The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (United States of America) Order 1995

Supplemental

Payment of sums due under orders made in specified State; conversion of currency.

16.—(1) Payment of sums due under a registered order shall, while the order is registered in a court in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, be made in such manner and to such person as may be prescribed.

(2) Where the sums required to be paid under a registered order are expressed in a currency other than the currency of the United Kingdom, then, as from the relevant date, the order shall be treated as if it were an order requiring the payment of such sums in the currency of the United Kingdom as, on the basis of the rate of exchange prevailing at that date, are equivalent to the sums so required to be paid.

(3) Where the sum specified in any statement, being a statement of the amount of any arrears due under a maintenance order made by a court in a specified State, is expressed in a currency other than the currency of the United Kingdom, that sum shall be deemed to be such sum in the currency of the United Kingdom as, on the basis of the rate of exchange prevailing at the relevant date, is equivalent to the sum so specified.

(4) For the purposes of this section a written certificate purporting to be signed by an officer of any bank in the United Kingdom certifying that a specified rate of exchange prevailed between currencies at a specified date and that at such rate a specified sum in the currency of the United Kingdom is equivalent to a specified sum in another specified currency shall be evidence of the rate of exchange so prevailing on that date and of the equivalent sums in terms of the respective currencies.

(5) In this section “the relevant date” means—

(a) in relation to a registered order or to a statement of arrears due under a maintenance order made by a court in a specified State, the date on which the order first becomes a registered order;

(b) in relation to a registered order which has been varied, the date on which the last order varying that order is registered in the registering court.

(6) In the application of this section to Scotland—

(a) subsection (1) shall not apply; and

(b) in subsection (4), for the word “evidence” there shall be substituted the words “sufficient evidence”.

Proceedings in magistrates' courts.

17.—(4) Anything authorised or required by this Part of this Act to be done by, to or before the magistrates' court by, to or before which any other thing was done may be done by, to or before any magistrates' court acting for the same petty sessions area (or, in Northern Ireland, petty sessions district) as that court.

(5) Any application which by virtue of a provision of this Part of this Act is made to a magistrates' court in Northern Ireland shall be made by complaint.

(5A) Where the respondent to an application for the variation or revocation of—

(a) a maintenance order made by a magistrates' court in England and Wales, being an order to which section 5 of this Act applies; or

(b) a registered order which is registered in such a court,

is residing in a specified State, a magistrates' court in England and Wales shall have jurisdiction to hear the application (where it would not have such jurisdiction apart from this subsection) if it would have had jurisdiction to hear it had the respondent been residing in England and Wales.

(6) A magistrates' court in Northern Ireland shall have jurisdiction—

(a) to hear a complaint for the variation or revocation of a maintenance order made by such a court, and to which section 5 of this Act applies; or

(b) to hear a complaint for the variation of a registered order which is registered in that court,

if the defendant to the complaint is residing in a specified State and if the court would have had jurisdiction to hear the complaint had the defendant been residing in Northern Ireland and been served with a summons to appear before the court to answer the complaint.

(7) Where the respondent to an application—

(a) for the variation or revocation of a maintenance order made by a magistrates' court, and to which section 5 of this Act applies; or

(b) for the variation of a registered order registered in a magistrates' court,

does not appear at the time and place appointed for the hearing of the application, but the court is satisfied that the respondent is residing in a specified State, and that the requirements of section 5(4) or (6) or section 9(2) and (4), as the case may be, have been complied with, the court may proceed to hear and determine the application at the time and place appointed for the hearing or for any adjourned hearing as if the respondent had appeared at that time and place.

(7A) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland, in subsection (7)—

(a) for the word “respondent”, in each place where it occurs, there shall be substituted “defendant”; and

(b) for the words “an application” and “the application”, in each place where they occur, there shall be substituted “a complaint” and “the complaint” respectively.

Magistrates' courts rules.

18.—(1) Without prejudice to the generality of the power to make rules under section 144 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (magistrates' courts rules), provision may be made by such rules with respect to any of the following matters, namely—

(a) the circumstances in which anything authorised or required by this Part of this Act to be done by, to or before a magistrates' court acting for a particular petty sessions area or by, to or before an officer of that court may be done by, to or before a magistrates' court acting for such other petty sessions area as the rules may provide or by, to or before an officer of that court;

(b) the orders made, or other things done, by a magistrates' court, or an officer of such a court, under this Part of this Act, or by a court in a specified State, notice of which is to be given to such persons as the rules may provide and the manner in which such notice shall be given;

(c) the cases and manner in which courts in specified States are to be informed of orders made, or other things done, by a magistrates' court under this Part of this Act;

(d) the cases and manner in which a justices' clerk may take evidence needed for the purpose of proceedings in a court in a specified State relating to a maintenance order to which this Part of this Act applies;

(f) the circumstances and manner in which magistrates' courts may for the purposes of this Part of this Act communicate with courts in specified States.

