Enforcing a Maintenance Order

If the person who has been ordered to pay maintenance doesn't pay, even though the court has ordered them to do so, you need to:

1. Go to the maintenance office and complain. It's important to make a formal complaint whenever the other parent doesn't pay.
    
2. The maintenance office records each time the other parent pays. This record will show when they don't pay and how much they owe.
    
3. If the other parent is employed and failed to pay maintenance, you must ask the court to make an order to get the maintenance directly from their employer.
    
4. If the other party doesn't pay, they're not obeying the order of the court. This is a crime. The court will send them a notice telling them to come to court on a certain date. They must then explain why they didn't pay the money. If there isn't a good reason, the court will usually tell the other party that they must pay all the maintenance they owe, or they'll go to jail.
    
5. For more information contact the maintenance officer at your local Magistrates' Court.

Source: Department of Justice & Constitutional Development.