Hong Kong Ordinances

MAINTENANCE ORDERS (RECIPROCAL ENFORCEMENT) ORDINANCE - SECT 10

Variation and revocation of maintenance order registered in District Court

(1) Subject to this section, the District Court-

   (a)  shall have the like power, on an application made by the payer or
        payee under a registered order, to vary or revoke the order as if it
        had been made by the District Court and as if that court had had
        jurisdiction to make it; and

   (b)  shall have power to vary or revoke a registered order by a
        provisional order.

(2) The District court shall not vary a registered order otherwise than by a
provisional order unless-

   (a)  both the payer and the payee under the registered order are for the
        time being residing in Hong Kong; or

   (b)  the application is made by the payee under the registered  order; or

   (c)  the variation consists of a reduction in the rate of the payments
        under the registered order and is made solely on the ground that there
        has been a change in the financial circumstances of the payer since
        the registered order was made or, in the case of an order registered
        under section 8, since the registered order was confirmed, and the
        courts in the reciprocating country in which the maintenance order in
        question was made do not have power, according to the law in force in
        that country, to confirm provisional orders varying
        maintenance orders.

(3) The District Court shall not revoke a registered order otherwise than by a
provisional order unless both the payer and the payee under the
registered order are for the time being residing in Hong Kong.

(4) On an application for the revocation of a registered order the District
Court shall, unless both the payer and the payee under the registered order
are for the time being residing in Hong Kong, apply the law applied by the
reciprocating country in which the order was made, but where by virtue of this
subsection the District Court is required to apply that law, the court may
make a provisional order if it has reason to believe that the ground on which
the application is made is a ground on which the order could be revoked
according to the law applied by the reciprocating country, notwithstanding
that it has not been established that it is such a ground.

(5) Where the District Court makes a provisional order varying or revoking a
registered order, the Registrar shall send in the prescribed manner to the
court in the reciprocating country which made the registered  order a
certified copy of the provisional order together with a document,
authenticated in the prescribed manner, setting out or summarizing the
evidence given in the proceedings.

(6) Where a certified copy of a provisional order made by a court in a
reciprocating country, being an order varying a registered order, together
with a document, duly authenticated, setting out or summarizing the evidence
given in the proceedings in which the provisional order was made, is received
by the District Court, the court may confirm the order, either without
alteration, or with such alterations as it thinks reasonable or refuse to
confirm the order.

(7) For the purposes of determining whether a provisional order should be
confirmed under subsection (6) the District Court shall proceed as if an
application for the variation of the registered order had been made to it.

(8) Where a registered order has been varied by an order (including a
provisional order which has been confirmed) made by the District Court or by a
competent court in a reciprocating country, the registered order shall, as
from the date on which under the provisions of the order the variation is to
take effect, have effect as varied by that order and, where that order was a
provisional order, as if that order had been made in the form in which it was
confirmed and as if it had never been a provisional order. (Amended 31 of 1980
s. 4)

(9) Where a registered order has been revoked by an order made by the District
Court or by a competent court in a reciprocating country, including a
provisional order made by the first-mentioned court which has been confirmed
by a competent court in a reciprocating country, the registered order shall,
as from the date on which under the provisions of the order the revocation is
to take effect, be deemed to have ceased to have effect except as respects any
arrears due under the registered order at that date. (Amended 31 of 1980 s .
4)

(10) The Registrar shall register in the prescribed manner any order varying a
registered order other than a provisional order which is not confirmed. [cf.
1972 c. 18 s. 9 U.K.]