VPRS 8707 Magistrates' Court Maintenance Act and Family Law Act Registers

This series consists of registers which contain a record of maintenance proceedings heard at Brighton Magistrates' Court. The Maintenance Act 1928 and previously successive Marriages Acts established provisions for maintenance support to be provided by husbands who had left their wives or children without means of support. Courts of Petty Sessions were empowered to hear complaints regarding desertion and to set levels and enforce the payment of maintenance. This legislation was superseded by the Maintenance Act 1965. However the Commonwealth Family Law Act 1975 also has provision for the granting of maintenance and most orders are now made under this Act. Maintenance Act and Family Law Act Registers Successive Justices' Acts and, more recently, Magistrates' Court Acts have required the clerk or registrar of the court to make and keep a register of all convictions, orders and other proceedings of the court. This register is the authoritative record of the court. Most courts maintained a separate sequence of registers for maintenance and family law matters, although the registers were in the same format as all other petty sessions court registers. At most courts Maintenance Act and Family Law Act Registers were used to record three types of maintenance matters: applications for the court to set a level of maintenance, applications for the court to vary the level of maintenance, and enforcement applications, that is, where maintenance orders had been breached, maintenance recipients could seek a court order for payments to be made. Failure to comply resulted in the imprisonment of the defendant. The Registers were also used to record judgements relating to matters of custody of children, access arrangements, and the division of property. The Registers give details of the names of the complainant (usually the wife) and the defendant (usually the husband), the nature of the matter before the court (eg. an application for maintenance or an application for custody of or access to the children of the marriage), and the court's decision. In addition to registers, this series contains records titled Family Law Act - Record of Proceedings, which cover the Family Law Act jurisdiction and contain similar information to the registers. They have been included here even though they largely appear to duplicate information in the registers.