The Recovery of Maintenance (United States of America) Order 2007

• Citation: S.I. 2007/2006
• Sections: 5

Section 1 Citation and commencement

(1) This Order may be cited as the Recovery of Maintenance (United States of America) Order 2007.

(2) This Order shall come into force on 1st October 2007.

Section 2 Interpretation

In this Order –

“ the Act ” means the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972 ;

“the applicant” means the applicant under section 26 of the Act;

“child” has the meaning it bears in the Child Support Act 1991 ;

“the United States of America” means the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and any other jurisdiction of the United States participating in Title IV-D of the Social Security Act (Title 42, United States Code, Chapter 7, subchapter IV , Part D).

Section 3 Application and modification of Part II of the Act in relation to the United States of America

(1) The provisions of Part II of the Act shall apply to the United States of America as they apply in relation to a convention country, subject to the modification set out in paragraph (2) below.

(2) After section 26(3) of the Act there shall be inserted:—

(3A) An application under subsection (1) or (2) above, for the purpose of recovering maintenance from a person in the United States of America within the meaning of the Recovery of Maintenance (United States of America) Order 2007, and a certificate signed by a justice of the peace or, where the applicant is residing in Northern Ireland, a resident magistrate or, where the applicant is residing in Scotland, by the sheriff, to the effect that the application sets forth facts from which it may be determined that the respondent owes a duty to maintain the applicant and any other person named in the application and that a court in the United States of America may obtain jurisdiction of the respondent or his property, shall be registered in the court in the prescribed manner by the appropriate officer or, in Scotland, by the sheriff clerk in the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972 Register.

Section 4 Application to Scotland

This Order applies to Scotland only in respect of a claim for the recovery of maintenance where the Secretary of State would have had jurisdiction to make a maintenance calculation (within the meaning of the Child Support Act 1991) as regards that maintenance with respect to a child—

(a) who is the applicant claiming the maintenance; or

(b) where the applicant claiming the maintenance is another person in relation to whom the Secretary of State has arranged for the collection of payments for that child’s benefit.

Section 5 Transitional provisions

(1) This Order applies to-

(a) any application made on or after 1st October 2007 to the Lord Chancellor or to the Scottish Ministers under section 26(1) of the Act for a claim for the recovery of maintenance from a person in the United States of America to be transmitted to the United States of America;

(b) any application made on or after 1st October 2007 to the Lord Chancellor or to the Scottish Ministers under section 26(2) of the Act for the variation of provision made in the United States of America for the payment by another person of maintenance to the applicant, and for the application to be transmitted to the United States of America;

(c) any application received on or after 1st October 2007 from the appropriate authority in the United States of America by the Lord Chancellor under section 27A(1) of the Act for the recovery of maintenance from a person who is for the time being residing in England and Wales, or under section 28C of the Act for the recovery of maintenance from a person who is for the time being resident in Northern Ireland, or by the Scottish Ministers under section 31(1) of the Act for the recovery of maintenance from a person who is for the time being resident in Scotland; or

(d) any application made under Part II of the Act in respect of an application falling within paragraph (a), (b) or (c).

(2) Subject to paragraph (1), the Recovery of Maintenance (United States of America) Order 1993 shall continue in full force and effect.