; the Family Justice Courts received fewer than twenty applications between 2017 and 2021.

The Women’s Charter was amended in 2016 to allow incapacitated men who are unable to support themselves before or during marriage to apply for spousal support.

As a result, the district judge ordered his separated wife to provide $400 per month as maintenance.

Judge Chiang mentioned that “given the wife’s capacity to support him, a monthly spousal maintenance of $400 was deemed a reasonable sum that the wife would be able to afford, in the interim, to assist the husband in tiding over his financial distress.”

The wife earned about $3,000 to $3,400 per month as an administrative and human resource executive, according to past income tax records.

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Increasing Divorce Rates

Seemingly, recent times have not been the best for lasting marriages. A larger number of married couples are going their separate ways, especially amongst those recently married, according to a Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) report.

Regardless, divorce can be a touchy subject for those involved. The Singapore government is currently looking into an “amicable divorce” model; one that allows couples to divorce without citing fault in the other party.

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