Maintenance Agreements

HC Deb 19 March 2002 vol 382 cc180-1W

41. Mr. Connarty

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement on the enforcement of maintenance agreements made by Scottish courts in English courts. [41556]

Ms Rosie Winterton

Under Scots Law a maintenance agreement can be drawn up by means of a Minute of Agreement. (This is an agreement entered into by two or more people, usually drawn up before a solicitor). If there is a clause of consent for registration in the Books of Council and Session and sheriff court, this can then be transferred under section 18 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982.

Section 18 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 deals with cross border judgments in the UK. In this section "judgment" can mean any document which in Scotland has been registered for execution in the Books of Council and Session or in the sheriff court books kept for any Sheriffdom. If a Minute of Agreement has been registered for execution, this can therefore be transferred to the appropriate court in England under that section.

An individual who is in possession of a Minute of Agreement, that has not been registered, has another option. For example, if a party did not subsequently adhere to the obligations stated in the minute, the other party would be able to present the Minute of Agreement to the appropriate court in Scotland and request that a maintenance order is granted. In the event that an order was granted, it could be transferred to another part of the UK under section 16(2)(b) of the Maintenance Orders Act 1950.

An order made in a Scottish court, in relation to either spousal or child maintenance can be transferred to the appropriate court in England for registration and enforcement under section 16(2)(b) of the Maintenance Orders Act 1950.

Subject to the provisions of section 18 of the Maintenance Orders Act 1950, a maintenance order registered in a court in any part of the United Kingdom may be enforced in that part of the United Kingdom to which it is sent in all respects as if it had been made by that court and as if that court had had jurisdiction to make it.