Dalton v Dalton

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: O'Hanlon J.
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1982
• Neutral Citation: 1982 WJSC-HC 696
• Docket Number: No. 566 Sp./1981
• Court: High Court
• Date: 01 January 1982

1982 WJSC-HC 696

THE HIGH COURT

No. 566 Sp./1981

DALTON v. DALTON

IN THE MATTER OF THE FAMILY LAW (MAINTENANCE OF

SPOUSES AND CHILDREN) ACT, 1976, AND IN THE MATTER

OF THE GUARDIANSHIP OF INFANTS ACT, 1964, AND IN

THE MATTER OF GAVIN DALTON AN INFANT

BETWEEN/

NORA DALTON

Plaintiff

-and-

AIDIN DALTON

Defendant

1 Judgment delivered by O'Hanlon J.2nd September, 1981.

2 The application now before the Court is for an Order pursuant to Section 8 of the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act, 1976, that the Separation Agreement concluded between the Plaintiff and the Defendant on the 6th day of April, 1981, be made a rule of court.

3 Such Order, if made, would be deemed (by virtue of the provisions of Section 8 of the Act) to be a maintenance order for the purpose of section 9 and Part III of the Act, and the enforcement machinery provided for in those provisions would thereupon come into play. There is, accordingly, a significantbenefit for the Plaintiff in having the Agreement made a rule of court, if the court thinks fit to exercise its jurisdiction to do so under section 8 of the Act.

4 The Agreement in question appears to be, in all respects "a fair and reasonable one which in all the circumstances adequately protects the interests of both spouses and the dependent children (if any) of the family" - the expression used in section 8 of the Act - subject to the comments hereinafter made about Clause 11 of the Agreement.

5 This clause provides as follows:

"11. The husband and the wife hereby agree to obtain a Decree of Divorce a Vinculo and the husband further agrees not to contest any divorce proceedings issued by the wife and husband and wife further acknowledge that they have been living apart since the 1st of August,1976."

6 The address given in the Agreement for each of the parties is in County Dublin, and there is no indication in the Agreement or in any of the other documents before the Court that the parties or either of them are domiciled elsewhere than in Ireland or intend to adopt a domicile outside Ireland in the future.

7 It appears to me that considerations of public policy require that the Court shall not lend its support to aagreement providing for the obtaining of a divorce a vinculo by a husband and wife, and this may well be the position even if the parties are domiciled elsewhere than in Ireland when the application is made or propose to take up such foreign domicile in...