The International Recovery of Maintenance (Hague Convention 2007 etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012

Interpretation N.I.

2.—(1) In this Schedule—

“the 1981 Order” means the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981;

F1 ...M1

F1 ...M2

F1 ... M3

F1 ...M4

“arrears” means a sum or sums payable to the creditor from the debtor which have fallen due under the terms of a maintenance decision and which the debtor has not paid;

“the court” means a magistrates' court;

“the creditor” means a person to whom a sum or sums of maintenance are owed by the debtor under the terms of a maintenance decision in relation to which an application under this Schedule is made, and includes—

(a)

a public body acting in place of an individual to whom maintenance is owed or to which reimbursement is owed for benefits provided in place of maintenance, to the extent that such a body may seek enforcement of a maintenance decision under the terms of an international agreement referred to in paragraph 1;

(b)

where there is in force an order that the sum or sums of maintenance be paid to the collecting officer F2 ..., that officer;

“the debtor” means the person who is liable to pay a sum or sums to the creditor under the terms of the maintenance decision in relation to which a complaint referred to in paragraph 3(1) of this Schedule is made;

“driving disqualification order” means an order under paragraph 4(1)(a) of this Schedule;

“driving licence” means a licence to drive a motor vehicle granted under Part II of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 M5 ;

“maintenance decision” means a maintenance obligation to which an international agreement listed in paragraph 1 applies and which is enforceable in a magistrates' court in Northern Ireland in the same manner as an order by that court to which Article 98(11) of the 1981 Order applies.

(2) In this Schedule—

(a) “child” means a person who—

(i) either—

(aa) has not attained the age of 16, or

(bb) has not attained the age of 20, and is receiving full time education or vocational training; and

(ii) is not or has not been party to a marriage, to a civil partnership or to an overseas relationship treated as a civil partnership under section 215 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and for the purposes of sub-paragraph (ii) “marriage” and “civil partnership” include a void marriage and a void civil partnership respectively;

(b) references to Article 98 of the 1981 Order are to that provision as modified by section 5(6A) of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 M6 .

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in Sch. 2 para. 2 omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/479), regs. 1(1), 81(b) (with regs. 92-95) (as amended by S.I. 2020/1493, regs. 1(1), 5(2)-(5)); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F2 Words in Sch. 2 para. 2(1) omitted (coming into force in accordance with art. 1 of the amending Rule) by virtue of The Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 (Single Jurisdiction) (Consequential Amendments and Revocations) Order (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016/317), arts. 1, 34(3); (as commenced (31.10.2016) by S.R. 2016/387, art. 2(a) (with art. 3))

Marginal Citations

M1 OJ No.L 299, 31.12.1972 p.32; OJ L304, 30.10.1978 p.1; OJ L 388, 31.12.1982, p.1; OJ L285, 3.10.1989, p.1; OJ C 15, 15.1.1997 p.1. A consolidated version is available at OJ C 27, 16.1.1998, p.1.

M2 OJ No. L319, 25.11.88, p.9-48.

M3 OJ No. L12, 16.1.2001, p.1-23.

M4 OJ No. L339, 21.12.2007, p3.

M5 S.I. 1981/154 (NI 1).

M6 Section 5(6A) inserted by S.I. 1993/156 (NI.6).