Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972

Yn ddilys o 05/04/1993

F135A Further provisions with respect to variation etc. of orders by magistrates’ courts in Northern Ireland.U.K.

(1)Notwithstanding anything in section 29 or 29A(3)(e) of this Act, a magistrates’ court in Northern Ireland shall have jurisdiction to hear an application for the variation or revocation of a registered order registered in that court, being—

(a)an application made by the person against whom or on whose application the order was made, or

(b)an application made by some other person in pursuance of section 30(5) of this Act for the variation of an affiliation order,

notwithstanding that the person by or against whom the application is made is residing outside Northern Ireland.

(2)Where an application by a person in a convention country for the variation of a registered order is received from the Lord Chancellor by the clerk of a magistrates’ court in Northern Ireland, he shall treat the application as if it were a complaint for the variation of the order to which the application relates, and the court hearing the application shall proceed as if the application were a complaint and the applicant were before the court.

(3)Without prejudice to subsection (2) above, an application to a magistrates’ court in Northern Ireland for the variation or revocation of a registered order shall be made by complaint.

(4)Where the defendant to a complaint for the variation or revocation of a registered order which is registered in a magistrates’ court in Northern Ireland does not appear at the time and place appointed for the hearing of the complaint, but the court is satisfied—

(a)that the defendant is residing outside Northern Ireland, and

(b)that the prescribed notice of the making of the complaint and of the time and place appointed for the hearing has been given to the defendant in the prescribed manner,

the court may proceed to hear and determine the complaint at the time and place appointed for the hearing or for any adjourned hearing in like manner as if the defendant had appeared at that time and place.