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GAZETTE
JULY 1996
Family Law Act 1995
by Muriel Walls*
The Family Law Act 1995 comes into
operation on 1 August 1996 and it is
important that all practitioners are
familiar with its provisions.
The main purposes of the Act are:-
1. To allow the Court make further
provision in proceedings for
Judicial Separation;
2. To enable certain Orders be made
by the Court after a divorce or
separation is granted outside the
State;
3. To enable the Court make
declarations on marital status;
4. To make new rules on the age and
procedures for marriage;
5. To make miscellaneous tax and
other relieving provisions
particularly in relation to the
Family Home Protection Act 1976.
1. Part II of the 1989 Act which
provides for the making of ancillary
relief orders on separation is
repealed and is substituted by Part
II of the Family Law Act 1995.
Ancillary relief orders for
periodical payment, secured
periodical payment, lump sum
payment, property adjustment order
and orders extinguishing
Succession Act Rights are all
repeated in the 1995 Act however,
two new ancillary relief orders can
now be made by the Court.
Section 11 provides for the making
of a financial compensation order.
The Court on granting a Decree of
Judicial Separation or at any time
thereafter if it considers that the
financial security of the Applicant
spouse so requires or if the Applicant
spouse needs to be compensated for
loss of pension benefits may order
the other spouse to:
Muriel Walls
(i) affect a life insurance policy
for the benefit of the other
spouse;
(ii) assign the benefit of an
existing policy of insurance to
the other spouse;
(iii) Order that the payment on the
policy/ies are made by the
spouse.
There are specific cessation
provisions in relation to financial
compensation orders. The order
shall cease to have effect on the
remarriage or death of the
Applicant spouse in so far as it
relates to the Applicant and the
Court shall not make such a
financial compensation order if the
spouse who is applying for the
order has remarried.
Although on separation many
spouses have arranged life
insurance for their mutual benefit
or for the benefit of one of them, up
to now the Court had no power to
make an order directing the other
spouse to do so.
The other new ancillary relief order
that can be made on granting a
Decree of Judicial Separation is a
pension Adjustment Order. Section
12 allows the Court to make an
Order providing for the payment to
the other spouse or dependent
member of the family of a benefit
consisting in whole or in part of a
retirement benefit which is accrued
at the time of the making of the
order. Such a Pension Adjustment
Order shall specify the period of
reckonable service of the member
spouse to be taken into account and
the percentage of the retirement
accrued during that period which is
to be paid to the Applicant spouse.
In addition the Court may in
relation to a contingent benefit
(death in service benefit) make an
order providing payment to the
other spouse and a dependant
member of the family the whole or
part of any contingent benefit that
is payable. Section 12 of the 1995
Act is a complex section running to
five pages. Sub Sections provide
that the Trustees of Pension
Schemes must be notified by an
Applicant spouse if it is proposed
to seek a Pension Adjustment Order
and the Court shall have regard to
any representations that the
Trustees may make. Guidelines are
to be published by the Pensions
Board and are awaited with
interest.
Section 13 is a further relieving
Section which provides that the
Court can make an Order directing
the Trustees of a Pension Scheme
to disregard the separation of the
spouses as a ground for
disqualifying the other spouse from
receipt of a benefit which under the
rules of the scheme requires the
spouses to be residing together.
2. Part III of the 1995 Act provides
for relief orders to be made by the
Court after a divorce or separation
is granted outside the State. Up to
now many ex-spouses have found it
difficult to enforce ancillary relief
orders granted by Courts in other
jurisdictions and have been unable
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