Maintenance Orders Act 1950

2 Jurisdiction of English summary courts to make orders for custody and maintenance of infants

(1) An order under the Guardianship of Infants Acts, 1886 and 1925, giving the custody of an infant to the mother, whether with or without an order requiring the father to make payments to the mother towards the infant's maintenance, may be made, if the father resides in Scotland or Northern Ireland and the mother and the infant in England, by a court of summary jurisdiction having jurisdiction in the place in which the mother resides.

(2) It is hereby declared that a court of summary jurisdiction in England has jurisdiction—

(a) in proceedings under the said Acts by a person residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland against a person residing in England for an order relating to the custody of an infant (including, in the case of proceedings by the mother, an order requiring the father to make payments to the mother towards the infant's maintenance);

(b) in proceedings by or against a person residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland for the revocation, revival or variation of any such order.

(3) Where proceedings for an order under section five of the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1886, or section four of the Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Act, 1895, relating to the custody of an infant are brought in a court of summary jurisdiction in England by a woman residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland, that court shall have jurisdiction to make any order in respect of the infant under the said section five upon the application of the defendant in the proceedings.