Maintenance obligations

KEY POINTS

The regulation applies to maintenance obligations arising from:

• a family relationship;
• parentage;
• marriage or affinity.

Jurisdiction

• Jurisdiction in matters relating to maintenance obligations lies with:
  • the court of the place where the defendant or the creditor usually lives or
  • the court which has jurisdiction over the status of a person (a divorce for example) or parental responsibility, if these relate to the maintenance claim (provided that jurisdiction is not based solely on the nationality of one of the parties).
• The parties may, under certain conditions, agree on the court or courts of an European Union (EU) Member State which have jurisdiction to settle the dispute, unless it relates to a maintenance obligation towards a childunder the age of 18.
• Where the defendant appears before a court of a Member State, that court has jurisdiction, unless the defendant contests its jurisdiction.
• If none of the above conditions apply, the dispute may, under certain conditions, be brought before the courts of a Member State of which both parties are nationals.
• When none of the above conditions apply, the matter may be brought before the court of a Member State with which the case has sufficient connection if the proceedings cannot reasonably be brought in a country with which the dispute is closely connected.
• As long as the creditor continues to reside in the Member State in which the decision on maintenance obligations was taken, the debtor may not, with certain exceptions, bring proceedings to modify the decision in another Member State. The creditor may nevertheless agree that the dispute is decided by another court.
• If proceedings concerning the same parties and involving the same cause of action are brought before the courts of different Member States, jurisdiction lies with the first court where the action was brought.
• Regardless of the court having jurisdiction as to substance, applications for provisional and protective measures may be lodged before any court of any Member State.

Recognition and enforcement of decisions

• A decision on maintenance obligations taken in one Member State is to be recognised in another Member State without any special procedure.
• All Member States, except Denmark, are bound by the Hague Protocol of 23 November 2007 on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations.
• Where the decision was taken by a Member State bound by the 2007 Hague Protocol, its recognition may not be opposed. This only applies if the Member State was bound by the Hague Protocol at the beginning of the proceedings.
• Where the decision was taken by a Member State not bound by the 2007 Hague Protocol, its recognition may be refused in certain cases and it may only be enforced in another Member State if a declaration of its enforceability has been obtained in that Member State. This also applies to situations where the original court proceedings were started before the Maintenance Regulation became applicable (18 June 2011), but not before that Member State was bound by Brussels I Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 44/2001).
• In all cases, the court of origin may declare a decision provisionally enforceable. When the decision is to be enforced in a Member State other than that in which it was originally taken, enforcement is governed by the law of that Member State.
• The decision taken in a Member State cannot be reviewed as to its substance in the Member State in which its recognition, enforceability or enforcement is sought.
• Free legal aid may be provided in respect of applications on maintenance obligations arising from a parent-child relationship towards a person under the age of 21 provided that such applications are made via the central authorities.

Central authorities

• Each Member State must appoint a central authority responsible for assisting parties in the establishment and recovery of maintenance. In particular, they will send and receive applications provided for under the regulation and take all appropriate measures to introduce or facilitate the introduction of the necessary procedures.
• The central authorities must cooperate with each other, promote cooperation among the competent authorities of their country and seek solutions to difficulties which may arise in the application of this Regulation. To do this, they should use the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters set up under Decision 2001/470/EC.

Final provisions

The regulation replaces the rules concerning maintenance obligations of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. It also replaces Regulation (EC) No 805/2004 creating a European enforcement order for uncontested claims, except for European enforcement orders concerning maintenance obligations issued by Member States that are not bound by the 2007 Hague Protocol (see summary).

Amending legislation

Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 has been amended 4 times:

• Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1142/2011 set out new annexes (Annexes X and XI) listing Member States’ administrative and competent authorities;
• Regulation (EU) No 517/2013 amended a series of EU regulations and decisions, including Regulation (EC) No 4/2009, because of Croatia’s accession to EU membership;
• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/228 replaced Annexes I to VII to take account of
  • Croatia’s accession to EU membership
  • the changes in currency in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
  • the United Kingdom’s wish to take part in the application of Regulation (EC) No 4/2009
  • the need to include references to Denmark in Annexes II and IV in view of its wish to partly implement Regulation (EC) No 4/2009
  • amendments of certain sections of Annexes VI and VII to facilitate their application;
• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1937 replaced Annex X to take account of changes to the administrative authorities notified to the European Commission by the United Kingdom and Latvia.