Remember: Maintenance issues
UNDER the law, both parents are responsible for providing support for their children under 18 years old, children living with disabilities, or a child who is under 23 and is still attending university. The Jamaican court also makes it possible for a parent living overseas to file for maintenance from a parent living in Jamaica, or for a parent living here to seek maintenance from a parent living in another country, providing that the country is a “reciprocating state”.
It is your child’s right to be maintained by both parents. Neither fear nor any other emotion should prevent a parent from approaching the Family Court or Supreme Court to get maintenance from the other parent who refuses such support. The court’s primary interest in children’s maintenance matters is to ensure that the child receives adequate provisions from the parents to provide all the necessities for a good and healthy life. The fact that a parent may not be working does not exonerate them from this legal obligation.
Jamaica currently has reciprocal agreements with four states in America — California, Maryland, New Jersey and Florida — as well as all Caricom states, the United Kingdom and Manitoba, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland in Canada.
Under this arrangement, a parent applying for maintenance can make a request to the local courts. When an order is made, the Foreign Affairs Ministry liaises with the relevant authority in the reciprocating state to serve the other parent with the maintenance order. The funds would then be collected and disbursed through the courts.
So go ahead and apply for child maintenance at the Family Court or Resident Magistrate’s Court in your parish. You can do this on your own at the Family Court, or ask an attorney to file the documents on your behalf at the Supreme Court.
