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...MAINTENANCE OF WIFE, INCAPACITATED HUSBAND AND CHILDREN 7/2016 ...

...Bankerʼs guarantee Where a person has been ordered by the court under section 71(1)( d ) to furnish a bankerʼs guarantee, that person must hand the original bankerʼs guarantee to the person to whom maintenance is owed (called in this section a maintenance claimant) within one month from the date of the order. 2/2011; 7/2016 Where — a maintenance claimant makes a demand on the bankerʼs guarantee and no maintenance arrears are owing to the claimant at the time of the demand; or the amount paid out under a bankerʼs guarantee to the maintenance claimant exceeds the actual amount of maintenance arrears owing to the maintenance claimant at the time the maintenance claimantʼs demand was made on the bankerʼs guarantee, such amount as is payable or paid that is in excess of the amount of maintenance arrears owing (called in this section the excess) shall be set off against the amount of any maintenance which becomes payable by the maintenance defaulter to the maintenance claimant at any time on or after the date of the demand on the bankerʼs guarantee (called in this section future maintenance liability). 2/2011 Where there is no future maintenance liability against which the excess may be offset, the maintenance claimant who made the demand on the bankerʼs guarantee giving rise to that excess must, upon demand by the maintenance defaulter, refund the excess to the maintenance defaulter. 2/2011 Where a refund is not made as required under subsection (3), the maintenance defaulter may recover the amount due to the maintenance defaulter under that subsection from the person liable to make the refund as if the amount were a civil debt due to the maintenance defaulter. 2/2011; 7/2016 ...

...Compounding of maintenance An agreement for the payment, in money or other property, of a capital sum in settlement of all future claims to maintenance, is not effective until it has been approved, or approved subject to conditions, by the court, but when so approved is a good defence to any claim for maintenance. ...

...Power of court to make attachment of earnings order A court may, when ordering the payment of maintenance under Part 8 or at any time thereafter, if the court considers just, make an attachment of earnings order to secure payment of the maintenance. A Family Court may make an attachment of earnings order to secure payments the defendant is required to make under a maintenance order made by the General Division of the High Court. 27/2014; 40/2019 ...

...Power of court to order maintenance for children During the pendency of any matrimonial proceedings or when granting or at any time subsequent to the grant of a judgment of divorce, judicial separation or nullity of marriage, the court may order a parent to pay maintenance for the benefit of his or her child in such manner as the court thinks fit. The provisions of Parts 8 and 9 apply, with the necessary modifications, to an application for maintenance and a maintenance order made under subsection (1). ...

...Interpretation of this Part In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires — defendant , in relation to a maintenance order or a related attachment of earnings order, means the person liable to make payments under the maintenance order; earnings , in relation to a defendant, means any sums payable to the defendant — by way of wages or salary, including any fees, bonus, commission, overtime pay or other emoluments payable in addition to wages or salary by the person paying the wages or salary or payable under a contract of service; by way of pension, including an annuity in respect of past services, whether or not the services were rendered to the person paying the annuity, and including periodical payments by way of compensation for the loss, abolition or relinquishment, or any diminution in the emoluments, of any office or employment; if the defendant is a self-employed person, by way of payments received from self-employment; employer means a person by whom, as a principal and not as an employee or agent, earnings fall to be paid to a defendant, and references to payment of earnings are to be construed accordingly; maintenance order means — an order for the payment of a monthly allowance made or deemed to be made by a court under Part 8; an order for the payment of periodical sums by way of maintenance or alimony to a wife or former wife or an incapacitated husband or incapacitated former husband, or by way of maintenance for the benefit of any child, under Part 10; an order for maintenance made by the Syariah Court under the Administration of Muslim Law Act 1966; an order for maintenance made under the Maintenance of Parents Act 1995; and a maintenance order, as defined in section 2 of the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1975, which is registered or confirmed by the court under that Act. 27/2014; 7/2016 ...

...Power of court to order maintenance The court may order a man to pay maintenance to his wife or former wife, or order a woman to pay maintenance to her incapacitated husband or incapacitated former husband — during the course of any matrimonial proceedings; or when granting or subsequent to the grant of a judgment of divorce, judicial separation or nullity of marriage. 7/2016 The court may make an order under this section regardless when the marriage was solemnised, whether before, on or after . 7/2016 ...

...Recovery of arrears of maintenance Subject to subsection (3), arrears of unsecured maintenance, whether payable by arrangement or under an order of court, are recoverable as a debt from the defaulter and, where they accrued due before the making of a bankruptcy order against the defaulter, are provable in the defaulter's bankruptcy and, where they accrued due before the defaulter's death, are a debt due from the defaulter's estate. 7/2016 Subject to subsection (3), arrears of unsecured maintenance which accrued due before the death of the person entitled thereto are recoverable as a debt by the legal personal representatives of such person. No amount owing as maintenance is recoverable in any suit if it accrued due more than 3 years before the institution of the suit unless the court, under special circumstances, otherwise allows. ...

...Power of court to vary agreements for maintenance Subject to section 116, the court may at any time and from time to time vary the terms of any agreement as to maintenance made between husband and wife, whether made before or after , where it is satisfied that there has been any material change in the circumstances and despite any provision to the contrary in any such agreement. ...

...Application of Act to orders made under repealed Minor Offences Ordinance, etc. All orders made under section 37 of the repealed Minor Offences Ordinance (Cap. 24, 1936 Revised Edition) or under section 2 of the repealed Married Women and Children (Maintenance) Ordinance (Cap. 44, 1955 Revised Edition) and in force on are deemed to have been made under this Part by a court, and the provisions of this Part apply to the same accordingly. 27/2014 Upon an application to vary any order made under section 37 of the repealed Minor Offences Ordinance (Cap. 24, 1936 Revised Edition) or under section 2 of the repealed Married Women and Children (Maintenance) Ordinance (Cap. 44, 1955 Revised Edition), the court may make under section 72 any order which it could have made upon an application under section 69 or under section 2 of the repealed Married Women and Children (Maintenance) Ordinance (Cap. 44, 1955 Revised Edition). ...