Can an Alberta Family Order Be Enforced If Your Ex Moves Provinces?

Your ex has moved to another province, or maybe another country, and you are wondering whether your Alberta order still means anything. For many parents, the worry is missed support payments. For others, it is a parenting schedule that suddenly looks impossible to enforce.

The short answer is that an order made under the federal Divorce Act has legal effect throughout Canada. How it is enforced, though, depends on what kind of order it is and where your ex now lives. This article walks through the main points in plain language.

This article covers the law of Alberta.

Orders under the Divorce Act travel across Canada

If your order was made under the federal Divorce Act, orders about support, parenting time, decision-making responsibility or contact have legal effect throughout Canada. Such an order may be registered in any court in a province and enforced as that court's own order, or enforced in any other manner provided by that province's laws, including reciprocal enforcement arrangements.

There is a limit worth knowing. Even after registration elsewhere, a court may vary a nationally effective Divorce Act order only in accordance with the Act. Registering an order in another province helps with enforcement, but it does not give that court a free hand to rewrite it.

Support payments and the Maintenance Enforcement Program

The Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) can facilitate support payments if the payor or recipient lives outside Alberta, under the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act. It does this through reciprocal registration agreements that cover all Canadian provinces and territories, all American states and territories, and over 20 other countries.

A payor living outside Alberta pays the enforcement program in their own jurisdiction, not the recipient directly, to avoid late penalties and double payment. To change an order or get file updates, you contact the enforcement program where you live.

Under the Alberta Family Law Act, the court may vary, suspend or terminate a support order even though it has been filed, for example with MEP. Being enrolled in MEP does not freeze an order in place.

Parenting orders from or to another province

If the parenting order was made outside Alberta and you want to change it here, you need a certified copy of the original order. You then file the Originating Application, Affidavit and Affidavit of Service from the Extra-provincial Enforcement of Custody Orders Act info pack at any Alberta court.

To change an Alberta parenting order made under the Family Law Act, you file Claim – Family Law Act, Statement – Vary Parenting and Affidavit of Service – Applicant at the same court and location as earlier proceedings, or at any court in Alberta if there were none. A parenting order made under the Divorce Act is varied under the Divorce Act instead, and the court must be satisfied that there has been a change in the circumstances of the child since the order was made. In Greater Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer and Grande Prairie, you may have to follow the Family Justice Strategy before going to court on a change application. Because parenting cases across provinces can raise tricky questions about which court is the right one, this is an area where early legal advice is especially useful.

Changing support when the other parent lives elsewhere

If the other parent lives outside Alberta in a reciprocating jurisdiction, the child support order may still be changed, and a recipient can complete an interjurisdictional child support application. If the other parent lives outside Canada, you may need to apply to serve the documents another way.

Child support recalculation through the Recalculation Program has its own limits. Both parents must live in Alberta. There is an exception: a recipient who lives outside Alberta but in Canada can request registration if their income is not needed for the recalculation.

What to do next

• Find your order and confirm whether it was made under the Divorce Act or the Family Law Act, since that affects the route.
• If support is involved, check whether your file is with MEP and contact the enforcement program where you live for updates.
• Gather your order and any related court documents so they are ready if you need to register or file them elsewhere.
• Write down your ex's new address and when you learned of the move.
• Talk to a family lawyer, especially where parenting is involved or your ex is outside Canada.

Frequently asked questions