REMO Explained: Enforcing Maintenance When Your Ex Lives Abroad

By Garry SteedmanPublished 24 September 2026Last reviewed 24 September 202612 mins read10 sections

Part of: International Family Law Specialists

REMO lets a court in another country enforce a maintenance order made in the UK when the person who should pay now lives abroad. The letters stand for reciprocal enforcement of maintenance orders. If payments stopped when your ex moved overseas, our international family law specialists assist and advise on which route fits your case.

This guide covers England and Wales only, where the main sources are the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972 and the 2007 Hague Convention. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own contact points, which GOV.UK lists.

Reviewed by: Iblal Iqbal, Partner & Family Law Strategist, Kabir Family Law

What is reciprocal enforcement of maintenance orders (REMO)?

It is a set of agreements between the UK and other countries. Under them, each side’s courts can register and enforce the other’s maintenance decisions. So an order from the family court here can travel to the payer’s country, where a court can enforce it.

It is not one single treaty. Instead, the family court works with three main sets of rules, all set out in Family Procedure Rules Part 34:

• The 1972 Act, which covers “reciprocating countries” named by Order in Council.
• The 2007 Hague Convention, which has the force of law in the UK.
• The Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act 1920, an older law that still applies to some long-standing arrangements.

You can read the first two at source: section 1 of the 1972 Act and section 3E of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982.

For most people, the first contact is the Maintenance Enforcement Business Centre (MEBC), which serves all of England and Wales. GOV.UK lists its email and postal address. Behind the scenes, the REMO Unit handles international maintenance claims for the Lord Chancellor.

When do you need to enforce maintenance abroad?

You usually need this route in one of three situations.

• You have a court order, but the payments stopped. If the payer lives, or has assets, in a reciprocating country, you can ask the court to send the order there for enforcement (1972 Act, s.2(1)).
• You have no order, or only a private arrangement, and the other parent lives abroad. GOV.UK says a private arrangement cannot be enforced until it is made legally binding. A court in their country can decide whether they should pay at all, once your papers reach it.
• You live abroad, and the other parent lives in the UK. If your country has a maintenance agreement with the UK, GOV.UK says to ask the court where you live to enforce the decision.

Parents chasing child maintenance abroad often start with the Child Maintenance Service, but it usually cannot act once the paying parent lives outside the UK. The law only stops courts making child maintenance orders where the CMS could act (Child Support Act 1991, s.8).

So when the CMS cannot help, a court order may be an option. Our guide to the CMS and court orders compares the two routes.

Which countries does REMO cover?

GOV.UK publishes a list of REMO countries. It carries the date 1 January 2021 and names well over 100 countries and territories. They include Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, South Africa, the United States and every EU country. Germany is on it too, and our guide to enforcing UK family court orders in Germany covers that country in detail.

The list has limits, though. First, it warns that the terms depend on each country’s agreement, and that the process may work better in some countries.

Second, some countries have joined the 2007 Hague Convention since that date, such as Georgia, Paraguay and Colombia, according to the Hague Conference status table. They are missing from the list, so the list alone cannot settle whether your case can travel.

How does the REMO process work, step by step?

Details vary by country, but most cases from England and Wales follow the same broad path.

1. Work out what you already hold. The route depends on where the other person lives and where your decision came from, if you have one (GOV.UK).
2. Contact the MEBC. It asks questions to check whether you are eligible, then sends you a form and guidance. You may need to go to a hearing here or pay a court fee. Tell it if you want your address kept from the other person.
3. Give the court what it needs. For an existing order, that usually means a certified copy, a sworn statement about the arrears, and what you know about where they live and work (Practice Direction 34A, para 4.2).
4. Your papers go abroad. The court officer sends them on, and they reach the responsible authority in the other country (1972 Act, s.2(4)).
5. A court abroad decides and enforces. It can decide whether the other person should pay maintenance, and whether to enforce it. Enforcement then follows that country’s own law.
6. Follow progress through the MEBC. GOV.UK says you should not contact the foreign court yourself. In Hague Convention cases, the authority abroad should reply within six weeks, then report on progress within three months (Article 12).

A request with gaps can stall. Under the 2007 Hague Convention, the authority abroad can stop dealing with it if missing documents do not arrive within three months of asking (Article 12(9)). So the papers matter before anything leaves the country.

What if your ex lives in a non-REMO country?

Then there is no reciprocal route to lean on. GOV.UK advises getting advice on whether you can enforce the decision at all. For example, the United Arab Emirates does not appear on the GOV.UK list, and our page on enforcing UK family orders in Dubai explains how that works in practice.

Also ask what they still own here. If your ex keeps a home, savings or income in England and Wales, the family court’s own powers may reach it. Our guide to the enforcement of financial court orders sets out the tools a court can use.

Can a maintenance order change once it has gone abroad?

Yes. Sending an order abroad does not take away a court’s power here to enforce, vary or end it (1972 Act, s.2(5)).

But there is a catch. If a court here raises the payments without the payer taking part or receiving the court papers, the increase is only provisional. It has no effect until a court in their country confirms it (1972 Act, s.5).

The other side can try to cut the payments, too. Under the 2007 Hague Convention, if the decision came from the country where you live, the payer generally cannot start a case in another Convention country to change it while you still live here.

That protection has exceptions, though. For instance, it can fall away if you take part in their case without objecting early on (Article 18). So if papers about your REMO order arrive from a foreign court, get advice before you reply.

Ex moved abroad? Is your REMO case on track?

Choose your situation, then tick what is already true. It shows where you stand before you send anything, not whether your case will succeed.

Frequently asked questions

General information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your circumstances.

Expert Tip

People often wait months, hoping the payments will restart, before they ask about enforcement abroad. By then the arrears have grown, and their ex may have moved again. Before you send anything, gather a certified copy of the order, a dated note of every missed payment and every address or employer you know. Then ask whether the order itself needs to change first, because a request with gaps or old figures can stall at the other end.

Garry Steedman, Family Law Consultant (Divorce, Children & TOLATA)