ANNEX C: Detailed explanatory note for Part 1 of Schedule 1 Paragraph 18: EU and international agreements concerning maintenance
875.Paragraph 18 refers to civil legal services in relation to cases where a person is applying to the courts in England and Wales to recognise or enforce a maintenance order from outside the jurisdiction, or, in the case of the EU Maintenance Regulation, is applying from outside the jurisdiction to establish within the jurisdiction a liability to pay maintenance. This would include issues of child maintenance and a former spouse’s maintenance where an order was made outside England and Wales but the person liable to pay the maintenance resides in England or Wales. Paragraph 18(1) lists the EU Conventions and Regulation under which applications for recognition and enforcement may be made, with the exception of the EU Maintenance Regulation, in relation to which provision is made by sub-paragraphs (2) and (3).
876.Paragraph 18(2) refers to civil legal services provided in relation to the establishment and enforcement of maintenance orders and other decisions on maintenance across EU borders under the EU Maintenance Regulation, where the application is made under Article 56. For example, cases will be in scope where a person within the EU but outside England and Wales applies through his or her home Central Authority(18), which transmits the application to the appropriate Central Authority in the United Kingdom, for a maintenance decision made in their county of residence to be recognised and enforced through the courts in England and Wales.
877.Paragraph 18(3) refers to civil legal aid for recognition, enforceability and enforcement of maintenance decisions in England and Wales where an individual has received legal aid or exemptions from costs or expenses in their Member State of origin. In such a case it is not necessary for the application to have been made via the Central Authority for it to be in scope.
878.Paragraph 18(4) applies the exclusions in Parts 2 and 3 of the Schedule to the services in scope under this paragraph, except for the exclusion for services provided in relation to trust law (since in a limited number of cases, matters of trust law may arise in establishing or enforcing a liability).
879.Paragraph 18(5) provides full definitions of the Conventions and Regulations referenced in this paragraph.