AI Summary of 23. Relief orders where marriage dissolved, or spouses legally separated outside State.
This section applies where a marriage has been dissolved or the spouses legally separated under the law of a country or jurisdiction other than the State after commencement, provided the divorce or legal separation is entitled to be recognised in the State. The court may, on application by either spouse or by a person on behalf of a dependent, make any Part II order (excluding section 6 and maintenance pending suit) as if it had granted a decree of judicial separation, subject to specified modifications: subsections (4) and (5) of section 8, section 10(1)(c) and section 13 do not apply to marriages dissolved abroad; section 15 is excluded in respect of a family home where a spouse has remarried and ordinarily resides with the new spouse; section 16 applies with modifications regarding duration, forfeiture by reason of the foreign divorce or separation, and the reference to proceedings.
An applicant must obtain ex parte leave showing a substantial ground and satisfaction of the requirement in section 27, and the court may impose conditions; leave may be granted despite a foreign order requiring payments or transfer of property, but this leave requirement does not apply to requests under section 14 of the Maintenance Act 1994. In assessing financial resources the court must consider compliance with any foreign order or written agreement or the likelihood of future compliance. Periodical payments ordered under this section run from no earlier than the application date and end by the death of either spouse or, if made on or after dissolution, by the remarriage or registration in a civil partnership of the beneficiary; the court may bar extension under section 18 and payments cease on the beneficiary's remarriage except for amounts due at that date. A person who has remarried or registered a civil partnership after dissolution is not entitled to a relief order in respect of the prior marriage, and following subsequent remarriage or registration no relief or property adjustment order may be made in that person's favour by reference to that dissolution.
23. Relief orders where marriage dissolved, or spouses legally separated outside State.
(1) This section applies to a marriage that has been dissolved, or as respects which the spouses have been legally separated, after the commencement of this section under the law of a country or jurisdiction other than the State, being a divorce or legal separation that is entitled to be recognised as valid in the State.
(a) Subject to the provisions of this Part, the court may, in relation to a marriage to which this section applies, on application to it in that behalf by either of the spouses concerned or by a person on behalf of a dependent member of the family concerned, make any order under Part II (other than an order under section 6 or a maintenance pending suit order) (in this Act referred to as a relief order) that it could have made if the court had granted a decree of judicial separation in relation to the marriage.
(b) Part II shall apply and have effect in relation to relief orders and applications therefor as it applies and has effect in relation to orders under Part II and applications therefor with the modifications that -