Once the court grants an interim judgment of divorce in Singapore, attention turns to the ancillary matters: who gets what, and who pays what. The single most important document at this stage is the Affidavit of Assets and Means, usually shortened to AOM. It is a sworn statement in which each spouse sets out their full financial position.

Judges decide how matrimonial assets are divided and what maintenance is fair largely on the strength of these affidavits. A careless or incomplete AOM can cost you real money, and a dishonest one can cost you far more. This guide explains what the AOM is, what goes into it, and how to prepare yours properly.

What Is the Affidavit of Assets and Means?

The AOM is a sworn (affirmed) affidavit filed in the Family Justice Courts for the ancillary matters stage of a divorce. Both spouses file one, usually exchanged at the same time so that neither side drafts theirs with sight of the other’s figures.

It serves two purposes. First, it gives the court the financial picture it needs to divide assets under section 112 of the Women’s Charter 1961 and to assess spousal and child maintenance. Second, it is your opportunity to explain your contributions to the marriage (direct financial contributions and indirect ones such as caring for children and running the household), which feed into the court’s structured approach to division.

Because it is sworn evidence, everything in it must be true to the best of your knowledge. It is not a negotiating document to be drafted tactically low.

What You Must Disclose in Your AOM

The AOM follows a prescribed format and requires disclosure of essentially your entire financial life:

  • Income: salary, bonuses, commissions, rental income, dividends, business income and any other earnings.
  • Assets: bank and investment accounts, the matrimonial home (including any HDB flat), other properties, vehicles, shares, insurance policies with surrender value, businesses, and valuables.
  • CPF monies: balances in your Ordinary, Special, MediSave and Retirement Accounts. CPF savings can be divided in a divorce, so they must be disclosed like any other asset.
  • Overseas assets: foreign bank accounts, properties and investments. Disclosure is not limited to what sits in Singapore.
  • Liabilities: mortgages, car loans, credit card balances, personal loans and any other debts.
  • Monthly expenses: your own reasonable expenses and, importantly, the children’s expenses, itemised.

You will also set out your position on the ancillary matters: the division you propose, the maintenance you seek or offer, and your account of each party’s contributions during the marriage.

Supporting Documents to Exhibit

Bare assertions carry little weight. Each item in the AOM should be backed by exhibited documents, typically including:

  • Recent payslips and your latest Notices of Assessment from IRAS (commonly the last three years).
  • Bank and investment account statements, usually covering the months leading up to filing.
  • CPF statements for all accounts.
  • Title documents or recent valuations for properties, and outstanding loan statements.
  • Insurance policy documents showing surrender values.
  • Receipts or records evidencing significant claimed expenses, especially the children’s.

The exact documents and periods can vary with court directions, so treat the above as a guide. If gathering paperwork sounds daunting, our checklist of documents needed for a divorce in Singapore is a useful starting point: many of the same records feed into the AOM.

Full and Frank Disclosure and the Cost of Hiding Assets

Every party to ancillary proceedings owes the court a duty of full and frank disclosure. That means volunteering your complete financial position, not merely answering what you are asked. The duty is continuing: if your finances change materially while proceedings are ongoing, you are expected to update your disclosure.

Spouses are sometimes tempted to move money to relatives, undervalue a business, or quietly forget an overseas account. The courts have seen every version of this, and they have a powerful response: the adverse inference. Where a party’s disclosure is shown to be incomplete or evasive, the court may draw an adverse inference against them: typically by adding a sum back into the matrimonial pool as if the hidden asset existed, or by awarding the other spouse a higher percentage of the known pool.

In other words, hiding assets tends to leave you worse off than honest disclosure would have, on top of destroying your credibility on every other disputed issue in the case. Deliberately false statements in a sworn affidavit can also amount to an offence. Full disclosure is not just an ethical rule; it is the safest strategy.

Rounds of Affidavits, Discovery and Interrogatories

The first AOM is rarely the end of the paperwork. The usual sequence looks like this:

  1. First AOMs exchanged. Both parties file and exchange their affidavits, typically simultaneously.
  2. Requests for discovery and interrogatories. Each side reviews the other’s AOM and can ask for specific documents (discovery) or written answers to specific questions (interrogatories) about gaps or inconsistencies. If a party refuses, the court can order compliance.
  3. Further rounds of affidavits. The court usually directs one or more reply rounds, in which each party responds to the other’s assertions and produces the requested material. The number of rounds is controlled by the court to keep proceedings proportionate.
  4. Ancillary matters hearing. Once the evidence is complete, the court hears the ancillaries and makes orders, after which the case can move to final judgment.

Each round costs time and legal fees, which is one more reason to get the first AOM right: a thorough, well-documented first affidavit gives the other side less to attack and shortens the exchange.

How to Prepare a Strong AOM: Tips and Common Mistakes

Practical tips that make a real difference:

  • Start collecting documents early. Bank statements, CPF records and old valuations take time to retrieve. Begin before the court timeline forces you to rush.
  • Be complete, even on small items. An omitted minor account discovered later taints everything else you have said.
  • Keep expense claims realistic. Inflated monthly expenses are easy to cross-examine and damage your credibility on maintenance.
  • Evidence your contributions. Transfers towards the home, renovations, and records of childcare responsibilities all support your account of direct and indirect contributions.
  • Do not editorialise. The AOM is for facts and figures with supporting documents, not lengthy attacks on your spouse’s character. Judges notice restraint.
  • Answer discovery requests properly. Grudging, partial responses invite court orders, costs, and ultimately adverse inferences.

Common mistakes include forgetting insurance surrender values, ignoring overseas holdings, treating CPF as untouchable and therefore irrelevant, and estimating figures that documents could have stated precisely. Each is avoidable with early preparation, and each, left uncorrected, hands the other side ammunition at the hearing.