Family law act, 1995

• Enactment Date: 02 October 1995
• Act Number: 26

Number 26 of 1995
FAMILY LAW ACT, 1995
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART I
Preliminary and General
Section 1. Short title and commencement. 2. Interpretation. 3. Repeals. 4. Expenses.
PART II
Preliminary and Ancillary Orders in or after Proceedings for Judicial Separation
5. Application (sections 6 to 14). 6. Preliminary orders in proceedings for judicial separation. 7. Maintenance pending suit orders. 8. Periodical payments and lump sum orders. 9. Property adjustment orders. 10. Miscellaneous ancillary orders. 11. Financial compensation orders. 12. Pension adjustment orders. 13. Preservation of pension entitlements after judicial separation. 14. Orders extinguishing succession rights on judicial separation. 15. Orders for sale of property. 16. Provisions relating to certain orders under sections 7 to 13 and 18. 17. Retrospective periodical payments orders. 18. Variation, etc., of certain orders under this Part. 19. Restriction in relation to orders for benefit of dependent members of the family. 20. Transmission of periodical payments through District Court clerk. 21. Application of maintenance pending suit and periodical payment orders to certain members of Defence Forces. 22. Amendment of Enforcement of Court Orders Act, 1940.
PART III
Relief after Divorce or Separation Outside State
23. Relief orders where marriage dissolved, or spouses legally separated outside State. 24. Maintenance pending relief orders. 25. Orders for provision for spouse out of estate of other spouse. 26. Appropriateness of making relief orders in State. 27. Jurisdiction of court to make relief orders. 28. Restriction of jurisdiction of court to make relief orders.
PART IV
Declarations as to Marital Status
29. Declarations as to marital status. 30. Provisions supplementary to section 29.
PART V
Marriage
31. Age of marriage. 32. Notification of intention to marry. 33. Exemption of certain marriages from sections 31 (1) and 32 (1). 34. Abolition of right to petition for jactitation of marriage.
PART VI
Miscellaneous
35. Powers of court in relation to transactions intended to prevent or reduce relief. 36. Determination of questions between spouses in relation to property. 37. Payments to be made without deduction of income tax. 38. Jurisdiction of courts and venue. 39. Exercise of jurisdiction by court in relation to nullity. 40. Notice of proceedings under Act. 41. Secured maintenance orders. 42. Lump sum maintenance orders. 43. Amendment of Act of 1976. 44. Discharge of orders under Act of 1976. 45. Amendment of Maintenance Act, 1994. 46. Custody of dependent members of the family after decree of nullity. 47. Social reports in family law proceedings. 48. Property of engaged couples. 49. Income tax treatment of persons divorced outside State. 50. Exemption of certain transfers from stamp duty. 51. Exemption of certain transfers from capital acquisitions tax. 52. Capital gains tax treatment of certain disposals by spouses. 53. Abatement and postponement of probate tax on property the subject of an order under section 25. 54. Amendment of Family Home Protection Act, 1976, and Act of 1989. 55. Amendment of Child Abduction and Enforcement of Custody Orders Act, 1991.
SCHEDULE
Enactments Repealed
Number 26 of 1995
FAMILY LAW ACT, 1995
AN ACT TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION IN RELATION TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURTS TO MAKE PRELIMINARY AND ANCILLARY ORDERS IN OR AFTER PROCEEDINGS FOR JUDICIAL SEPARATION, TO ENABLE SUCH ORDERS TO BE MADE IN CERTAIN CASES WHERE MARRIAGES ARE DISSOLVED, OR AS RESPECTS WHICH THE SPOUSES BECOME JUDICIALLY SEPARATED, UNDER THE LAW OF ANOTHER STATE, TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION IN RELATION TO MAINTENANCE UNDER THE FAMILY LAW (MAINTENANCE OF SPOUSES AND CHILDREN) ACT, 1976 , AND IN RELATION TO MARRIAGE AND TO PROVIDE FOR CONNECTED MATTERS. [2nd October, 1995]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
PART I Preliminary and General
	Short title and commencement.	1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Family Law Act, 1995.
