Where payments under a maintenance order are payable to the family court or an officer of the family court for transmission to a person, no officer of the family court is to—
(a) apply for an attachment of earnings order to secure payments under the maintenance order; or
(b) except as provided by section 10(3) of this Act, apply for an order discharging or varying such an attachment of earnings order; or
(c) apply for a determination under section 16 of this Act,
unless he is requested in writing to do so by a person entitled to receive the payments through the family court or an officer of that court.
Where an officer of the family court is so requested—
(a) he shall comply with the request unless it appears to him unreasonable in the circumstances to do so; and
(b) the person by whom the request was made shall have the same liabilities for all the costs properly incurred in or about any proceedings taken in pursuance of the request as if the proceedings had been taken by that person.
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