PART 12: INJUNCTIONS AND OTHER INTERIM RELIEF BEFORE HEARING

100. Applications without notice for injunctions

101. Injunctions prohibiting the disposal of assets

102. Documents in support of applications without notice for injunctions (including injunctions prohibiting the disposal of assets)

103. Seeking assistance from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (“ICA”) to enforce Court orders or injunctions restraining or prohibiting the taking of a child out of Singapore

100. Applications without notice for injunctions

(1) Part 14, Rule 1(3) of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024 provides that in an urgent case, a party may apply for an injunction by originating application without notice or summons without notice, supported by an affidavit stating the urgency and explaining why the respondent should not be informed about the application and the merits of the application.

(2) Despite sub-paragraph (1), any party applying for an injunction without notice (including an injunction prohibiting the disposal of assets) must give notice of the application to the other concerned parties prior to the hearing. The notice may be given by way of email, or, in cases of extreme urgency, orally by telephone. Except in cases of extreme urgency or with the permission of the Court, the party must give a minimum of 2 hours’ notice to the other parties before the hearing. The notice should inform the other parties of the date, time and place fixed for the hearing of the application and the nature of the relief sought. If possible, a copy of the originating application, the summons without notice or the originating application without notice (if no originating application has been issued yet) and supporting affidavit(s) should be given to each of the other parties in draft form as soon as they are ready to be filed in Court. At the hearing of the application without notice, in the event that some or all of the other parties are not present or represented, the applicant’s solicitors should inform the Court of:

(a) the attempts that were made to notify the other parties or their solicitors of the making of the application;

(b) what documents were given to the other parties or their solicitors and when these documents were given; and

(c) whether the other parties or their solicitors consent to the application being heard without their presence.

(3) The directions set out in sub-paragraph (2) need not be followed if the giving of the notice to the other parties, or some of them, would or might defeat the purpose of the application without notice. However, in such cases, the reasons for not following the directions should be clearly set out in the affidavit prepared and filed in support of the application without notice.

(4) On an application without notice for an injunction against the permanent removal of a child from Singapore, the Court will require the applicant to give an undertaking to compensate any party for any loss caused as a result of the application. The Court may require the undertaking as to damages to be supported by:

(a) making payment into Court;

(b) furnishing a banker’s guarantee; or

(c) making payment to the applicant’s solicitor to be held by the solicitor as an officer of the Court pending further order.

101. Injunctions prohibiting the disposal of assets

(1) Applicants for injunctions prohibiting the disposal of assets are required to prepare their orders in accordance with the following forms in Appendix A of these Practice Directions:

(a) Form 99: Injunction Prohibiting Disposal of Assets Worldwide; and

(b) Form 98: Injunction Prohibiting Disposal of Assets in Singapore.

When composing the electronic form for an injunction application (in Form 67A of Appendix A of these Practice Directions) through the Electronic Filing Service, Form 98 or Form 99 (as the case may be) shall be prepared in Portable Document Format (PDF) and attached to the electronic form.

(2) The language and layout of Forms 98 and 99 are intended to make it easier for persons served with these orders to understand what they mean. These forms of orders should be used except to the extent that the Judge hearing a particular application considers there is a good reason for adopting a different form. Any departure from the terms of the prescribed forms should be justified by the applicant in his or her supporting affidavit(s).

(3) The applicant should undertake not to inform any third party of the proceedings until after the return date.

(4) Wherever practicable, applications should be made sufficiently early so as to ensure that the Judge has sufficient time to read and consider the application in advance

102. Documents in support of applications without notice for injunctions (including injunctions prohibiting the disposal of assets)

(1) Without limiting the requirements stated in Part 14, Rule 1 of the Family Justice (General) Rules 2024 and paragraphs 100 and 101 of these Practice Directions, in order to assist the Court hearing applications without notice for injunctions (including injunctions prohibiting the disposal of assets), an applicant must include in the affidavit prepared and filed in support of the application the following information under clearly defined headings:

(a) Reasons the application is taken out without notice, including whether the applicant believes that there is a risk of dissipation of assets, destruction of evidence or any other prejudicial conduct;

(b) Urgency of the application (if applicable), including whether there is any particular event that may trigger the dissipation of assets, destruction of evidence or any other prejudicial conduct;

(c) Factual basis for the application, including the basis of any belief that there will be dissipation of assets, destruction of evidence or any other prejudicial conduct, whether there have been any past incidents of the opponent dissipating assets, destroying evidence or engaging in any other prejudicial conduct, and whether there is any evidence of dishonesty or bad faith of the opponent;

(d) Factual basis for any reasonable defences that may be relied on by the opponent;

(e) Whether the applicant is aware of any issues relating to jurisdiction, forum non conveniens or service out of Singapore, and if so, whether any application relating to these issues has been or will be made;

(f) An undertaking to pay for losses that may be caused to the opponent or other persons by the granting of the orders sought, stating what assets are available to meet that undertaking and to whom the assets belong; and

(g) Any other material facts which the Court should be aware of.

