Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Maintenance Act 1965 - SECT 47

Attachment of earnings order

47. Attachment of earnings order



(1) A person entitled to receive payments under a maintenance order may apply
in writing-

   (a)  to the court that made the order; or

   (b)  to any court in which the order is for the time being enforceable
        under this Act-

for an attachment of earnings order.

(2) An application under the last preceding subsection may be made without
specifying the name of any particular employer.

(3) If the court is satisfied that the defendant is a person to whom earnings
are payable or are likely to become payable and-

   (a)  that, at the time when the application was made, there was due under
        the maintenance order and unpaid an amount equal to not less than-

   (i)  in the case of an order for weekly payments-four payments; or

   (ii) in any other case-two payments; or

   (b)  that the defendant has persistently failed to comply with the
        requirements of the order-

the court may order a person who appears to the court to be the defendant's
employer in respect of those earnings or a part of those earnings to make out
of those earnings or that part of those earnings payments in accordance with
section forty-eight of this Act.

(4) The court shall not make an attachment of earnings order if it appears to
the court, in a case to which paragraph (a) of the last preceding subsection
applies, that the failure of the defendant to make payments under the
maintenance order was not due to his wilful refusal or culpable neglect.

(5) An attachment of earnings order shall specify either generally or in
relation to any particular pay-day or pay-days the normal deduction rate, that
is to say, the rate at which the court considers it to be reasonable that the
earnings to which the order relates should be applied in satisfying the
requirements of the maintenance order but not exceeding the rate that appears
to the court to be necessary for the purpose of-

   (a)  securing payment of the sums from time to time falling due under the
        maintenance order; and

   (b)  securing payment within a reasonable time of any sums already due and
        unpaid under the maintenance order and any costs incurred in
        proceedings relating to the maintenance order that are payable by the
        defendant.





(6) An attachment of earnings order may specify a higher normal deduction rate
to apply for a specified number of pay-days after the order comes into force
and a lower normal deduction rate to apply to subsequent pay-days.

(7) An attachment of earnings order shall also specify the protected earnings
rate, that is to say, the rate below which, having regard to the resources and
needs of the defendant and of any person for whom he must or reasonably may
provide, the court considers it to be reasonable that the earnings to which
the order relates should not be reduced by a payment under the order.

(8) An attachment of earnings order shall provide that payments under the
order are to be made to a registrar of the Court.





(9) An attachment of earnings order shall contain such particulars as the
court thinks proper for the purpose of enabling the person to whom the order
is directed to identify the defendant.

(10) An attachment of earnings order shall be served on-

   (a)  the defendant; and

   (b)  the person to whom the attachment of earnings order is directed-

and shall not come into force until the expiration of seven days after the day
on which a copy of the order is served on the person to whom the order is
directed.