The High Court has admitted an appeal concerning enforcement in Ireland of a Scottish maintenance order, after finding a factual issue over whether the defendant had been adequately served in the proceedings that led to the order.
In a judgment delivered on 11 June 2009, Mr Justice Henry Abbott directed that the appeal be heard on affidavit. He ordered the defendant to serve a notice of appeal and any affidavit on which he intended to rely on the maintenance creditor by prepaid registered post. Those documents, with evidence of service, were to be filed in the Central Office by 29 June 2009.
The appeal concerned an order made by the Master of the High Court on 18 July 2008 to enforce a maintenance order from Paisley Sheriff’s Court. The Master’s order covered £1,800 in arrears up to and including 17 September 2007, plus £300 per calendar month for the complainant’s benefit until she reached 25, if still in full-time education.
The defendant’s stated grounds of appeal included that he had not received notice of the Scottish maintenance proceedings and had no opportunity to take part, prepare a defence or arrange legal representation. He said a February 2008 letter about a legal aid debt was his first notice of the decree. These were the defendant’s claims, not findings made by the High Court in this judgment.
Under section 9 of the Maintenance Orders Act 1974, a maintenance order from a reciprocating jurisdiction may not be recognised or enforced in specified circumstances, including where a person against whom a default order was made was not served in sufficient time to arrange a defence.
The judge said he had considered a certification relating to service by a process server and was satisfied that a factual issue arose about the adequacy of service. The judgment admits the appeal for a further hearing; it does not resolve that service issue or determine whether enforcement should be refused.