Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972

4 Power of sheriff to make provisional maintenance order against person residing in reciprocating country.U.K.

[F1(1)In any action where the sheriff has jurisdiction by virtue of subsection (2) and the defender resides in a reciprocating country, any maintenance order granted by the sheriff shall be a provisional order.]

[F2(2)In matters relating to maintenance, a person may be sued in the courts for the place where the pursuer is domiciled or habitually resident or, if the matter is ancillary to proceedings concerning the status of a person, in the court which has jurisdiction to entertain those proceedings, provided than an action of affiliation and aliment shall be treated as a matter relating to maintenance which is not ancillary to proceedings concerning the status of a person.]

F3(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4)In any action [referred to in] subsection (1) above—

(a)it shall not be necessary for the pursuer to obtain a warrant for the citation of any person, and the action may commence and proceed without such citation;

(b)no decree shall be granted in favour of the pursuer unless the grounds of action have been substantiated by sufficient evidence, and section 36(3) of the M1Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971 shall not apply in relation to any such action which is a summary cause.

(5)No enactment empowering the sheriff to remit an action to the Court of Session shall apply in relation to proceedings [referred to in] subsection (1) above.

(6)Section 3(5) and (6) of this Act shall apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of that section, with the substitution, for references to [F4a court that are references to the family court or] a magistrates’ court, of references to the sheriff.

F5(7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .