Enforcement of Child Maintenance

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The Women’s Charter provides dew options to assist the collection of child maintenance. The most useful among them is the scheme provided is the Attachment of Earning Orders.

A maintenance order may have to be enforced where the payor does not comply with it.

This attachment of the earnings order is directed at the employer of the payor under the maintenance, whether a parent or non-parent of a child.

The attachment of earning order directs his or her employer to deduct the stated amount from the payor’s salary and to either pay this amount to the person receiving this sum or to the court who will collect the amount on the child’s behalf.

This is the tone of the best assurances that the child will receive the maintenance sum ordered.

Imposition of fines

Section 71 provides for the imposition of fine, imprisonment of the defaulting payor or the garnishing of debts owed to him.

Levy Fine

The process for the levying of fines is set out in Section 224 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The levying of the fine or the imprisonment of the defaulter does not result in money coming to the child although they can be psychologically powerful incentives for the payor not to default.

Garnish Debts

In the process of garnishing debts owed to the payor of the order of maintenance, reference is made to Rule 5 of the Women’s Charter.

It is only the garnishing of debts that ensures that some amount of money comes to the child who is ordered to receive maintenance.

Recovery of outstanding amount as debt

Section 74 provides for the recovery of recent outstanding sums of money due to be paid as a debt from the payor.

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