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Interpretation.
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3.—(1) In this Act—
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“appropriate authority” means the person who, in a reciprocating jurisdiction, has a function corresponding to that of the Master of the High Court under section 19 (3);
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“enforcement order” has the meaning assigned to it in section 6;
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“maintenance creditor”, in relation to a maintenance order, means the person entitled to the payments for which the order provides;
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“maintenance debtor”, in relation to a maintenance order, means the person liable to make payments under the order;
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“maintenance order” means—
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(a) an order (including an affiliation order or an order consequent thereon) which provides for the periodical payment of sums of money towards the maintenance of any person, being a person whom the person liable to make payments under the order is, in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction in which the order was made, liable to maintain, or
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(b) an affiliation order or an order consequent thereon, being an order which provides for the payment by a person adjudged, found or declared to be a child's father of expenses incidental to the birth of the child or, where the child has died, of the funeral expenses,
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and, in the case of a maintenance order which has been varied, means that order as varied;
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“maintenance proceedings” means proceedings in relation to the making, variation or revocation of a maintenance order;
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“notice of the institution of the proceedings”, in relation to maintenance proceedings, means—
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(a) where the proceedings were instituted in the State, a copy of the summons or other originating document served in the State or a notice of the issue of the summons or other originating document,
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(b) where the proceedings were instituted in Northern Ireland or in England and Wales, a copy of the summons or other originating document served in a reciprocating jurisdiction, a notice that a provisional maintenance order has been made or a notice of an application to a court for a maintenance order,
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(c) where the proceedings were instituted in Scotland, a copy of the writ, summons or other originating document, together with a copy of the warrant for service and a copy of the citation;
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“reciprocating jurisdiction” means Northern Ireland, England and Wales, or Scotland;
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“revocation”, in relation to a maintenance order, includes the discharge of such order or the termination of a weekly sum payable thereunder and cognate words shall be construed accordingly.
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(2) For the avoidance of doubt, a maintenance order includes—
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(a) such an order which is incidental to a decision as to the status of natural persons,
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(b) such an order obtained by or in favour of a public authority in connection with the provision of maintenance or other benefits in respect of a person whom the maintenance debtor is, in accordance with the law of the jurisdiction in which the order was made, liable to maintain, and
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(c) a provision in an agreement in writing between spouses for the making by one spouse of periodical payments towards the maintenance of the other or of any of their children or of any child to whom either is in loco parentis, being an agreement which has been embodied in or approved by a court order or made a rule of court.
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(3) A reference in this Act to a section is to a section of this Act unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended.
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(4) A reference in this Act to a subsection, paragraph or other division is to the subsection, paragraph or other division of the provision in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.
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