REMO-Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Order

wrote: »

REMO SPAIN
I have just come across this thread. Wow after feeling like I am the only one going through REMO and not getting anywhere it was a relief to feel connected albeit in such a frustrating system. I applied in 2013 through REMO to Spain where my daughters "father" lives but I am still getting nowhere it seems. Ive not had a penny from him and have no address. I asked for an update yesterday via email and I was told that my case is waiting to be listed for the next available hearing date. Does anyone know what that means and has had any experience of the Spanish Courts? I have asked for an explanation. I am also going to get in touch with my MEP to see if they can help. xx

Hi. First of all can I suggest that you change your screen name? It's just so that you're not identifiable.



'Waiting to be listed' just means they are waiting for a court date so it sounds like things are going ahead. If the UK court hasn't given you an order yet then you're waiting for a court date in the UK (usually your local court) so they can make the order for you, you will then need to enforce it. Your MEP can't do anything about the time frame here I'm afraid.



I'm not sure how far along the process you are, but it's not a quick thing to do. Even sending a reply to a letter takes time. If you send documents to the Maintenance team here it takes them at least 6 weeks to open the envelope. The contents are then passed onto a legal advisor (more time's needed to do this), and they then write to you. If you write back it takes them another 6 weeks to open the envelope. You did really well to get a reply to your email right away, the max it's taken them to reply to me is 21 weeks.

Tallulah_loves_hula wrote: »

Hi CakeCrusader. Thanks for your reply.
I have now changed my profile name at your suggestion which I hadn't thought to do but thanks for the tip.
I started the process 6 years ago so I know how slow it is. Im still a bit confused about a court hearing and whether this is in the UK or Spain. I'm assuming they still haven't made contact with my ex. I have competed many forms repetitively and given all evidence that I can. (including emails between us, photos, his buisness details ) I have even paid a Spanish Solicitor to gain more information regarding his current residency but she was only able to obtain an ID number for him. He doesn't have any land in his name which I thought was unusual. The Spanish Lawyer told me that Court papers can be delivered to his business address but the court are insisting they have his home address (which I cannot find)
What do you mean by I would have to enforce it?

No problem, great screen name!



Right. It sounds like you don't have an order yet, your hearing will be in the UK as this is where you live. They may have made contact with him as they will need his income details in order to make an award. They can usually trace someone from ID numbers, they are a bit like a National Insurance number. There is a possibility that they haven't found him and are making an award in his absence though, but they really should let you know about this if this is the case.



The process;

1) You apply to the UK courts for a UK court order. They work with the Spanish authorities to trace him so that he can be served. He has to supply his income details. You are sent a date and a time to attend your local court, they will make the award there and then (they will need a weekish to type it up but it will be posted to you). You can ask for it to be backdated to the date when you first submitted the form (you need to ask them to do this), in your case it'll be 6 years You'll need to do this at the hearing. This should be the only one you need to attend unless you or your ex ask for a variation, which you/he can't do for at least 12 months.



2) Once you have received the order through the post you'll need to enforce it. This just means that it's transmitted to the Spanish court so they can follow this up. You deal with the Maintenance Enforcement Team at Bury St Edmunds, there's more paperwork I'm afraid, some of which you've already filled in. You send it back to Bury St Edmunds with a copy of your maintenance certificate, they will send it across to the Spanish courts. The Spanish court will try to get the maintenance from him and will forward it onto the UK court who will pass it onto you, or he can pay it to you directly.



It founds like you're at the start of the first bit at the moment, you should receive a date and a time from your local court, you just need to attend. If your ex has hired legal representation you may receive his income details, and you can ask the UK court to make an award based on this. You can use the current CSA amount (the equivalent of what you'd receive if he still lived in the UK), the award may be higher if your child has additional needs but you'd need to show that he's able to pay a higher amount (tricky if you don't know what he's earning). If they haven't traced him they can just make an award, but it's going to be tricky to enforce it. It might be wise to try to find out if he's been located or not.



He may not have any land in his name, he might be married and it will be in the name of his spouse, or he may be renting (quite common in Europe).