XN000022-1996-01-10 — Page 36

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According to the Legal Aid Department, there were around 9,000 applications in each of the last three years for legal aid for matrimonial cases. However, the Department does not keep separate statistics on the different types of matrimonial cases. Hence, it is unable to say how many of these cases related to applications for recovery of alimony.

The Social Welfare Department estimates that about 200 single parent families are currently supported by Comprehensive Social Security Assistance due to financial difficulties caused by the failure of ex- spouses to pay alimony. This represents less than 3% of the total number of single parent families now on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance. There are no definitive statistics available on how many divorced women have applied for such assistance in the last three years for this reason.

The enforcement of maintenance orders is normally done by way of Judgement Summons. This obliges the defaulting party to appear before the Court to be examined as to his or her means. If the Court is satisfied that the defaulting party has wilfully evaded maintenance payment, the Court has the power to commit him or her to prison. Other court actions available for enforcing a maintenance order include an order prohibiting the defaulting party from leaving Hong Kong or an order to secure the payment of maintenance against the defaulting party's property. In the event of continued non-payment, the court can order disposal of the property concerned, the proceeds of which will be used to meet maintenance payments due.

To speed up the processing of Judgement Summonses to enforce maintenance orders, the Judiciary has recently started to reserve slots in the Family Courts' diaries to deal specifically with such summonses. The Judiciary Administrator has indicated that as a result of this, the waiting time for hearing judgement summonses has been reduced from three to two months.

As I have already mentioned, Home Affairs Branch is also considering whether there should be legislative changes to improve the enforcement of maintenance orders. One proposal we are considering is to empower the Court to make an order to deduct maintenance payments from the earnings or pension of the defaulting party. The sum would then be paid directly to the judgement creditor. This is likely to be one of the recommendations of a Working Group appointed by the Chief Justice to review practices and procedures of matrimonial proceedings, which is due to report shortly. Once we have received the Working Group's report, we will consider the appropriate measures to ensure that the system of enforcing maintenance orders is effective.