Information for the Recipient Who is Enrolled

British Columbia Family Maintenance Enforcement Program

November 9, 2009
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The court order or agreement that states you are to receive maintenance has been filed with the British Columbia Family Maintenance Enforcement Program (FMEP).

This page explains what the FMEP does, what our legal powers are and what we need from you as a person receiving maintenance.

It also provides you with information about what we can do to help you receive the payments required by your court order or agreement, what to do if you have concerns about the way your case is being handled, and the best ways to get in touch with us.

The Family Maintenance Enforcement Program

Who we are/what we do

The Family Maintenance Enforcement Program is a service of the British Columbia Ministry of Attorney General.

We are responsible under the Family Maintenance Enforcement Act for monitoring and enforcing all maintenance orders and agreements that are filed with us. That means we will:

calculate arrears, record and forward payments to the person receiving maintenance (called the recipient), and
take action, if and when necessary, to try to ensure the person who is supposed to pay maintenance (called the payor) makes his or her maintenance payments.

We recognize the importance of maintenance to families and children. At the same time, however, we do not work just for the recipient. Rather, we provide a service for both recipients and payors to help ensure the terms of their maintenance orders are fulfilled, and we strive for a good working relationship with all our clients.

We will do our best to collect your maintenance payments. However, you should know that some payors make it very difficult for us to collect – even going to the extent of leaving the country to avoid paying maintenance. Others may have no income or assets, or may be receiving income assistance, which means it may take a long time to collect what is owed to you. But we will continue to pursue your payments as long as your maintenance order or agreement is enrolled with us.

The paperwork

Notice of Filing

Your Notice of Filing tells you that your case is now enrolled with the FMEP, and that we are now responsible for monitoring and enforcing your maintenance order or agreement.

At the top of the notice is your FMEP case number. This is the number we use to track your case; it will appear on all future correspondence we have with you and the payor.

Below your case number is your personal identification number. We will ask you for this number as well as your FMEP case number whenever you call us.

Important!
Your personal identification number is a private number, issued only to you. We use this number as a security measure to make sure that only you can gain access to information about your case. Please do not tell anyone else what your number is.

The Notice of Filing also outlines the payor's payment schedule. This tells you what the payor's regular maintenance payments are and when they are due (once or twice a month, for example).

If the payor fell behind in maintenance payments at some time in the past, and the court has ordered the payor to pay arrears, the schedule will also indicate how much the payor needs to make up in missed payments.

Receiving your payments

Once your case is enrolled with the FMEP, the payor is required by law to send all payments to us. We will record the payments and deposit them directly to your bank account or forward a cheque to you.

If you receive a payment directly from the payor, you must report it to us immediately. If you do not, we cannot guarantee that your records are accurate and up-to-date, and we may not be able to continue working on your behalf.

You should not accept direct payments from the payor if you are on income assistance. If you do, it is important that you notify us and your Family Maintenance Worker as not reporting direct payments may affect your eligibility.

If the payor continues to send payments directly to you, please let us know. You are not required to accept direct payments, and we will ensure the payor makes the payments to us instead.

Keeping us informed

Up-to-date information about your case is essential for us to keep your account accurate. You must contact us if:

you move or change your telephone number
you know that the payor has moved, changed telephone numbers or jobs, or has made any other significant change – such as buying or selling a major asset, such as a boat, car or house, or opening a new business
you receive a payment directly from the payor
you – or the payor – start any legal action that may result in a change to your current maintenance order or agreement
there are any changes in a child's circumstances that may affect your maintenance payments, such as changing from a sole to shared custody arrangement, a child leaving home or becoming independent, or
you think there is a mistake in our payment records.

In addition, if a cheque we forward to you comes back from the bank stamped NSF (for "insufficient funds"), you will need to send the stamped cheque back to us as soon as possible. We cannot take any action until we have the cheque.

For your safety …
We need to know if the payor has ever been violent or threatening to you or your children in the past, and you must tell us immediately if he or she is ever violent or threatening while you are enrolled with us. We will treat your case with special care.

Always call the police if you feel you or your children are in danger, and remember that help is available.

To find a Crisis Centre in your area, see the inside front cover of your phone book, or call the toll-free Victims Information Line (1-800-563-0808). You might also want to talk to a Family Justice Counsellor [PDF 64kb] or a lawyer to find out about getting a court order to restrict the payor's access to your family.

What happens if the payor can't or won't pay

What we can and cannot do

We cannot give you money unless we receive it first from the payor. If you are in urgent financial need, please call your local Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance office. They may be able to help.
We cannot change your court order or agreement for maintenance to a different amount or a different payment schedule. Going to court to try to change an order or agreement is your responsibility.
We can work with the payor to work out a voluntary plan for making up any missed payments.
And we can, if a voluntary payment plan does not work, take enforcement action.

Changing your court order:
To change your maintenance order or agreement, or current child custody and access arrangement, we recommend you talk to a lawyer or Family Justice Counsellor.

Getting help to change your court order
If you do not know a lawyer, you may want to call the Lawyer Referral Service.

Enquiry BC

Greater Victoria (250) 387-6121
Greater Vancouver (604) 660-2421
Elsewhere in BC 1-800-663-7867

Possible enforcement action

The laws under which we operate are powerful, and there are a number of enforcement options we can use, depending on how much money the payor owes and what we know about the payor's current situation.

We may decide to take one or more of these actions at any time. We will choose the actions we think will have the best chance of success in each particular case.

Read about some of the enforcement actions we can take on the Information page.

In addition
In addition to the enforcement actions listed, whenever a payor misses or is late with two payments within the same calendar year, we will automatically charge the payor a Default Fee.

We will also charge the payor daily interest on any late payments, and add it to our records at the end of every month. All interest goes to the recipient.

Beyond provincial boundaries

Court orders or agreements filed with us can also be enforced outside of BC.

Not only can we request up-to-date information about a payor's location, employment and assets through a variety of federal and provincial computer databases, we also have reciprocal agreements with all Canadian provinces and territories, the United States of America and several other countries – which means we can ask another province, territory, state or country to take enforcement action on our behalf. (There may, however, be some delay in obtaining information or taking action outside of BC.)

Withdrawing from FMEP

You also have the option to withdraw your case from the FMEP at any time, unless you are receiving income assistance or it was the payor who enrolled your case.

If you are receiving income assistance, you will need your Family Maintenance Worker's approval to withdraw. If it was the payor who enrolled your case, you will need his or her written permission.

If you have a complaint

Our commitment

We are committed to treating all our clients with courtesy and respect, to ensuring that every case is handled fairly, and to being available to answer questions and provide information as openly as possible.

If you have any concerns about the way your case is being handled, we want to know about it. Your feedback helps us to ensure we are continuously improving the quality of service provided to our clients.

Our Complaint Resolution Process

To obtain an appropriate and timely response, please address your concerns or complaints as follows:

As a first step, speak to an Enquiry Representative at your regional FMEP office and explain your concerns. The Enquiry Representative will work with you to try to resolve your concerns and, may consult with your Enforcement Officer, if necessary.
If your concerns cannot be dealt with satisfactorily by the Enquiry Representative, at any time you may ask to speak to an Enforcement Manager.
If you are still concerned about how the FMEP is handling your case, you may ask to speak to the Regional Manager.

Concerns and enquiries about the existing policies and legislation may be sent in writing or fax to the Office of the Director of Maintenance Enforcement.

Document Revised: November 1, 2005