	(2) (a) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as, by order or orders made by the Minister for Equality and Law Reform under this section, may be fixed therefor either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions.
	(b) An order under paragraph (a) relating to, or in so far as it relates to, section 32 shall not be made without the consent of the Minister for Health.
	Interpretation.	2.—(1) In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires—
	“the Act of 1964” means the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964 ;
	“the Act of 1965” means the Succession Act, 1965 ;
	“the Act of 1976” means the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act, 1976 ;
	“the Act of 1981” means the Family Law (Protection of Spouses and Children) Act, 1981 ;
	“the Act of 1989” means the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act, 1989 ;
	“conveyance” includes a mortgage, lease, assent, transfer, disclaimer, release and any other disposition of property otherwise than by a will or a donatio mortis causa and also includes an enforceable agreement (whether conditional or unconditional) to make any such disposition;
	“the court” shall be construed in accordance with section 38 ;
	“decree of judicial separation” means a decree under section 3 of the Act of 1989;
	“decree of nullity” means a decree granted by a court declaring a marriage to be null and void;
	“dependent member of the family”, in relation to a spouse, or the spouses, concerned, means any child—
	(a) of both spouses or adopted by both spouses under the Adoption Acts, 1952 to 1991, or in relation to whom both spouses are in loco parentis, or
	(b) of either spouse or adopted by either spouse under those Acts or in relation to whom either spouse is in loco parentis, where the other spouse, being aware that he or she is not the parent of the child, has treated the child as a member of the family,
	who is under the age of 18 years or if the child has attained that age—
	(i) is or will be or, if an order were made under this Act providing for periodical payments for the benefit of the child or for the provision of a lump sum for the child, would be receiving full-time education or instruction at any university, college, school or other educational establishment and is under the age of 23 years, or
	(ii) has a mental or physical disability to such extent that it is not reasonably possible for the child to maintain himself or herself fully;
	“family home” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Family Home Protection Act, 1976 , with the modification that the references to a spouse in that section shall be construed as references to a spouse within the meaning of this Act;
	“financial compensation order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 11 ;
	“Land Registry” and “Registry of Deeds” have the meanings assigned to them by the Registration of Title Act, 1964 ;
	“lump sum order” means an order under section 8 (1) (c);
	“maintenance pending suit order” means an order under section 7 ;
	“maintenance pending relief order” means an order under section 24 ;
	“member”, in relation to a pension scheme, means any person who, having been admitted to membership of the scheme under its rules, remains entitled to any benefit under the scheme;
	“pension adjustment order” means an order under section 12 ;
	“pension scheme” means—
	(a) an occupational pension scheme (within the meaning of the Pensions Act, 1990 ), or
	(b) (i) an annuity contract approved by the Revenue Commissioners under section 235 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , or a contract so approved under section 235A of that Act,
	(ii) a trust scheme, or part of a trust scheme, so approved under subsection (4) of the said section 235 or subsection (5) of the said section 235A, or
	(iii) a policy or contract of assurance approved by the Revenue Commissioners under Chapter II of Part I of the Finance Act, 1972 , or
	(c) any other scheme or arrangement (including a personal pension plan and a scheme or arrangement established by or pursuant to statute or instrument made under statute other than under the Social Welfare Acts) that provides or is intended to provide either or both of the following, that is to say:
	(i) benefits for a person who is a member of the scheme or arrangement (“the member”) upon retirement at normal pensionable age or upon earlier or later retirement or upon leaving, or upon the ceasing of, the relevant employment,
	(ii) benefits for the widow, widower or dependants of the member, or for any other persons, on the death of the member;
	“periodical payments order” and “secured periodical payments order” have the meanings assigned to them by section 8 (1);
	“property adjustment order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9 ;
	“relief order” means an order under Part II made by virtue of section 23 ;
	“trustees”, in relation to a scheme that is established under a trust, means the trustees of the pension scheme and, in relation to a pension scheme not so established, means the persons who administer the scheme.
	(2) In this Act, where the context so requires—
	(a) a reference to a marriage includes a reference to...