(1)Where the court has made an order to which this section applies, then, subject to the provisions of this section, the court shall have power to vary or discharge the order or to suspend any provision thereof temporarily and to revive the operation of any provision so suspended.
(2)This section applies to the following orders, that is to say—
(a)any order under section 1 of this Act;
(b)any order made by virtue of section 2(1)(a) or (b) or 2(2)(b) of this Act;
(c)any order made by virtue of section 3(2)(a) or (b) or 3(4) of this Act;
(d)any order made by virtue of section 4(b), (c) or (d) of this Act on or after granting a decree of judicial separation; and
(e)any order made by virtue of section 6(5), 6(6)(a), (b), (d) or (e) or 6(7)(b) of this Act.
(3)The powers exercisable by the court under this section in relation to an order shall be exercisable also in relation to any instrument executed in pursuance of the order.
(4)The court shall not exercise the powers conferred by this section in relation to any order made by virtue of the said section 4(b), (c) or (d) on or after granting a decree of judicial separation except on an application made in proceedings—
(a)for the rescission of that decree, or
(b)for the dissolution of the marriage of the parties to the proceedings in which that decree was made.
(5)No such order as is mentioned in section 4 of this Act shall be made on an application for the variation of an order made by virtue of the said section 2(1) (a) or (b) or the said section 3(2)(a) or (b), and no order for the payment of a lump sum shall be made on an application for the variation of an order made by virtue of the said section 2(1)(a) or (b) or of the said section 6(6)(a) or (b).
(6)Where the person liable to make payments under an order made by virtue of the said section 2(1) (b), the said section 3(2)(b) or the said section 6 (6)(b) or (e) has died, an application under this section relating to that order may be made by the person entitled to payments under the order or by the personal representatives of the deceased person, but no such application shall, except with the permission of the court, be made after the end of the period of six months from the date on which representation in regard to the estate of that person is first taken out.
(7)In exercising the powers conferred by this section the court shall have regard to all the circumstances of the case, including any change in any of the matters to which the court was required to have regard when making the order to which the application relates and, where the party against whom that order was made has died, the changed circumstances resulting from his or her death.
(8)The personal representatives of a deceased person against whom any such order as is referred to in subsection (6) above was made shall not be liable for having distributed any part of the estate of the deceased after the expiration of the period of six months referred to in that subsection on the ground that they ought to have taken into account the possibility that the court might permit an application under this section to be made after that period by the person entitled to payments under the order; but this subsection shall not prejudice any power to recover any part of the estate so distributed arising by virtue of the making of an order in pursuance of this section.
(9)In considering for the purposes of subsection (6) above the question when representation was first taken out, a grant limited to settled land or to trust property shall be left out of account and a grant limited to real estate or to personal estate shall be left out of account unless a grant limited to the remainder of the estate has previously been made or is made at the same time.