Dad’s paltry contribution

Dear Mrs Macaulay, 

I am seeking your advice regarding a matter currently before the Family Court involving my child’s father.

In 2020 a court order was granted for him to pay $3,000 weekly in maintenance, and contribute 50 per cent towards educational expenses, and half health. To note, she is on his health card. Since that order was made, he has not been consistent with payments. When he misses a payment, he does not pay the arrears; he essentially cancels it out and does not make it up. I have 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 and must allow him time.

Fast forward, in 2025 I applied for a variation of the order, requesting an increase to $6,000 weekly. In December 2025, the judge granted an interim increase of $1,000 and ordered that a probation officer be assigned to the case. The matter was adjourned to February  2026.

At court, the probation officer’s recommendation was $6,500 weekly. The father stated that he could not agree to that amount and was unwilling to pay 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 does not provide clothing, cover additional expenses, assist with grooming, keep her when school is out, pick her up from school, exercise visitation, or assist in any other way beyond what the court order strictly ordered.

In court, the judge asked another probation officer to attempt to have us reach an agreement. That did not happen. He stated that he has two loans that end in 2028 and that at that time he will see how better he can do. The probation officer responded that he would have to return to court in 2028 and that the cost of living would have increased. To me, that response felt as though the expectation is that I must simply manage until then, regardless of the circumstances. It also felt as though they were accepting that he just “does not have it” without further scrutiny.

Out of frustration, I said to the officer that if that is the case, then perhaps the father should take her and I would pay the court-ordered amount. He responded that he works shifts and cannot accommodate that. I then said that she may as well go to the State because I am genuinely overwhelmed.

When we returned before the judge, the probation officer relayed what transpired, including my statement about State care. The judge asked him, “What do you have to say about that?” He replied, “Nothing.” She then asked me if I was serious, and I said yes. She looked at me in what felt like disgust and asked where I worked and my position. After I informed her, she ordered that we return to court in April with our payslips and statements of expenses.

Our daughter is now seven years old. The original order was made in 2020 when she was one year old. Her needs have significantly increased since then. I am solely responsible for everything.

I genuinely believe he can do better financially or otherwise. I am seeking your advice because I do not feel that the court process is helping me currently, and I need guidance on how best to proceed

I can understand your absolute frustration and that you now question the effectiveness of the Family Court dealings with your child’s father who has been disobeying the maintenance order made in 2020, and caused arrears to build up frequently.  You say that you previously took him back to court for his disobediences and you were told that you cannot claim for the arrears if they are for less than six weeks.   It seems clear that you were not properly assisted by being fully advised what specific steps you ought to take to succeed, nor were you assisted by your application being drawn up for you by the responsible clerk at the court office.

You then decided in 2025 to apply for the 2020 order to be varied, and an interim increase was granted, but you did not say whether his 50 per cent educational and health contribution was kept alive in the interim order but I hear your frustration and despair.

I must suggest to you firstly that you must not forego the collection of all the arrears owed by your child’s father.  You can and must file your claims for every cent he owes you for his disobedience over the last years.  I seriously advise you to do this. I recall doing several such claims for my clients during my practice 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. All previous payments were made in court as the judge of the Family Court was also determined that that father must obey the lawful orders for the maintenance of his daughter which he had so often selfishly and recklessly ignored.

Unfortunately, it seems that you did not get the assistance which the clerk of the Family Court is obliged to provide to non-represented lay applicants like you, and the judge(s) initially failed to act as the law requires before the order was made, and in years following, the clerk(s) also did not treat his disobediences with the seriousness which the law requires.

So what should you do now?  This is a matter which I have written about very often but each situation has different facts, greatly or slightly.   The fact that the judge has ordered the production by you both of your payslips, indicates that this judge 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 variation of that order (and not his arrears) and it would also enable the judge to make an order, based on your child’s father’s bad history of disobediences and failures to meet his legal obligations as ordered, to order and direct his employer to give a written statement to the court of his income/emoluments and to order that the maintenance sums due from him be attached from his salaries by the employer and that the employer deduct it weekly/ monthly and pay it over directly to the court, through the collection officer.

Do not be afraid to ask the judge to make this order of attachment and for the employer to deduct from his salaries and pay the money to the court.

You have the right to apply for this and for the judge to grant and order this based on your child’s father’s past conduct of repeated disobediences.

Please on this occasion ask that the judge make the varied sums payable to the collections officer of the court by the father, from whom you will then collect the monies paid for your child’s maintenance.  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(s), so that the issuing of a warrant of distress or a warrant for his arrest can be obtained easily if he commits breaches again and neglects to pay the new arrears.

And, also 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 by him throughout  the past years.  It would help you greatly if you have legal representation. I understand that you cannot in your current circumstances afford to pay legal fees to a lawyer.  Perhaps you can seek help from Jamaicans for Justice, which I remember assists as a human rights organisation by providing legal assistance to persons who have no other way to obtain the services of a lawyer for their court matters.  You can contact them and check whether they still do this.

Finally, if after all this, failures occur again which are not rectified by orders of the court and the exercise of its legal authority, and you despair and get frustrated again, you can make a report to the Chief Justice of Jamaica and who is the head of the entire judiciary of Jamaica.   If you have cause to do this, you must detail all the facts and attach to your letter all the relevant orders and applications and affidavits in support, and the dates of disobedient failures and a list of the sums which were due and not paid, the details of what occurred in court hearings and what was said by the judge(s) /clerks/the father, and copies of orders made or denied. If you do not have copies, say so, but give the dates they were made and a short account of what was ordered/stated.  Give every detail you can so that the Chief Justice can have as full a history of what occurred or failed to occur through inaction or mistake and who did what or did nothing or failed to do what they should have done.

Please do not give up on legal processes because it’s the last bastion of justice and hope all of us have in all countries everywhere.  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.