The Singapore court may make an exception to the requirement of being married for 3 years if it can be shown that the plaintiff (i.e. the party filing the divorce) is suffering from exceptional hardship, or if the defendant (i.e. the other party to the divorce) has engaged in exceptional depravity.
Examples where exceptional hardship or depravity was found:
- In Ng Kee Shee v Fu Gaofei, the court ruled that the plaintiff, being the husband, had suffered from exceptional hardship and therefore allowed him to file for divorce within 3 years of marriage. The court found that the wife had entered into the arranged marriage “capriciously”, and ran away from the husband back to China within months of the marriage, threatening to commit suicide if she was made to return. While the marriage was consummated, the wife did not allow the husband to touch her, and restricted sex to only once a week, and the court found this to be contrary to the intimacy expected in a marriage. The court also took into account the plaintiff’s desire to start a family which was clearly not forthcoming in this current marriage.
- In Foo Teck Guan v Chan Yoke Han, the defendant being the wife was found to have behaved with exceptional depravity when she committed adultery in the marital home, and while the husband was in the same house. The husband suffered from depression as a result.
