Affiliation Proceedings Act 1957
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1957 c. 55 |
| Year | 1957 |
Affiliation Proceedings Act , 1957
(5 & 6 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 55
An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to bastardy, with corrections and improvements made under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act, 1949.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Commencement of affiliation proceedings.
1. A single woman who is with child, or who has been delivered of an illegitimate child, may apply by complaint to a justice of the peace for a summons to be served on the man alleged by her to be the father of the child.
2 Time for application for summons.
(1) A complaint under section one of this Act, where the complainant has been delivered of an illegitimate child, may be made—
(a ) at any time within twelve months from the child's birth, or
(b ) at any subsequent time, upon proof that the man alleged to be the father of the child has within the twelve months next after the birth paid money for its maintenance, or
(c ) at any time within the twelve months next after the man's return to England, upon proof that he ceased to reside in England within the twelve months next after the birth.
(2) A single woman who has been delivered of a child may, upon proof that—
(a ) before the birth she was a party to a marriage which would have been valid but for provisions of an Act of Parliament making it void on account of her, or the other party to the marriage, being under the age of sixteen, and
(b ) the said other party had access to her within twelve months before the birth,
make at any time a complaint under section one of this Act against that party, notwithstanding that he may not within the twelve months next after the birth have paid money for the child's maintenance.
3 Venue and procedure.
(1) A complaint under section one of this Act—
(a ) shall not be made except to a justice of the peace acting for the petty sessions area (within the meaning of the Magistrates' Courts Act, 1952) in which the mother of the child resides,
(b ) if made before the birth of the child, shall be substantiated on oath,
and the magistrates' court which, under the summons, is to hear the complaint shall be a magistrates' court for the said petty sessions area.
(2) The foregoing subsection shall have effect subject to subsection (2) of section three of the Maintenance Orders Act, 1950 (which relates to a complaint by a person residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland).
(3) If the justice to whom a complaint under section one of this Act has been made dies, or ceases to be a justice, or is unable to act, the summons may be issued by any other justice acting for the same petty sessions area.
4 Powers of court on hearing of complaint.
(1) On the hearing of a complaint under section one of this Act the court shall hear the evidence of the mother (not-withstanding any consent or admission on the part of the defendant) and such other evidence as she may produce, and shall also hear any evidence tendered by or on behalf of the defendant.
(2) If the evidence of the mother is corroborated in some material particular by other evidence to the court's satisfaction, the court may adjudge the defendant to be the putative father of the child and may also, if it thinks fit in all the circumstances of the case, proceed to make against him an order (referred to in this Act as ‘an affiliation order’) for the payment by him of—
(a ) a sum of money weekly, not exceeding thirty shillings a week, for the maintenance and education of the child,
(b ) the expenses incidental to the birth of the child, and
(c ) if the child has died before the making of the order, the child's funeral expenses.
(3) Where a complaint under section one of this Act is made before or within two months after the birth of the child, any weekly sum ordered to be paid under paragraph (a ) of the last foregoing subsection may, if the court thinks fit, be calculated from the date of the birth.
5 Persons entitled to payments under affiliation order.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and of the enactments mentioned in the following subsection, the person entitled to any payments to be made under an affiliation order shall be the child's mother, and the order shall make provision accordingly.
(2) The enactments referred to above are—
(a ) section eighty-eight of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933 (which provides that, where an illegitimate child is committed to the care of a fit person or is ordered to be sent to an approved school, the person entitled to receive contributions in respect of the child under section eighty-six of that Act may be given the benefit of payments under an affiliation order in respect of the child);
(b ) the said section eighty-eight as extended by section twenty-three of the Children Act, 1948 (which applies the former section to children received into the care of a local authority under section one of the Act of 1948);
(c ) section forty-four of the National Assistance Act, 1948 (under which the National Assistance Board or a local authority giving assistance in respect of an illegitimate child may obtain an affiliation order providing for payments thereunder being made to the Board or authority, or may apply for an existing order to be varied so as to provide as aforesaid); and
(d ) section twenty-six of the Children Act, 1948 (which makes provision corresponding to the said section forty-four for the benefit of a local authority having an illegitimate child in their care or maintaining an illegitimate child in an approved school).
(3) An affiliation order may, on the application of a person other than the child's mother who for the time being has the custody of the child, either legally or by any arrangement approved by the court, be made or varied by a magistrates' court so as to entitle that person to any payments to be made under the order.
(4) Where an affiliation order for the time being provides for the child's mother to be entitled to any payments to be made under the order the payments shall be due under the order in respect of such time and so long as she is living and of sound mind and is not in prison, and if the mother has died, or is of unsound mind, or is in prison, any two justices of the peace may by order from time to time appoint some person (with his consent) to have the custody of the child; and a person appointed as guardian under this subsection shall be entitled to any payments to be made under the affiliation order and may make application for the recovery of any payments due there-under in the same manner as the mother might have done.
Any two justices of the peace may revoke an appointment made under this subsection and appoint another person there-under in place of the person formerly appointed.
(5) An affiliation order shall, in any case where payments to be made thereunder are not ordered to be made to the clerk of a magistrates' court under section fifty-two of the Magistrates' Courts Act, 1952, provide for the payments to be made to the person for the time being entitled thereto in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
6 Duration of orders.
6. Subject to the provisions of this Act, an affiliation order shall not, except for the purpose of recovering money previously due under the order, be of any force or validity after the child has attained the age of sixteen years or has died; and payments under the order shall not be required to be made in respect of any period after the child has attained the age of thirteen years unless the order contains a direction that payments to be made under it are to continue until the child attains the age of sixteen years.
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