The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (United States of America) Order 2007

1.—(1) Amend section 2 as follows.

(2) For subsection (1) substitute—

“(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, where the payer under a maintenance order made, whether before, on or after 1st October 2007, by a court in the United Kingdom is residing or has assets in the United States of America, the payee under the Order may apply for the order to be sent to the United States of America for enforcement.”

(3) In subsection (2), omit the words “a provisional order or to”.

(4) For subsection (4) substitute—

“(4) If, on an application duly made under this section to the prescribed officer of a court in the United Kingdom, that officer is satisfied that the payer under the maintenance order to which the application relates is residing or has assets in the United States of America, the following documents, that is to say—

(a) three certified copies of the maintenance order;

(b) a certificate signed by that officer certifying that the order is enforceable in the United Kingdom;

(c) a certificate of arrears so signed or, in Scotland, signed by the applicant or his solicitor;

(d) a sworn statement signed by the payee giving the following information—

(i) the address of the payee;

(ii) such information as is known to the payee as to the whereabouts of the payer; and

(iii) a description, so far as is known to the payee, of the nature and location of any assets of the payer available for execution;

(e) a statement giving such information as the officer possesses for facilitating the identification of the payer; and

(f) where available, a photograph of the payer;

shall be sent by that officer, in the case of a court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, to the Lord Chancellor, or, in the case of a court in Scotland, to the Scottish Ministers, with a view to their being transmitted by him to the responsible authority in the United States of America if he is (or they are) satisfied that the statement relating to the whereabouts of the payer and the nature and location of his assets gives sufficient information to justify that being done.”

(5) In subsection (5), after the word “and” insert the words “, subject to section 5 below,”