BY VALERIE DYE
Anyone who has had to pay child support under a court order has heard of the Family Responsibility Office. The Family Responsibility Office has been created under the Family Responsibility and Support Enforcement Act 1996 (FRSAEA) and it gives power to the Director to use various measures to enforce the payment of child support. The Family Responsibility Office also enforces the payment of spousal support.
When a support order is made by the court a Support Deduction Order is also issued which allows the Family Responsibility Office to enforce the order. The Family Responsibility Office also enforces provisions included in a Separation Agreement. When parties opt to deal with their separation and divorce obligations by entering into a Separation Agreement, and where the Separation Agreement contains an obligation to pay child support or spousal support, such obligations are enforceable by the Family Responsibility Office. The parties are first required to file the Separation Agreement in Court along with an Affidavit and then take the said Agreement to the Family Responsibility Office for Enforcement. The Family Responsibility Office may also enforce obligations to pay retroactive support.
How is Enforcement Done?
When a Support Deduction order is filed with the Family Responsibility Office, the Director sends a notice to the payor’s employer (referred to as the income source) which authorises the employer to make deductions from the payor’s earnings. The payor also receives notice. Until deductions are made from the income source the payor has a responsibility to begin making payments to the Family Responsibility Office.
The Family Responsibility Office may take certain measures in the event that a payor defaults in making support payments. One such measure is suspension of the support payor’s driver’s licence. The Director first sends a notice to the payor requiring him or her to make payments within thirty days. If payments are not made, the Director, pursuant to section to section 37 of the FRSAEA may direct the Registrar of Motor vehicles to suspend the payor’s driver’s licence.
Section 42 of the FRSAEA also allows the Director of the Family Responsibility Office to register the support order in the Land Registry Office against the payor’s real property and this becomes a charge on the land. This may result in a sale of the land in the same manner in which land is sold for failure to make payments on a mortgage.
The Director may also register the order under the Person Property Security Act as a charge against personal property. The payor’s passport may also be suspended where there is a default in payment of support.
The Director may also commence a default hearing in court and the court may make an order compelling the support payor to file a financial statement. Where the support payor resides with another person who is an income earner that person may also be ordered to file a financial statement and show proof of earnings. If the court determines that another person is financially connected to the payor (mostly a spouse) the court may order that such person be added as a party to the default hearings. If the court finds that the other party may have sheltered assets or income of the payor to frustrate payment of support that other party may be ordered to make payments.
Since the Family Responsibility Office takes support payments very seriously it is not advisable to allow payments to go into default.
