A couple that felt they had a legal right to have a second child and refused to pay a social maintenance fee of 70,000 yuan ($11,043) has relented and paid the fine after local family planning officials in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province attempted to obtain a court order forcing them to pay.

The local family planning office went to the Jiangdong District People's Court in August after the couple refused to pay the fine issued in April.

It is not known what action the court may have taken against the couple if they had continued to refuse to pay the fine.

The couple, who are both the only child of their parents and therefore entitled to have a second child, insist that they have not breached the family planning policy that limits most couples to one child.

"We ended up taking them to court because the couple failed to follow the correct process by applying for the right to have a second child and refused to pay the social maintenance fee," Guo Xianhua, deputy director of the Ningbo Population and Family Planning Commission, said in an interview with the Global Times.

Most Chinese provinces allow couples that are both from single-child families to have two children.

The couples are required to first receive approval from family planning officials, who can levy the social maintenance fee if the couple fails to seek their consent.

Legal experts said the couple should not have faced such stringent requirements.

"I do not agree with local officials fining the couple," said Zhan Zhongle, professor with the Law School at Peking University. "All the couple needed to do is go through the procedures."

"The social maintenance fee is set for those who violate regulations of the family planning policy," Zhan told the Global Times.

"Applying for approval to have a second child is needed to avoid misinterpretation, since many couples think they are entitled to have a second child but fail to meet the requirements," an official surnamed Liu from the Ningbo commission told the Global Times.

"Seeking permission to have a child, no matter if it's the first or second, is to control illegal births. Couples are required to meet stricter standards for their second child," Zhai Zhenwu, dean with the School of Sociology and Population Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.

"Requirements to obtain approval to have a second child and the payment of the social maintenance fees have both contributed to population control, and they will continue to play a role in the future," Zhai added.