Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2022)

6.   Contents and effect of attachment of earnings order

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   (1)   An attachment of earnings order shall state the following particulars relating to the debtor as are known to the applicant thereby enabling the debtor to be identified by the employer—

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      (a)     the full name and address;

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      (b)     the place of employment;

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      (c)     the nature of his work; and

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      (d)     the national insurance number, if any.

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   (2)   An attachment of earnings order shall be an order directed to the employer and shall operate as an instruction to the employer—

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      (a)     to make periodical deductions from the debtor's earnings in accordance with Part I of Schedule 2; and

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      (b)     at such times as the order may require, or as the Court may allow, to pay the amounts deducted directly to the person to whom payment under the maintenance order is required to be made or to the Collecting Officer or as otherwise specified in the order.

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   (3)   The Court may order that maintenance payments due under an attachment of earnings order be paid into an account at any bank as designated by the person to whom payment under the maintenance order is required to be made.

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   (4)   Where there is a change in the bank account, notice is required to be given to the Court of such change by the person to whom payment under the maintenance order is required to be made within 7 days of such change.

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   (5)   An attachment of earnings order shall further specify—

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      (a)     the normal deduction rate, that is to say, the rate, expressed as a sum of money per week, month or other period, at which the Court thinks it reasonable for the debtor's earnings to be applied to meet his liability under the maintenance order; and

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      (b)     the protected earnings rate, that is to say, the rate below which, having regard to the debtor's resources and needs, the Court thinks it reasonable that the earnings actually paid to him should not be reduced.

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   (6)   In the case of an order made to secure payments under a maintenance order, not being an order for the payment of a lump sum, the normal deduction rate—

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      (a)     shall be determined after taking into account any right or liability of the debtor to deduct income tax and other compulsory insurance contributions in accordance with Schedule 3 when making the payments; and

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      (b)     shall not exceed the rate which appears to the Court as necessary for the purpose of—

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         (i)     securing payment of the sums falling due under the maintenance order, and

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         (ii)     securing payment within a reasonable period of any sums already due and unpaid under the maintenance order.

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   (7)   For the purposes of an attachment of earnings order, the Collecting Officer shall be, subject to later variation of the order under section 9—

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      (a)     in the case of an order made by the High Court, the High Court Registrar; and

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      (b)     in the case of a district court or the Family Court, any clerk of court designated by the Senior Magistrate in writing.