Cross-Border Family Maintenance
The scope of Regulation EC 4/2009 and the 2007 Hague Convention on Maintenance is to provide an efficient and responsive system of co-operation between Contracting and EU States for the processing of international applications. They require that countries involved make available applications for the establishment and modification as well as for recognition and enforcement of maintenance decisions. Procedures should thus be expedited, simplified, and effectively enforced.
The Central Authority deals with both incoming and outgoing applications. In the case of outgoing applications, the Central Authority officials meet with the applicant and together with the Legal Officer study the case. Once the application and necessary documentation are compiled, these are sent to the requested state. Respective CAs inform each other of developments. In the case of incoming requests, the Malta Central Authority will either initiate legal proceedings or provide the requesting state with the information requested depending on the application sent.
In these cases, cooperation with the Legal Aid Agency, Department for Social Security, Inland Revenue Department and the Employment and Training Corporation amongst others is of paramount importance.
Relevant Legislation
The Convention of 23 November 2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support and other forms of Family Maintenance
Council Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations
Application Information
An initial meeting is held with anyone wishing to make an application.
The regulation covers many aspects and there are various applications which can be used depending on the request. In the initial meeting the necessary information is to be provided by the applicant and the CA will guide the applicant with regards to which application should be used.
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