Family law

Proceedings for the enforcement of a maintenance order which were registered in a magistrates’ court were not automatically ‘family proceedings’ so as to be the subject of the FPR, although by virtue of s 65(2) of the Magistrates’ Court Act 1980  the court “may if it thinks fit order that [they]...be treated as family proceedings...” Section 93(6) of the 1980 Act and s 5 of the Debtors Act 1869 had to be construed and applied so as to have the same practical result and effect. Accordingly, a magistrates’ court could not find, for the purposes of s 93(6), that there had been “wilful refusal or culpable neglect” unless it was satisfied that the person in default “has or has had...the means to pay...” A magistrates’ court could not lawfully commit a person to prison for default in paying a maintenance order, or a maintenance order which had been registered in that court, unless it was satisfied that the payer had, or had had, the