Women’s Charter 1961 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 9 · Enforcement of Maintenance Orders
76. Interpretation of this Part
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In this Part —
“applicant” means a person who makes a maintenance enforcement application;
“appointed day” means the date of commencement of section 24 of the Family Justice Reform Act 2023;
“attachment of earnings order” means an order by a court requiring the person to whom the order in question is directed (being a person appearing to the court to be a respondent’s employer) to make payments in satisfaction of the order out of the earnings falling to be paid to the respondent;
“conciliation session” means a session under section 88;
“consent order” means an order under section 81(1)(d);
“earnings”, in relation to a respondent, means any sums payable to the respondent —
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; or
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;
“employer” means a person by whom, as a principal and not as an employee or agent, earnings fall to be paid to a respondent, and references to payment of earnings are to be construed accordingly;
“maintenance arrears” means payments due and payable under a maintenance order, whether secured or unsecured;
maintenance order
“maintenance order” means —(a)an order for the payment of monthly sums or a lump sum for the maintenance of a wife, an incapacitated husband or a child made or deemed to be made by a court under Part 8;(b)an order for the payment of monthly or periodical sums or a lump sum 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;(c)an order for maintenance made by the Syariah Court under the Administration of Muslim Law Act 1966; or(d)a maintenance order as defined in section 2 of the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1975;
“maintenance enforcement application” means an application under section 80;
“maintenance enforcement officer” or “MEO” means an individual appointed under section 77(1), and includes the chief maintenance enforcement officer or “Chief MEO”;
“maintenance enforcement order” means an order mentioned in section 91B(1);
“maintenance enforcement proceedings” means the proceedings in court arising from any application under this Part, including any appeal against any decision made by the court on the application;
“maintenance order” means any of the following orders, whether made before, on or after the appointed day:
an order for the payment of monthly sums or a lump sum for the maintenance of a wife, an incapacitated husband or a child, made or deemed to be made by a court under Part 8;
incapacitated husband
“incapacitated husband” means a husband who —(a)during the marriage, is or becomes —(i)incapacitated, by any physical or mental disability or any illness, from earning a livelihood; and(ii)unable to maintain himself; and(b)continues to be unable to maintain himself;
an order for the payment of monthly or periodical sums or a lump sum 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;
incapacitated former husband
“incapacitated former husband”, in relation to a dissolved or an annulled marriage, means a former husband to the marriage who —(a)during the subsistence of the marriage, was or became —(i)incapacitated, by any physical or mental disability or any illness, from earning a livelihood; and(ii)unable to maintain himself; and(b)continues to be unable to maintain himself;
an order for maintenance made by the Syariah Court under the Administration of Muslim Law Act 1966;
an order for the payment of money in respect of the maintenance of an infant made under the Guardianship of Infants Act 1934;
an order for maintenance made under the Maintenance of Parents Act 1995;
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;
“MEO’s report” means any report prepared for the purposes of section 89(1), (2) or (3);
“payable maintenance” means any amount that has not fallen due but will become due and payable by a respondent, under a maintenance order, by such date or dates as the court may specify in a show‑payment order;
“referred application” means a maintenance enforcement application referred by the court to an MEO under section 84(1);
“regulations” means regulations made under section 91A;
“related attachment of earnings order”, in relation to a maintenance order, means an attachment of earnings order made for the purpose of securing payment of any part of the maintenance payable under the maintenance order, and a “related maintenance order” in relation to an attachment of earnings order is to be construed accordingly;
“respondent”, in relation to a maintenance order or a maintenance enforcement application in respect of a maintenance order, means the person liable to make payments under the maintenance order;
“show‑payment order” means an order under section 81(2)(c) or (4)(a)(i).
In this Part —
a reference to any information includes a reference to a document; and
a reference to the submission of any information includes, in relation to information that is contained in a document, a reference to submitting the document.