(2) An applicant must prepare skeletal submissions on the points to be raised at the hearing of the application without notice. At the hearing, the applicant shall give a copy of the skeletal submissions to the Court and to any opponent present. The applicant shall file the skeletal submissions by the next working day.

(3) The Court may also require the applicant to prepare a note of the hearing setting out the salient points and arguments canvassed before the Court and may order such a note to be served together with the court documents on any opponent who is not present at the hearing or within a reasonable time after the service of the court documents.

103. Seeking assistance from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (“ICA”) to enforce Court orders or injunctions restraining or prohibiting the taking of a child out of Singapore

(1) This paragraph applies to parties who intend to seek assistance from the ICA to prevent a child from being taken out of Singapore, in breach of a Court order or injunction.

(2) In proceedings under the Women’s Charter 1961, the Guardianship of Infants Act 1934 or the International Child Abduction Act 2010, a Court may grant an order or injunction (referred to in this paragraph as an “order”) restraining any party from taking the child out of Singapore, except in certain circumstances (e.g. with the written consent of the other party or parties to the proceedings in which the order was obtained).

(3) Any party (referred to in this paragraph as “the requestor”) who has been granted an order referred to in sub-paragraph (2) and who intends to seek assistance from the ICA to prevent the child from being taken out of Singapore must do the following:

(a) notify the ICA by providing the ICA with either a copy of the extracted or unextracted order referred to in sub-paragraph (2) and a copy of Form 117A of Appendix A of these Practice Directions, duly completed and signed; and

(b) where the requestor provides an unextracted order* referred to in sub-paragraph (3)(a), he or she must provide a copy of the extracted order to the ICA within 8 working days from the date of notification to the ICA of the order. *An “unextracted order” mentioned in this paragraph refers to the draft order of Court that has been duly signed by one party or both parties (as the case may be) and electronically filed through IELS, and that is pending approval by the Family Justice Courts.

(4) If the order referred to in sub-paragraph (3)(a) ceases to have effect, or is varied or discharged pursuant to a further Court order (referred to in this paragraph as a “further order”) such that the travel restrictions no longer apply, the requestor shall notify the ICA of the same, provide a copy of the extracted further order in that notification, and copy that notification to the other party or parties to the proceedings in which that further order was obtained. Where the effect of the further order is to remove travel restrictions, ICA will only act on the basis of an extracted further order.

(5) If the order referred to in sub-paragraph (3)(a) is varied pursuant to a further order such that further travel restrictions apply, the requestor shall immediately notify the ICA of the same, provide a copy of the further order in that notification (in which event the requirements set out at sub-paragraphs (3)(a) and (b) would apply, with the necessary modifications in relation to the further order as they apply in relation to the order referred to in sub-paragraph (3)(a)), and copy the other party or parties to the proceedings in which that further order was obtained.

(5A) Where written consent is required to bring the child out of Singapore, such consent shall be given in Form 117B of Appendix A of these Practice Directions, and the ICA shall be notified of such consent.

(5B) All notifications to the ICA referred to in this paragraph must be given at least 1 working day before they are intended to have effect.

(6) The notifications to the ICA referred to in sub-paragraphs (3)(a), (4), (5) and (5A), and the copies of the extracted orders or further orders referred to in sub-paragraphs (3)(b), (4) and (5), must be sent to the ICA via email (which should not exceed 5MB in size) to the email address set out below (and copied to the other party (being a party to the proceedings in relation to which the notification was sent to the ICA or the order was obtained) or the party’s solicitors via email or ordinary mail, whichever is applicable). All such emails to the ICA will be attended to during the ICA’s working hours only:

ICA’s email address: [email protected]

ICA’s working hours are:

- Mondays to Fridays: 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

- Public Holiday Eves: 8.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.

- Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: Closed.

(7) The ICA will not provide assistance to stop the child from being taken out of Singapore or otherwise take any action under this paragraph if any party fails to comply with the requirements in this paragraph.

(8) If the ICA’s assistance to enforce an order referred to in sub-paragraph (3)(a) or a further order referred to in sub-paragraph (5) is no longer required, the requestor shall notify the ICA of the same with brief reasons, and send a copy of the notification and brief reasons to every other party to the proceedings in which that order or further order was obtained.