The High Court has ruled that a €75,000 lump-sum payment ordered in judicial separation proceedings cannot be reviewed under section 18 of the Family Law Act 1995 because it was not made payable by instalments.
In a judgment delivered on 20 April 2012, Mr Justice Michael White said the original order directed the appellant to pay the respondent €75,000 within nine months. Although the order described the payment as a “financial adjustment order”, the judge said that is not an order provided for by the 1995 Act. He found it was instead a lump-sum order under section 8(1)(c)(i).
The judge said section 18 allows review of a lump-sum order only where it provides for payment by instalments or requires instalments to be secured. As the order did neither, the appellant was not entitled to have the lump-sum amount reviewed. The judgment cited the Supreme Court’s interpretation of similar provisions in D.T. v. C.T. [2002] 3 I.R. 334.
The judgment also addressed where enforcement and review motions should be brought following an appeal from the Circuit Family Court. It said an application to enforce an order varied by the High Court on appeal may be brought either in the original county’s Circuit Court or in the High Court, sitting in Dublin or on circuit.
A motion to review or vary an order under section 18 of the 1995 Act, or section 22 of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996, must instead be brought before the court of first instance, the judge said, to preserve the right of appeal. In this case, that court was the Circuit Court. The judgment records that the respondent had sought enforcement and the appellant had sought review; it does not state how the enforcement motion was disposed of.