High Court frees husband jailed over maintenance

A HUSBAND jailed for contempt of court for failing to pay his wife’s maintenance has been freed by the High Court because he had been given no notice that failure to comply might lead to his imprisonment.

Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said proceedings by the husband for his release had raised important issues concerning the district court’s jurisdiction to sentence a defaulting maintenance debtor to pris-on for contempt of court.

He said the man, identified only as DH, had been married to a foreigner since 1993 and the relationship had broken down in 2008. The district court had made an order requiring DH to pay his wife maintenance of €1,000 a month.

The judge, in a reserved judgment following the earlier release of the husband, said this had subsequently been varied downward to €600 a month and DH had paid maintenance until February 2011.

Due to the economic difficulties, DH wished to have his maintenance payments further reduced.

An application for a further cut had been listed at Bray District Court and adjourned several times.

In the meantime the wife issued a fresh district court summons in September demanding €3,600 in maintenance arrears.

Judge Hogan said the summons gave no warning to the husband that he might be held liable in contempt or imprisoned if he failed to pay the arrears nor had he been given an opportunity to discharge the arrears. He had been convicted of contempt and jailed for seven days.

This manifest non-comp-liance with the enforcement of Court Orders (Amendment) Act of 2009 meant the district judge had no jurisdiction to impose a custodial sentence in the case.

In this case imprisonment was clearly a manifest error by the district court judge in the exercise of his statutory contempt jurisdiction.