South Australian Consolidated Acts

FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES ACT 1972 - SECT 104

104—Order for payment of preliminary expenses

        (1)         Where the Magistrates Court, upon complaint made by or on behalf of a woman, is satisfied—

            (a)         that she is pregnant by the defendant (not being her husband) or has been delivered of a child or a stillborn child of whom the defendant (not being her husband) is the father; and

            (b)         that he has not made adequate provision for the payment of the preliminary expenses in respect of the confinement,

the court may order the defendant to pay to the Chief Executive Officer such amount as it thinks reasonable for or towards those preliminary expenses.

        (2)         A complaint under this section may be made at any time during the pregnancy of the woman, or within two years after the birth of the child, but the court must not make an order under this section before the birth of the child unless it is satisfied by the evidence, or by the certificate, of a legally qualified medical practitioner that the woman is pregnant.

        (3)         The court must not receive in evidence the certificate of a legally qualified medical practitioner unless the defendant consents to the admission of that certificate.

        (4)         The adoption of a child does not prevent the court from making an order for preliminary expenses under this section nor does it affect the validity or operation of any order for preliminary expenses in respect of the child.