Filing of the Originating Summons

Filing the Originating Summons

If you wish to proceed with a divorce after completing the Marriage Counselling Programme (“MCP”), you may proceed to file the Originating Summons for Divorce online on the SYC Portal to commence divorce proceedings. You may do so whether you are the registrant to the Marriage Counselling Programme or the spouse of the registrant, if you attended and completed the MCP.

Once you have completed MCP, you will receive an email titled “(Pre-OS Email) Marriage Counselling Programme Outcome: Proceed with Originating Summons for Divorce”. Please refer to the date of the email as your reference for the Pre-Originating Summons Issuance Letter/Email Issuance Date. You must file the Originating Summons for Divorce within 6 months from the date of the issuance email.

If you are the party who files the divorce application, you are known as the Plaintiff and your spouse is known as the Defendant in the Court proceedings. 

The Originating Summons for divorce and all accompanying documents must be filed by logging in to the SYC Portal (accessible from the top right-hand corner of the website) and accessing Divorce E-services.  Filing fees are applicable and must be paid through the SYC Portal via PayNow or eNETS/credit card. Please refer to the user guide for Filing of Originating Summons for Divorce.

The main documents consist of the following:

1. An Originating Summons which will be issued by the Court.
2. A Case Statement (Husband/Wife) which is an e-form to be filled up in E-Services, together with accompanying documents – the full list of documents may be found in the description for filing this document in E-services;
3. (If there is any child of the parties below 21 years old) A Proposed Parenting Plan or an Agreed Parenting Plan, depending on whether you and your spouse have an agreement. The plan must be filled up beforehand and signed before being uploaded in PDF format. Please refer to Syariah Court’s website under Resources > Forms > 3.1.3 (Agreed Parenting Plan) or 3.1.4 (Proposed Parenting Plan) to download the forms and to read the requirements for preparing the plan.
4. (If there is HDB flat which is a matrimonial asset) A Proposed Matrimonial Property Plan or an Agreed Matrimonial Property Plan, depending on whether you and your spouse have an agreement. The plan must be filled up beforehand and signed before being uploaded in PDF format. Please refer to Syariah Court’s website under Resources > Forms > 3.1.5 (Agreed Matrimonial Property Plan) or 3.1.7 (Proposed Matrimonial Property Plan) to download the forms and to read the requirements for preparing the plan. The Matrimonial Property Plan should be submitted together with the Particulars of Housing Arrangement, which is downloadable from item 3.1.6 on the Forms page.

You should log in to the SYC Portal regularly to check the status of your filing.  If it is Returned as Incomplete, please read the Remarks and correct the documents before resubmitting the filing using the same link. If your filing is accepted, you will receive the Originating Summons Service Bundle on your Dashboard.  This consists of all the documents for the Originating Summons, including a compilation of the information and documents you submitted, and other blank template forms.  The Originating Summons Service Bundle must then be served on your spouse i.e. the Defendant.

You will also be given an appointment date to attend mediation or a pre-trial conference, which can be viewed on your Dashboard. It is thus crucial for you to comply with the instructions to avoid unsuccessful attempts when filing your divorce application through the SYC Portal. 

Advice and forms

The staff at Syariah Court is unable to dispense any legal advice or assist to draft the contents of any document. If you require legal advice, it would be in your best interests to consult a lawyer. You may refer to the list of lawyers on the website of the Law Society of Singapore.

You may also refer to Ministry of Law’s Guidance Tool for information on how to fill in the Case Statement or Memorandum of Defence for Syariah Court divorces (eBantu).

You can download the relevant forms required for filing from our website here.

Please click here for the estimated filing fees.