Deed of Separation

You may be thinking of separating from your spouse before getting a divorce. If your marriage is currently lesser than 3 years and you could not annul your marriage, you might wish to consider separation for some time apart for 3 years before proceeding to divorce. Separation is the only non-fault based ground of divorce when neither of you are at fault in your marriage.

Informal Separation

A separation while both are still staying under the same roof might be tricky as you are not physically separated from your spouse. However, it is not impossible to prove separation by living in separate rooms under the same roof. Care must be taken to ensure that there is a loss of consortium and both of you are living in separate households where you no longer have access to conjugal rights of the marriage. By living in separate household, it would mean that you should not perform household chores for each other.

It is noted that after going through the process of separation of 3 years, you would still have to apply for divorce if your spouse does not consent to the divorce on the grounds of separation. The process and costs of divorce based on a 3-year separation would have similar legal costs and time duration as compared to divorce based on other grounds.

Deed of Separation

To save legal costs and time, the best way to prove separation is to get your spouse to agree to a deed of separation containing all the terms and conditions of your separation during the 3-year separation period. If you wish to divorce after 3 years of separation, the deed of separation could assist you in saving legal costs and time as ancillary matters were mutually agreed and signed under the deed, therefore divorce may proceed as an uncontested divorce.

A deed of separation should contain terms of agreement that parties reached issues like:

• Date of separation
• When to commence divorce
• Who commences the divorce
• Agreement to live separately and the respective arrangements (Who gets to stay in the matrimonial home?)
• Division of matrimonial assets (How to settle the joint bank account?)
• Children’s living arrangement with which spouse (care and control) and the access rights of the other spouse
• Spousal and children maintenance

 

Marital Rape under Section 375 Penal Code

When couples agreed to be separated, they would also have given up their conjugal rights to their marriage. In Singapore, the husband could be guilty of rape against his wife if at the time of the offence, he was living apart from his wife under a deed of separation, an interim judgement, a judgement of judicial separation or a protection order is in force under Section 65 of Women’s Charter.

Related Topics

• Divorce
• Contested or uncontested divorce: which is better?
• The Divorce Process
• Division of Assets
• Spousal and Children Maintenance
• Deed of Separation
• Personal Protection Orders
• Child Issues (Child Custody, Care and Control and Access to Child)
• Mediation