(1A) For the purpose of giving effect to this Part of this Act, rules made under section 144 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 may make, in relation to any proceedings brought under or by virtue of this Part of this Act, any provision not covered by subsection (1) above which—

(a) falls within subsection (2) of section 93 of the Children Act 1980(1), and

(b) may be made in relation to relevant proceedings under that section.

(2) Rules with respect to the matters mentioned in subsection (1) above may be made in accordance with Article 13 of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981(2) in relation to proceedings or matters in magistrates' courts in Northern Ireland under this Part of this Act.

Rules for sheriff court.

19.  Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred on the Court of Session by section 32 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971(3) to regulate by act of sederunt the procedure of the sheriff court, the said powers shall include power—

(a) to prescribe the decrees granted, or other things done, by the sheriff, or an officer of the sheriff court, under this Part of this Act, or by a court in a specified State, notice of which is to be given to such persons as the act of sederunt may provide and the manner in which such notice shall be given;

(b) to provide that evidence needed for the purpose of proceedings in a court in a specified State relating to a maintenance order to which this Part of this Act applies may, in such cases and manner as the act of sederunt may provide, be taken by a sheriff clerk or sheriff clerk depute;

(c) to prescribe the cases and manner in which courts in specified States are to be informed of decrees granted, or other things done, by the sheriff under this Part of this Act;

(e) to prescribe the circumstances and manner in which the sheriff may for the purposes of this Part of this Act communicate with courts in specified States.

Interpretation of Part I.

21.—(1) In this part of this Act unless the context otherwise requires—

“affiliation order” means an order (however described) adjudging, finding or declaring a person to be the father of a child, whether or not it also provides for the maintenance of the child;

“the appropriate court”, in relation to a person residing or having assets in England and Wales or in Northern Ireland means a magistrates' court, and in relation to a person residing or having assets in Scotland means a sheriff court, within the jurisdiction of which that person is residing or has assets;

“certificate of arrears”, in relation to a maintenance order, means a certificate certifying that the sum specified in the certificate is to the best of the information or belief of the officer or, in Scotland, the applicant or his solicitor giving the certificate the amount of the arrears due under the order at the date of the certificate or, as the case may be, that to the best of his information or belief there are no arrears due thereunder at that date;

“certified copy”, in relation to an order of a court, means a copy of the order certified by the proper officer of the court to be a true copy;

“court” includes any tribunal or person having power to make, confirm, enforce, vary or revoke a maintenance order;

“maintenance order” means an order (however described) of any of the following descriptions, that is to say—

(a)

an order (including an affiliation order or order consequent upon an affiliation order) which provides for the payment of a lump sum or the making of periodical payments towards the maintenance of any person, being a person whom the person liable to make payments under the order is, according to the law applied in the place where the order was made, liable to maintain;

(aa)

an order which has been made in Scotland, on or after the granting of a decree of divorce, for the payment of a periodical allowance by one party to the marriage to the other party;

(b)

an affiliation order or order consequent upon an affiliation order, being an order which provides for the payment by a person adjudged, found or declared to be a child’s father of expenses incidental to the child’s birth or, where the child has died, of his funeral expenses;

(d)

an order within the foregoing provisions of this definition made against a payer on the application of a public body which claims reimbursement of sums of money payable under the order with respect to the payee if reimbursement can be obtained by the public body under the law to which it is subject,

and, in the case of a maintenance order which has been varied, means that order as varied;

“order”, as respects Scotland, includes any interlocutor, and any decree or provision contained in an interlocutor;

“payee”, in relation to a maintenance order, means the person entitled to the payments for which the order provides;

“payer”, in relation to a maintenance order, means the person liable to make payments under the order;

“prescribed”, in relation to a magistrates' court in England and Wales or in Northern Ireland, means prescribed by rules made under section 144 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 or by rules made in accordance with Article 13 of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, as the case may be, and in relation to any other court means prescribed by rules of court;

“registered order” means a maintenance order which is for the time being registered in a court in the United Kingdom under this Part of this Act and “registered” and “registration” shall be construed accordingly;

“registering court”, in relation to a registered order, means the court in which that order is for the time being registered under this Part of this Act;

“revoke” and “revocation” include discharge;

“specified State” means a State specified in Schedule 1 to the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (United States of America) Order 1995(4).

(3) Any reference in this Part of this Act to the payment of money for the maintenance of a child shall be construed as including a reference to the payment of money for the child’s education.

(1)

1989 c. 41.

(2)

S.I. 1981/1675 (N.I. 26).

(3)

1971 c. 58.

(4)

S.I. 1995/2709.