Dad’s paltry contribution

DEAR MRS MACAULAY, This is a matter currently before the Family Court. In 2020, an order was granted for my daughter’s father to pay $3,000 weekly plus half educational and health expenses. He has not been consistent, and when he misses a payment, he cancels out the arrears. I previously brought him back to court for defiance of the order, and was told that if the arrears are less than six weeks, I cannot claim for it.

In 2025, I applied for a variation of the order, requesting an increase to $6,000 weekly. The judge granted an interim increase of $1,000 and assigned a probation officer to the case.

The probation officer’s recommendation was $6,500, but the father said he was unwilling to afford anything more than the interim increase.

Our daughter lives with me full-time. Outside of the court-ordered payments, he contributes absolutely nothing else. He says he has other obligations, as if I must simply manage until he is more financially stable.

Out of frustration, I asked that he take our daughter and I would pay support. He said he works shifts and cannot accommodate that. In frustration, I then said that she may as well go to the State because I am genuinely overwhelmed. The judge appeared shocked, and ordered that we return to court this month with our payslips and statements of expenses.

Our daughter is now seven. The original order was made when she was one. I am solely responsible for everything and genuinely believe he can do better. I do not feel that the court process is helping me, and I need guidance.

I can understand your absolute frustration and that you now question the effectiveness of the Family Court. I hear your frustration and despair.

I must suggest that you do not forego the collection of all the arrears owed. You can file your claims for every cent he owes you. I recall doing several such claims for my clients, and the last one I did was filed and commenced when the child was about two years short of her 18th birthday, and the disobediences spanned many years, into her younger years. The final payment was in fact received in court after the child’s 18th birthday. The judge was determined that the father obey the lawful orders for the maintenance of his daughter which he had selfishly and recklessly ignored.

Unfortunately, it seems that in your case, the court did not treat your ex’s disobediences with the seriousness which the law requires.

So what should you do? The fact that the judge has ordered the production of your payslips, indicates that he/she is now seeking to have both of your financial situations investigated, which should have been done before the 2020 order was made. This would however only relate to your application for the variation of that order (and not his arrears) and it would also enable the judge to make an order to direct his employer to give a written statement of his income/emoluments and to order that the maintenance sums be deducted from his salary.

Do not be afraid to ask the judge to make the employer do the deductions and pay the money to the court. This is very important, especially with the father’s bad history, because the court’s officer shall then have all the records of his payments and can easily collate the evidence of his disobedience and issue a warrant of distress or a warrant for his arrest easily.

And, please collect all the dates and evidence of his past disobediences and failures to pay pursuant to the original 2020 order. There is no limitation period to bar you pursuing the right to have him pay every cent owed throughout the past years. It would help you greatly if you have legal representation, but this is not absolutely necessary.

Finally, if after all this, the situation is not rectified by orders of the court , and you despair and get frustrated again, you can make a report to the Chief Justice of Jamaica who is the head of the entire judiciary. If you have cause to do this, you must detail all the facts, the details of what occurred in court hearings, and what was said by the judge(s) /clerks/the father and copies of the orders made or denied.

Please do not give up on the legal processes because it’s the last bastion of justice available to citizens. I wish you and your daughter the very best in the future.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public, and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide private, personal responses.