When a Maintenance Order Is Not Being Paid

An order for maintenance that is not being paid is one of the most common problems in family practice, and one of the most frustrating, because the entitlement has already been decided. What remains is enforcement — a procedural exercise that turns almost entirely on records.

This page explains how to build the record, what enforcement generally requires, the distinction between chasing arrears and changing the order, and the things people do in the early weeks that quietly damage their own position. It does not state which measures are available in your case or what any court would do; those depend on the framework, the order and the facts, and they are questions for advice.

The first thing to build is the payment record

Enforcement is proved, not asserted. “He has not paid properly for months” is a description; a schedule showing what was due, what was received and when is evidence. Start it now, before the detail becomes hard to reconstruct.

A usable schedule has one row per period and these columns:

• the period the payment relates to;
• the amount due under the order;
• the date it was due;
• the amount actually received;
• the date received;
• the method and the account it came from;
• the shortfall for that period;
• the running total.

Two rules make the schedule reliable. First, every figure must be traceable to a bank record rather than to memory. Second, record payments that were made, including partial and late ones. A schedule that omits payments received is worse than useless: once one error is found, the whole document is doubted.

The documents enforcement needs

• The order itself, in the form the enforcing authority requires, with any translation and any formality the framework calls for.
• Proof that the order is effective and, where relevant, that it was served or notified as required.
• The payment schedule, with the bank records that support it.
• Bank statements for the receiving account across the whole period, not merely extracts showing missed months.
• Correspondence in which payment was requested and any response, including messages.
• Details of the paying party as currently known — address, employment and contact details.
• Any variation, agreement or informal arrangement that has affected what is due.

That last item is where most enforcement applications run into difficulty, and it deserves its own section.

Informal arrangements are the usual complication

Very often the parties have varied things between themselves: a reduced amount during a difficult period, payment in kind, school fees paid directly instead of a transfer, or a pause agreed by message. Each of these is understandable and each creates an argument later about what was actually owed.

The practical guidance is simple:

• Record any agreed change in writing at the time, in plain terms: what is changing, from when, and for how long.
• Say expressly whether the change alters what is due under the order or is a temporary indulgence. That single sentence prevents most later disputes.
• Do not rely on a verbal arrangement. It will be remembered differently.
• Take advice before agreeing anything long-term. An informal arrangement that runs for a long time can be difficult to unwind, and whether it affects the order is a legal question rather than a matter of intention.

Arrears and variation are different questions

These are constantly confused, and confusing them wastes time.

• Arrears concern sums already due and unpaid. The question is enforcement of an existing obligation.
• Variation concerns what should be payable going forward, where circumstances have changed. The question is whether the order should be altered.

They can run alongside each other, and often need to. If the paying party says they cannot pay, that is an argument about variation; it does not by itself answer the arrears. Equally, if you are receiving maintenance and your circumstances or the children’s needs have changed materially, variation is a separate application to consider on its own footing. Ask about both rather than assuming one covers the other.

What enforcement generally involves

The measures available, and the order in which they are used, depend on the framework and on the enforcing authority. The Civil Procedure Code governs enforcement procedure generally, and the relevant personal status framework governs the underlying obligation. In broad terms an enforcement process asks:

1. Is there an enforceable order? In the right form, effective, and properly notified where required.
2. What is outstanding? Established from the schedule and the supporting records.
3. Where is the paying party, and what is known about their position? Address, employment and assets, so far as lawfully known.
4. Which measures does the authority apply? This is where the framework and the enforcing court determine what happens.

Do not assume that a measure you have read about in another country is available here, and do not assume the sequence either. Ask what applies to your order.

Cross-border maintenance

If the paying party is abroad, or the order was made abroad, the questions change. Enforcing a foreign order here, and enforcing a UAE order elsewhere, are separate exercises with their own requirements, and each is answered by the place where enforcement is sought. Advice in both places is not a luxury in these cases; steps taken in one place routinely affect what is possible in the other, sometimes irreversibly.

What weakens your position

• Waiting. Delay makes the record harder to build and can raise questions about the arrangement. Start the schedule immediately even if you do not act at once.
• Withholding contact because payment has stopped. Arrangements for children and maintenance are dealt with separately, and treating one as leverage over the other tends to damage the person who does it.
• Accepting reduced payments silently for a long period. Where you agree to something, record it and say expressly what it does and does not change.
• Omitting payments from the schedule. One discovered omission discredits the whole document.
• Conducting it by argument. Long, angry message exchanges become exhibits. Keep requests short, factual and civil.
• Making it public. It narrows your options and, where children are involved, harms them.

If you are the paying party and cannot pay

The worst response is silence. An order is in force until it is changed, and simply stopping payment creates arrears and a poor record at the same time. Take advice promptly on whether variation is available in your circumstances, say in writing what you can pay and why, keep paying what you can, and do not agree to an informal arrangement without understanding whether it affects the order. Circumstances genuinely change; the problem is almost never the change itself but the failure to address it properly at the time.

A practical sequence

1. Build the payment schedule from bank records, including payments received.
2. Locate the order and establish what form the enforcing authority requires it in.
3. Gather statements across the whole period and the correspondence about payment.
4. Write down any informal arrangement, with dates and what was said.
5. Send one short, civil written request for the outstanding amount, if you have not already.
6. Take advice on the enforcement route and on whether variation should run alongside it.
7. Keep the schedule up to date while the process runs. It will be needed again.

The pattern is consistent: the people who recover maintenance are usually the ones with the better records, not the ones with the better grievance.

Related guidance on this site

• Maintenance arrears
• Alimony and maintenance
• Enforcing a family judgment
• Maintenance claims: evidence and procedure
• Enforcing a foreign family judgment
• Financial disclosure in family disputes

Speak with Mr AlBalooshi & Team

If payments have stopped, start the payment record today. Enforcement is decided on records, not on recollection.

Use the enquiry form on this page with a short outline of the matter, or contact the office on +971 50 627 5196 by telephone or WhatsApp. Please describe the position briefly rather than sending a full document set, and say if there is a hearing, a deadline or a travel date. Making an enquiry does not by itself create a lawyer–client relationship.

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