When the Agency supports maintenance enforcement, on what does the debtor's right to state an opinion depend, and who must ask for it?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In the practice file we read the application by the parent or the maintenance creditor that led the Agency to support enforcement, the debtor's own separate application asking for a chance to state views, and any record the Agency made showing when and how that chance was given, since the provision turns on both applications existing.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading follows the chain of conditions exactly: where the head of the Agency supports maintenance enforcement on the application of a parent or the maintenance creditor, and the maintenance debtor then makes an application, the head 'shall' give that debtor an opportunity to state an opinion, so both applications must be in the file before the duty arises.
Another reading notes what the provision does not say: it sets no form, time or place for the opportunity to state views, and it does not say whether anything the debtor says can change the support measure, so the duty is to hear, not to decide differently.
Your judgment
If the file shows the debtor applied but no record of any hearing, what would show whether the Agency gave the opportunity at all?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to fix the form or timing of the opportunity, or if a decision explains whether support measures taken without it must be set aside.