AFFILIATION AND MAINTENANCE OF CHILDREN ACT

Arrangement of Sections

    Section

PART I
PRELIMINARY

    1.    Short title

    2.    Interpretation

PART II
AFFILIATION ORDERS

    3.    Application by single woman

    4.    Application by party to void marriage

    5.    Application by child

    6.    Evidence to be given and corroborated

PART III
MAINTENANCE ORDERS

    7.    Maintenance of affiliated child

    8.    Maintenance of neglected child

    9.    Maintenance of child on divorce, nullity or separation

    10.    Types of maintenance orders

    11.    Matters for consideration when making maintenance order

    12.    Duration of maintenance order

    13.    Variation or discharge of maintenance order

    14.    Persons to whom payments to be made

PART IV
CUSTODY OF CHILDREN

    15.    Custody and access

    16.    Declaration of unfitness for custody

PART V
REGISTRATION AND MAINTENANCE ORDERS

    17.    Interpretation of Part V

    18.    Registration of High Court orders

    19.    Registration of subordinate court orders

    20.    Effect of registration

    21.    Registration not to be duplicated

    22.    Enforcement of registered order

    23.    Variation of orders registered in subordinate courts

    24.    Cancellation of registration

PART VI
ATTACHMENT OF EARNINGS ORDERS

    25.    Attachment of earnings orders

    26.    Orders in proceedings under other Acts

    27.    Restriction of issue of other process

    28.    Variation of order on application of party

    29.    Variation of order to correct excess of payments

    30.    Notice to be given of variation

    31.    Discharge of order on cancellation of registration of related maintenance order

    32.    Order discharged in certain circumstances

    33.    Liability under orders

    34.    Powers of court to obtain statements of earnings etc.

    35.    Powers of courts to determine whether payments are earnings

    36.    Miscellaneous provisions as to payments

    37.    Earnings paid by the Government

    38.    Offences

PART VII
MISCELLANEOUS

    39.    Special provisions for subordinate courts

    40.    Regulations and Rules

    41.    English Law to cease to apply

    42.    Transitional provision

    43.    Certain laws of Zambia to cease to apply to maintenance of children

AN ACT

to provide for court orders as to paternity; to consolidate the law relating to the maintenance of children; to bring the law of Zambia into conformity with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child dated 20th November, 1989, to which Zambia is a State Party; to abrogate the application of so much of the Maintenance Orders Act, and of the laws of the United Kingdom, as provides for the maintenance of children; and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.

[28th April, 1995]

Act 13 of 1994,

Act 5 of 1995.

PART I
PRELIMINARY

1.    Short title

This Act may be cited as the Affiliation and Maintenance of Children Act.

2.    Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

"affiliation order" means an order declaring a man to be the father of a child identified in the order;

"attachment of earnings order" means an order under section 25;

"child" means a person below the age of 18 years, whether a marital or non-marital child;

"court" means a subordinate court or the High Court;

"custodian" means a person appointed under this Act or any other law to be the guardian of a child;

"defendant", in relation to a maintenance order or a related attachment of earnings order, means the person liable to make payments under that order;

"earnings" in relation to a dependant means any sums (other than expected sums) payable to the dependant—

    (a)    by way of wages or salary, including a fee, bonus, commission, overtime pay or other emolument payable in addition to wages or salary; or

    (b)    by way of pension;

"employer" means a person by whom, as a principal and not as a servant or agent, any earnings are to be paid;

"maintenance order" means an order made under Part III;

"marital child" includes—

    (a)    a legitimated person within the meaning of the Legitimacy Act;

    (b)    an adopted child within the meaning of the Adoption Act; and

    (c)    a child of either party to a marriage who has been accepted by the other party as a child of the family;

"non-marital child" means a child who is not a marital child;

"periodic payments order" means a maintenance order made in accordance with paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) of section 10;

"proper officer of the court" means—

    (a)    in the case of the High Court, such officer as the Registrar may designate for the purposes of the provision in which the expression occurs; and

    (b)    in the case of a subordinate court, the clerk of that court;

"putative father" means the man alleged to be the father of a non-marital child;

"registered", in relation to a maintenance order, means registered under Part V;

"secured periodic payments order" means a maintenance order made in accordance with paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of section 10;

"single woman" includes a widow, a married woman who is divorced and a woman living apart from her husband.

PART II
AFFILIATION ORDERS

3.    Application by single woman

The court may make an affiliation order on the application of a single woman—

    (a)    at any time within 12 months after giving birth to a non-marital child;

    (b)    at any time, upon proof that the putative father of the non-marital child has within the period of 12 months next after the birth of the non-marital child paid money for its maintenance; or

    (c)    at any time within the period of 12 months next after the return to Zambia of the putative father of the non-marital child, upon proof that he ceased to reside in Zambia within the period of 12 months after the birth of the non-marital child.

4.    Application by party to void marriage

The court may, on the application of a single woman who has been delivered of a marital child, make an affiliation order upon proof that before the birth she was a party to a marriage which would have been valid but for the fact that she or the other party were under the age at which either might have legally contracted a marriage.

5.    Application by child

The court may, on the application of a non-marital child made through the child’s next friend, make an affiliation order, subject to the limitations contained in section 3.

6.    Evidence to be given and corroborated

    (1) On the hearing of an application for an affiliation order, the court shall hear—

    (a)    the evidence of the mother;

    (b)    such other evidence as she may produce; and

    (c)    any evidence tendered by or on behalf of the putative father.

    (2) The court shall not make an affiliation order unless the evidence of the mother is corroborated in some material particular by other evidence.

PART III
MAINTENANCE ORDERS

7.    Maintenance of affiliated child

The court may, either at the time of making an affiliation order or upon subsequent application for a maintenance order, make a maintenance order in respect of the child concerned.

8.    Maintenance of neglected child

    (1) The court may on the application of either party to a marriage make a maintenance order on the ground that the other party to the marriage has failed to provide, or to make a proper contribution towards, reasonable maintenance for a marital child.

    (3) In deciding what constitutes reasonable maintenance for the purposes of this section, the court shall have regard to the matters mentioned in section 11.

9.    Maintenance of child on divorce, nullity or separation

    (1) The court may make a maintenance order in respect of a marital child on granting a decree of divorce, a decree of nullity of marriage or a decree of judicial separation, or at any time thereafter.

    (2) In the case of a decree of divorce or of nullity of marriage, the order may be made whether or not the decree has been made absolute.

10.    Types of maintenance orders

    (1) A maintenance order may take any of the following forms, that is to say:

    (a)    an order that the defendant shall, for the benefit of a specified child, pay to a specified person or to the child itself, specified periodic payments for a specified term;