How To Recover Maintenance Arrears

Step 2
Complete and submit the summons and written request

To apply to recover maintenance arrears, you must fill out a form called a Summons for the Attendance of a Maintenance Debtor. This form can be downloaded here. If you cannot download the form, you can request it from the court office.

Download Form 57.3 - Summons for the Attendance of a Maintenance Debtor >

Your next steps are as follows:

A) Fill out the summons form: Make sure that all information is completed but do not sign or insert a court date on the summons. Courts Service staff will do this. If maintenance payments were ordered to be paid to the District Court Clerk, you can request a Certificate of Arrears from the court office. This will be used as evidence at the court hearing.

B) Submit the following documents to the court office:

  • The completed Summons for the Attendance of a Maintenance Debtor form
  • A written request asking a District Court Clerk to sign and issue the summons. You can do this by post or by attending the court office.

If the documents are in order, a District Court Clerk will sign the summons and assign a provisional hearing date. The summons will then be returned to you. To confirm the hearing date for your case, you must complete steps 3 and 4 of this step-by-step guide.