Alberta Maintenance Enforcement Program: Unpaid Support Explained

Unpaid support is stressful from both sides. A recipient may be counting on money that has stopped arriving. A payor may have fallen behind after a job loss or a change in family life and may not know what comes next.

In Alberta, the Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) is the body that helps with support payments and collection. This article explains where MEP fits, what the court can do about arrears, and how to ask for a change. The specific collection tools MEP uses on a given file, and how enrolment or withdrawal works, depend on your file, so confirm those details with MEP or a lawyer.

This article covers the law of Alberta.

Where the Maintenance Enforcement Program fits

A support order is a court order. A court can vary, suspend or terminate it under the Alberta Family Law Act, and where the parties were married and divorced, either or both former spouses can apply to vary, rescind or suspend a support order under the Divorce Act. That power continues even though the order has been filed, for example with the Maintenance Enforcement Program.

In plain terms, filing an order with MEP changes how payments are tracked and collected. It does not freeze the order in place. If your income, expenses or family situation has changed, you still have a route to ask the court for a change, covered below.

What happens to arrears when circumstances change

Apart from a yearly recalculation of child support under the Child Support Recalculation Program, the support amount does not change until the court has made an order. That matters for payors. If your income drops and you stop paying, the unpaid amounts can keep building under the existing order. Waiting to apply is the risk.

A payor who wants to reduce or cancel arrears, where the parents are divorced or a divorce was started, uses the Application to Reduce or Cancel Arrears. Whether the court will agree depends on the facts, so this is worth discussing with a lawyer before you file.

The Child Support Recalculation Program is a separate service. It applies only going forward and does not award or reduce arrears, provide retroactive support, or help parents get a new order.

Asking the court to change a support order

For child support under the Family Law Act, the court must be satisfied of a change of circumstances, or that evidence of a substantial nature that was not available at the previous hearing has become available. Alberta.ca lists examples of significant changes: the number of dependent children, a long-term change in employment income, special or extraordinary expenses, and travel or access costs.

Spousal support, or support between adult interdependent partners, uses a different test: a change in the condition, means, needs or other circumstances of either person.

The recipient applies for an increase and the payor applies for a decrease. The forms depend on your situation:

• Parents who were not married or in a common-law relationship, or where no divorce was started: a recipient files Claim (Family Law Act) CTS3459, Affidavit of Service – Applicant CTS3513 and Recipient's Statement – Vary Child Support CTS3470.
• The same group, for a payor: CTS3459, CTS3513 and Payor's Statement – Vary Child Support CTS3471.
• Parents who are divorced or a divorce was started: the Court of King's Bench Application to Change Child Support and Arrears plus the Disclosure Statement (RCA11252).

File at the court and location where you have already been to court with the other party or started an action. If neither applies, file at any court in Alberta. If you do not attend, the judge may make an order in your absence.

If someone lives outside Alberta

MEP can facilitate support payments if the payor or recipient lives outside Alberta, under the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act. Reciprocal registration agreements cover all Canadian provinces and territories, all American states and territories, and over 20 other countries.

Payors living outside Alberta pay 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, contact the enforcement program where you live.

Orders made under the Divorce Act about support have legal effect throughout Canada. They may be registered in a court in another province and enforced as that court's own order, but a court may vary them only in accordance with the Act.

Recalculation, objections and contempt

If your order is in the Child Support Recalculation Program, each parent pays a $77 service fee for each recalculation that changes their child support amount, even if they disagree with the decision. Parents in MEP have it applied to their MEP file automatically.

A parent has 30 days after receiving a recalculation decision to object. To object, apply to court to vary, suspend or terminate the order and send the program a Notice of Objection to Recalculation Decision with the filed application and affidavit.

Separately, the court can deal with a person who does not follow an order through civil contempt. A judge may declare civil contempt where a person, without reasonable excuse, does something listed, such as not complying with an order. Contempt is a serious step, so get legal advice before choosing it.

What to do next

Whether you are owed support or owe it, start by getting clear on the numbers and the order itself. Then decide whether you need a change, a payment arrangement or enforcement help.

• Find your current court order and any MEP statement showing what has been paid and what is outstanding.
• Gather your documents. A payor needs the order, complete tax returns and Notices of Assessment for the past 3 years, and pay stubs or other proof of current income.
• A recipient needs the order, Notices of Assessment for the past 3 years, current income proof and a list of special expenses.
• Note whether the parents are divorced, or a divorce was started, because that decides which forms you use.
• Contact MEP, or the enforcement program where you live if you are outside Alberta, with questions about your file.
• Speak with a lawyer before applying to reduce arrears or to pursue contempt.

Frequently asked questions