Maintenance, for a child or between spouses, circulates more easily than most family decisions.
- Within the EU, a decision from a State bound by the 2007 Hague Protocol is enforceable in other Member States without exequatur proceedings (Regulation No 4/2009, Article 17).
- With States party to the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007, including the United States and the United Kingdom, recognition and enforcement take place through central authorities, which can also help locate the debtor.
- Elsewhere, a bilateral convention or exequatur proceedings in the debtor’s country may apply.
In France, the central authority responsible for recovery abroad is the international maintenance recovery office within the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
The form of the instrument matters: maintenance fixed in a divorce agreement signed by lawyers circulates less easily than a court decision or notarial instrument. If the debtor lives abroad or may move there, this needs planning when drafting the agreement. The amount is in principle governed by the law of the creditor’s habitual residence (2007 Protocol, Article 3).