The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) Order 1993

9.—(1) Section 9 shall be amended as follows. U.K.

(2) For subsection (1) there shall be substituted–

“(1) Subject to the provisions of this section–

(a) the registering court shall have the like power, on an application made by the payer or payee under a registered order, to vary the order as if it had been made by the registering court and as if that court had had jurisdiction to make it;

(b) the jurisdiction of a magistrates' court to vary a registered order shall be exercisable notwithstanding that the proceedings for the variation of the order are brought by or against a person residing in a Hague Convention country.”.

(3) Subsections (1A) and (1B) shall be omitted.

(4) For subsections (2) to (11) there shall be substituted–

“(2) The registering court shall not vary a registered order unless–

(a) the payer under the order had his habitual residence in the United Kingdom at the time when the proceedings to vary the order were instituted; or

(b) the respondent in those proceedings had submitted to the jurisdiction of the registering court, either expressly or by defending on the merits of the case without objecting to the jurisdiction.

(3) Where an application is made to a registering court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland by the payer for the variation of a registered order, and the payee is residing in a Hague Convention country, the prescribed officer of the court shall send to the Lord Chancellor notice of the institution of the proceedings, including notice of the substance of the application, with a view to its being transmitted by him to the appropriate authority in the Hague Convention country for service on the payee.

(4) Where an application is made by the payer to a registering court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland for the variation of a registered order–

(a) the court, in considering whether or not to vary the order, shall take into account any representations made and any evidence adduced by or on behalf of the payee;

(b) a copy of any such representations and evidence shall be served on the payer by the prescribed officer of the court before the hearing;

(c) the prescribed officer of the court shall give the payee notice in writing of the date fixed for the hearing by sending the notice by post addressed to his last known or usual place of abode.

(5) Where an application is made by the payer to a registering court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland for the variation of a registered order and the payee is residing in a Hague Convention country, the order shall not be varied unless the document mentioned in subsection (3) above has been served on the payee in accordance with the law for the service of such a document in the Hague Convention country not less than six weeks previously.

(6) Where an application is made by the payee to a registering court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland for the variation of a registered order, the prescribed officer of the court shall serve the document mentioned in subsection (3) above on the payer.

(7) Where a registered order is varied by a registering court in the United Kingdom the prescribed officer of the court shall send the following documents, that is to say–

(a) a certified copy of the order of variation;

(b) a certificate signed by that officer certifying that the order of variation is enforceable and that it is no longer subject to the ordinary forms of review;

(c) a written statement signed by that officer as to whether or not the respondent or, in Scotland, the defender appeared in the proceedings for the variation of the order, and, if he did not appear, the original or a certified copy of a document which establishes that notice of the institution of the proceedings has been served on the respondent or, as the case may be, the defender; and

(d) a written statement signed by that officer as to whether or not the payer or the payee received legal aid in the proceedings,

in the case of a court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, to the Lord Chancellor, or, in the case of a court in Scotland, to the Secretary of State, with a view to their being transmitted by the Lord Chancellor, or, as the case may be, the Secretary of State, to the appropriate authority in the Hague Convention country for recognition and enforcement of the order of variation.

(8) Where a registered order has been varied by the registering court or by a court in a Hague Convention country, the prescribed officer of the registering court shall register the variation order in the prescribed manner.

(9) Where a registered order has been varied by the registering court or by a court in a Hague Convention country, the registered order shall, as from the date on which the variation order took effect, have effect as so varied.

(10) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland, in subsections (2) and (7), for the word “respondent” in each place where it occurs, there shall be substituted “defendant”.”.

Commencement Information

I1 Sch. 2 para. 9 in force at 5.4.1993, see art. 1