Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980

Orders for repayment in certain cases of sums paid after cessation of order by reason of remarriage[F1 or formation of civil partnership] N.I.

40.—(1) Where—

(a) an order made under Article 4(1)( a), 8 or 9 has, by virtue of Article 6(2), 8(6) or 9(6), ceased to have effect by reason of the remarriage of[F1 , or formation of a civil partnership by,] the party in whose favour it was made, and

(b) the person liable to make payments under the order made payments in accordance with it in respect of a period after the date of that remarriage[F1 or the formation of that civil partnership] in the mistaken belief that the order was still subsisting,

no proceedings in respect of a cause of action arising out of the circumstances mentioned in sub-paragraphs ( a) and ( b) shall be maintainable by the person so liable or his personal representatives against the person entitled to payments under the order or his personal representatives, but on an application made under this Article the court may exercise the powers conferred on it by paragraph (2).

(2) The court may order the respondent to an application made under this Article to pay to the applicant a sum equal to the amount of the payments made in respect of the period mentioned in paragraph (1)( b) or, if it appears to the court that it would be unjust to make that order, it may either order the respondent to pay to the applicant such lesser sum as it thinks fit or dismiss the application.

(3) An application under this Article may be made by the person liable to make payments under the order made under Article 4(1)( a), 8 or 9 or his personal representatives and may be made against the person entitled to payments under that order or his personal representatives.

(4) An application under this Article shall be made to a county court, except that such an application may be made in proceedings in the High Court for leave to enforce, or in proceedings in the High Court or a court of summary jurisdiction for the enforcement of, the payment of arrears under an order made under Article 4(1)( a), 8 or 9; and accordingly references in this Article to the court are references to the High Court or a county court or a court of summary jurisdiction, as the circumstances require.

(5) An order under this Article for the payment of any sum may provide for the payment of that sum by instalments of such amount as may be specified in the order.

(6) The jurisdiction conferred on a county court by this Article shall be exercisable by a county court notwithstanding that by reason of the amount claimed in an application under this Article the jurisdiction would not but for this paragraph be exercisable by a county court.

(7) A person dissatisfied with an order made by a county court in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred by this Article or with the dismissal of any application instituted by him under the provisions of this Article shall be entitled to appeal from the order or from the dismissal as if the order or dismissal had been made in exercise of the jurisdiction conferred by Part III of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 [1980 NI 3] and the appeal brought under Part VI of that Order, and Articles 61 (cases stated by county court judge) and 62 (cases stated by High Court on appeal from county court) of that Order shall apply accordingly.

(8) The collecting officer of a court of summary jurisdiction to whom any payments under an order made under Article 4(1)( a), 8 or 9, or under an attachment of earnings order made to secure payments under the first-mentioned order, are required to be made shall not be liable—

(a) for any act done by him in pursuance of the first-mentioned order after the date on which that order or a provision thereof ceased to have effect by reason of the remarriage of[F1 , or formation of a civil partnership by,] the person entitled to payments under it, and

(b) for any act done by him after that date in accordance with any statutory provision specifying how payments made to him in compliance with the attachment of earnings order are to be dealt with,

if, but only if, the act was one which he would have been under a duty to do had the first-mentioned order not ceased to have effect by reason of the remarriage[F1 or the formation of that civil partnership] and the act was done before notice of the fact that the person so entitled had remarried[F1 or formed a civil partnership] was given to him by or on behalf of that person, the person liable to make payments under the first-mentioned order or the personal representatives of either of those persons.

(9) In this Article “collecting officer” means the officer mentioned in[F2 Article 85(2) or (3) of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981].

F1 2004 c. 33

F2 1981 NI 26