LAWS OF MALAYSIA REPRINT Act 356 MARRIED WOMEN AND CHILDREN (ENFORCEMENT OF MAINTENANCE) ACT 1968 Incorporating all amendments up to 1 January 2006 PUBLISHED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF LAW REVISION, MALAYSIA UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE REVISION OF LAWS ACT 1968 IN COLLABORATION WITH PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BHD 2006 Laws of Malaysia 2 ACT 356 MARRIED WOMEN AND CHILDREN (ENFORCEMENT OF MAINTENANCE) ACT 1968 First enacted ... ... ... ... ... ... 1968 (Act No. 8 of 1968) Revised ... ... ... ... ... ... 1988 (Act 356 w.e.f. 1 December 1988) PREVIOUS REPRINT First Reprint ... ... ... ... ... 2001 Married Women and Children 3 (Enforcement of Maintenance) LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 356 MARRIED WOMEN AND CHILDREN (ENFORCEMENT OF MAINTENANCE) ACT 1968 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section 1. Citation 2. Application 3. Interpretation 4. Power of court to make an attachment of earnings order 5. Nature of attachment of earnings order 6. Effect of attachment of earnings order 7. Duty of defendant and employer to comply with attachment of earnings order 8. Additional powers of court in attachment of earnings order proceedings 9. Power of court to determine what are earnings 10. Payment of money under attachment of earnings order 11. Where earnings paid by Government or out of Consolidated Fund 12. Penalties for non-compliance with attachment of earnings order and for giving false notice or statement 13. Order to make payment to court 14. Application to States 15. Modification Laws of Malaysia 4 ACT 356 Married Women and Children 5 (Enforcement of Maintenance) LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 356 MARRIED WOMEN AND CHILDREN (ENFORCEMENT OF MAINTENANCE) ACT 1968 An Act to provide for the enforcement of maintenance orders. [21 March 1968] BE IT ENACTED by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: Citation 1.  This Act may be cited as the Married Women and Children (Enforcement of Maintenance) Act 1968. Application This Act shall apply to the States of Peninsular Malaysia only. 2. Interpretation In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-- 3. "attachment of earnings order" means an order made under section 4; "the court" means the court competent to make a maintenance order; "defendant", in relation to a maintenance order or a related attachment of earnings order, means the person liable to make payments under the maintenance order; Laws of Malaysia 6 ACT 356 "earnings", in relation to a defendant, means any sums payable to him-- (a) by way of wages or salary, including any fees, bonus, commission, overtime pay or other emoluments payable in addition to wages or salary by the person paying the wages or salary or payable under a contract of service; (b) by way of pension, including gratuity and an annuity in respect of past services, whether or not the services were rendered to the person paying the annuity, and including periodical payments by way of compensation for the loss, a b o l i t i o n or relinquishment, or any diminution in the emoluments, of any office or employment; "employer" means a person by whom, as a principal and not as a servant or agent, earnings fall to be paid to a defendant, and references to payment of earnings shall be construed accordingly; "maintenance order" means-- (a) an order made under section 3 of the Married Women and Children (Maintenance) Act 1950 [Act 263]; (b) an order for the payment of periodical sums by way of maintenance or alimony to a wife or for the benefit of any child under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 [Act 164]; (c) a maintenance order confirmed by the court under the Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act 1949 [Act 34]; and (d) where this Act are made applicable by virtue of an authorization under section 14 to or in respect of a maintenance order made by a Syariah Court shall include such order. Power of court to make an attachment of earnings order 4. (1) Notwithstanding any written law to the contrary, the court may, upon application by the person for whose maintenance the order is made or the guardian of such person, make an attachment of earnings order, if the court considers it just so to make. (2) An application for an attachment of earnings order may be made in the proceedings in which a maintenance order is applied for or in any subsequent proceedings. Married Women and Children 7 (Enforcement of Maintenance) Nature of attachment of earnings order 5. (1) An attachment of earnings order shall require the person to whom the order in question is directed, being a person appearing to the court to be the defendant's employer, to make out of the earnings falling to be paid to the defendant payments in satisfaction of the order. (2) The amount to be prescribed in an attachment of earnings order shall be such sum as to the court shall seem reasonable after taking into account the resources and needs of the defendant and the needs of persons for whom he must or reasonably should provide. (3) An attachment of earnings order shall contain, so far as they are known to the court making the order, such particulars as may be prescribed for the purpose of enabling the defendant to be identified by the person to whom the order is directed. (4) An attachment of earnings order or any variation thereof shall not come into force until the expiration of seven days from the date when a copy of the order is served on the person to whom the order is directed. (5) An attachment of earnings order shall designate the officer to whom the payments under the order are to be made. Effect of attachment of earnings order 6. (1) When an attachment of earnings order is made, all other proceedings for the enforcement of the related maintenance order begun before the making of the attachment of earnings order shall be suspended. (2) The court by which an attachment of earnings order has been made may, if it thinks fit, on the application of the defendant or a person entitled to receive payments under the related maintenance order, make an order discharging or varying the attachment of earnings order. (3) An attachment of earnings order shall cease to have effect-- (a) upon the issue of a warrant directing that the amount due under the related maintenance order shall be levied in the manner provided by law for levying fines; Laws of Malaysia 8 ACT 356 (b) upon the making of an order sentencing the defendant to imprisonment for failure to comply with the related maintenance order; and (c) upon the rescission of the related maintenance order, and where an attachment of earnings order ceases to have effect as aforesaid the court making such order shall give notice of the cessation to the person to whom the order was directed. Duty of defendant and employer to comply with attachment of earnings order 7. (1) A person to whom an attachment of earnings order is directed shall, notwithstanding anything in any other written law but subject to this Act, comply with the order or, if the order is subsequently varied under section 6, with the order as so varied. (2) Where on any occasion on which earnings fall to be paid to a defendant there are in force two or more attachment of earnings orders relating to those earnings, then, for the purpose of complying with this Act the employer shall-- (a) deal with those orders according to the respective dates on which they came into force disregarding any later order until all earlier orders have been dealt with; and (b) deal with any later order as if the earnings to which it relates were the residue of the defendant's earnings after the making of any payment under this Act in pursuance of any earlier order. (3) An employer who, in pursuance of an attachment of earnings order, makes a payment under this Act shall give to the defendant a statement in writing specifying the amount of that payment. (4) Where the person to whom an attachment of earnings order is directed has, during the period of one month immediately preceding the day on which the order is served on him, on no occasion been the defendant's employer, he shall forthwith give notice in writing to that effect in the prescribed form to the court. Married Women and Children 9 (Enforcement of Maintenance) Additional powers of court in attachment of earnings order proceedings 8. (1) Where proceedings relating to an attachment of earnings order are brought in any court, the court may, either before or at the hearing-- (a) order the defendant to give to the court, within such period as may be specified by the order, a statement signed by him of-- (i) the name and address of his employer, or of each of his employers if he has more than one; (ii) such particulars as to the defendant's earnings as may be so specified; (iii) such prescribed particulars as may be so specified for the purpose of enabling the defendant to be identified by an employer of his; and (b) order any person appearing to the court to be an employer of the defendant to give to the court, within such period as may be specified by the order, a statement signed by him or on his behalf of such particulars as may be specified by the order, of all earnings of the defendant which fell to be paid by that person during such period as may be so specified. (2) A document purporting to be such a statement as is mentioned in subsection (1) shall, in any such proceedings as are so mentioned, be received in evidence and be deemed to be such a statement without further proof unless the contrary is shown. Power of court to determine what are earnings 9. (1) The court by which an attachment of earnings order has been made shall, on the application of the person to whom the order is directed or of the defendant or of the person in whose favour the order was made, determine whether payments to the defendant of a particular class or description specified by the application are earnings for the purposes of that order; and the person to whom the order is directed shall be entitled to give effect to any determination for the time being in force under this subsection. Laws of Malaysia 10 ACT 356 (2) A person to whom an attachment of earnings order is directed who makes an application under subsection (1) shall not incur any liability for failing to comply with the order as regards any payments of the class or description specified by the application which are made by him to the defendant while the application, or any appeal in consequence thereof, is pending: Provided that this subsection shall not apply to such payments if the said person subsequently withdraws the application or, as the case may be, abandons the appeal. Payment of money under attachment of earnings order 10. (1) The court to whom an employer pays any sum in pursuance of an attachment of earnings order shall pay that sum to such person entitled to receive payments under the related maintenance order as is specified by the attachment of earnings order. (2) Any sums received by virtue of an attachment of earnings order by the court shall be deemed to be payments made by the defendant, so as to discharge first any sums for the time being due and unpaid under the related maintenance order (a sum due at an earlier date being discharged before a sum due at a later date) and secondly any costs incurred in proceedings relating to the maintenance order which were payable by the defendant when the attachment of earnings order was made or last varied. Where earnings paid by Government or out of Consolidated Fund 11. (1) In relation to earnings falling to be paid by the Government or out of the Consolidated Fund the earnings shall be treated as falling to be paid by the chief officer for the time being of the department, office or other body concerned. (2) If any question arises, in connection with any proceedings relating to an attachment of earnings order, as to what department, office or other body is concerned for the purposes of this section, or as to who for those purposes is the chief officer thereof, that question shall be referred to and determined by the Minister of Finance but the Minister of Finance shall not be under any obligation to consider a reference under this subsection unless it is made by a court. Married Women and Children 11 (Enforcement of Maintenance) (3) A document purporting to set out a determination of the Minister of Finance under subsection (2) and to be signed by an official of the Ministry of Finance shall, in any such proceedings as are mentioned in that subsection, be admissible in evidence and deemed to contain an accurate statement of such a determination unless the contrary is shown. Penalties for non-compliance with attachment of earnings order and for giving false notice or statement 12. (1) Any person who-- (a) fails to comply with subsection 7(1) or (4) or an order of a court under subsection 8(1); or (b) gives such a notice as is mentioned in subsection 7(4) or a statement in pursuance of an order of a court under subsection 8(1), which notice or statement he knows to be false in a material particular; or (c) recklessly gives such a notice or statement which is