No More Wait For Ex-Spouse’s CPF

Source : The Straits Times, 28 Aug 2007

WOMEN who go through a divorce and are granted a share of their husband’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) monies will receive the funds immediately.

Previously, they had to wait until their husbands reached 55 and only after the Minimum Sums in their Retirement and Medisave Accounts were set aside.

The change in the CPF Act, passed yesterday, is meant to ensure a smooth and equitable division of CPF assets in divorce cases, Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen said.

It also applies to husbands who are awarded a share of their former wives’ CPF monies.

But the immediate transfer applies only to spouses who are Singaporean or permanent residents and the funds will go into their CPF accounts.

The changes will also allow the former spouse to keep the matrimonial home, after the divorce. Should she choose to sell the house later, the amount her former husband took from his CPF savings to buy the house will be returned to his CPF account.

Dr Ng said the amendment gave the courts ‘the liberty to decide who gets what in a divorce’.

MPs who rose to speak on the issue were mostly supportive of the change.

Madam Halimah Yacob (Jurong GRC) said it would provide sounder protection for women and children in divorce proceedings.

But Mrs Josephine Teo (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) warned that newly divorced women could become targets of men who wished to cheat them of their newly acquired property.
More must be done, she said, to inform women of their financial obligations to their former husbands should they choose to sell the house.

Madam Ho Geok Choo (West Coast GRC) asked if it was appropriate to compel a member to transfer his CPF monies to his former spouse, hence neglecting his own retirement needs.

Dr Ng said it was up to the courts to decide how best to divide the CPF assets.

KEITH LIN