Maintenance Act amendments clamp down on defaulters
The Maintenance Amendment Act, aimed at cracking down on child maintenance defaulters, came into effect today (5 January).
The legislation now allows:
- The personal information of defaulters to be submitted to credit bureaux
- defaulters to be blacklisted
- courts to order mobile network service providers to share contact details to trace defaulters
- maintenance applications to be lodged in the jurisdiction where the defaulter works, and not only where they live
- courts to place an interim order while waiting for the final outcome
- cost orders to be granted even if child maintenance defaulters are absent from court proceedings
- courts to impose three years’ imprisonment without option of a fine for continued defaulters