Which bodies may decide to fine a party or an interested person for breaching a command in a family case, and on whose initiative?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In the practice file we read the command or disposition itself and the basis on which it was made, the record showing it reached the person concerned, any written reasons that person gave for not complying, and the paper showing which body imposed the fine and on whose initiative.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading treats the list as closed: the family court, the conciliation committee or the judge in charge of conciliation may, on their own motion or on a right-holder's application, decide to impose a fine on a party or an interested person who, without justifiable reason, violated a command or disposition under the provisions this one names, up to the cap it sets.
Another reading puts the threshold on the recorded facts: the same recorded breach may support a fine or none, because the fine rests on the finding of 'no justifiable reason' and the provision does not say what counts as one; it also leaves open which right-holder may apply, and the immediate objection it allows reaches only the decision made in the limb before it.
Your judgment
When a person gives reasons for not complying, what in the file would let a body decide whether those reasons are justifiable?
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 widen or narrow the list of commands and dispositions the first limb reaches. A decision explaining what counts as a justifiable reason for breach would also change which reading governs.