LATEST NEWS:
All Woman
Dad needs child support
By Margarette Macaulay
Monday, November 02, 2009
Dear Mrs Macaulay,
Could you please advise me of possible steps I could take to get financial support from the mother of my son (12) who has been living in England for the past 11 years? The problem is, I do not know her whereabouts in England. However, her parents who live here in Jamaica know and they have kept all contact information from me. I will be most grateful if you could advise me accordingly.
 |
Thank you for your letter. You have clearly been the custodial parent of your child for almost his entire life without any kind of assistance from his mother and apparently also from any member of her family. What should you do to get some contribution from her for his maintenance?
You should go to the Family Court and make applications for the following orders:
. Custody care and control of your child - I suggest this because I assume that the child was just left with you when the mother left for the UK and you have not done anything to make the informal formal by getting an order for full legal authority to direct the development and welfare of your son. You must get this.
. That the defendant contributes one-half of your son's educational, medical, dental and optical expenses. These should be quantified in a fixed sum for, say, each quarter of the year because she lives abroad. You must provide the information to the court of how much these things cost on an average or what they actually do cost per month or, as I suggest, for a three- month period. This is so that the court will have information to work with in order to arrive at a specific sum for her contribution
. That the defendant also pays a specified sum as a contribution towards your son's maintenance. Again, you should provide information to the court which is true and factual of your son's ordinary monthly living expenses. You must put it down in dollars and cents. These should cover what you spend on him for food, clothing, footwear, lunch money, transportation, cost of extracurricular activities, cost of any special gears, uniforms and his proportional part of your rental (if you rent) or of the mortgage payments (if you pay mortgage); also the utility charges and the expenses you meet for his entertainment. All this information should be put in your affidavit in support for your application.
You must disclose the fact to the clerk of courts that you do not have an exact address for the mother in England, but that her parents have it though they have refused to disclose it to you despite your many requests for it. You should indicate therefore that you need to apply for an order that:
. Personal service be dispensed with;
.Substituted service be effected by delivery of the application and affidavit in support on "so and so" (her named parents), who you know are in contact with her. There must also be included in your application a clear notice that if the mother of your son does not appear on the date of hearing specified on the summons, the court may proceed and make orders against her, notwithstanding her absence. Your application and affidavit in support must be served on the parents in order to give the mother of your child sufficient time to make arrangements to appear if she so wishes.
So assuming you get the order for substituted service and you effect service on her parents and you prove such service to the court, on the day of the hearing if the defendant does not appear and does not have legal representation to explain her absence, the judge of the Family Court has the power to make the requisite orders in your favour. The clerk of the Family Court will thereafter assist you to ensure that the order is transmitted to England to be enforced there against the mother of your child.
In relation to the monetary contributions which we assume will be ordered, there should be included in the order where and by what means the payment should be made.
I should tell you that you could also make these applications in the Supreme Court but you would need the services of an attorney-at-law to prepare your application, file it, ensure its service after getting an order for substituted service and to appear in chambers for you at the hearing. This could be quite costly.
The Family Court, however, is not costly. It was set up to be less formal and to make justice more accessible to the public at no cost to them even for the filing of their applications. It is not a superior court of record and therefore its proceedings are not as formal as in the Supreme Court. Parties can proceed without the services of an attorney-at-law in all matters within its jurisdiction.
So, father, you can proceed and get contribution from the mother of your son for his maintenance even though you do not have her address in England, by means of an order for the substituted service of your application. So go for it, and good luck.
Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law and a women's and children's rights advocate. Send questions and comments via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com. See responses to your questions in All Woman. We regret we cannot provide personal responses.
RSS Feeds