Maintenance obligations in relation to children in a cross-border family situation
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From: Department of Justice
- Published on: 7 December 2020
- Last updated on: 22 December 2021
An EU law known as the Maintenance Regulation covers maintenance obligations in the following situations:
- family relationships
- parentage
- marriage or affinity
What the Maintenance Regulation means is that a person who has an order for the payment of maintenance given an an Irish court can seek that amount in another EU country. The same situation is true in reverse - an EU judgment for maintenance can be enforced in Ireland.
For this to work on a practical level - each member state of the EU has a Central Authority when it comes to the Maintenance Regulation. In Ireland, this Central Authority is the Department of Justice.
If you have any queries and/or wish to apply to establish/vary/enforce an order for maintenance, an application form is available by contacting the Irish Central Authority by email, telephone or in writing: