BCIFV home > Newsletter > 1994 Archives > Spring 1994 articles

Family Maintenance Enforcement Program

The BCIFV Winter 1994 newsletter quoted a recent UN report that domestic violence is universal. It also holds true that when couples worldwide dissolve their relationships, the results include reduction in the standard of living for mothers with children and for dependent spouses.

British Columbia established the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program (FMEP) in 1988-89 to insure that there was a service for separated or divorced spouses who were entitled to ongoing financial support from the other spouse. When maintenance is specified in a Court Order or in a Separation Agreement which has been filled in Court, the person entitled to receive the child or spousal support can enroll the Order or Agreement with the FMEP. We will then collect the money from the other spouse and take enforcement action when necessary. This service is free for the recipient.

Twenty two thousand families are enrolled with the Program and the caseload is still growing. In 97% of these cases, the maintenance recipient is a mother who is entitled to support for the children of the relationship.

One of the objectives of the FMEP is to separate the ongoing financial relationship, especially for child support, from the emotional relationship between separated spouses and to put the financial responsibility on a businesslike basis.

When fear, intimidation or violence are present many women enroll their orders with the FMEP, because in the program they do not have to deal directly with their former partner to get the support their children are entitled to. When the recipient advises us of violence in the relationship we can take some special precautions, such as advising her before we take enforcement action, in addition to the normal confidentiality of addresses and other information. Other women, of course, choose not to try to collect if they are afraid of their former partner. The fact that enrollment in the Program is voluntary leaves the choice up to them.

How does the FMEP deal with custody and access? Both are usually specified in the same Order or Agreement which establishes the maintenance entitlement. If problems with access arise after the maintenance order has been enrolled with us, our response is to assert the legal principle that it is a separate issue from child support, and is outside our mandate. When a parent uses a dispute over access as an excuse for withholding maintenance, we respond by stating that the support is still due, and that we will enforce if it is not paid. We also advise the parent of the services of Family Court Counsellors to mediate access problems if both parents are willing, or to help with a Court application. We believe that solutions to access problems are important, although they should not be confused with maintenance enforcement. We welcome the establishment of the pilot project Family Justice Centers in B.C. to improve services to families with access difficulties.

It is sometimes said that government programs to enforce maintenance should be matched by programs to enforce access. An article in the January 1994 issue of the Conciliation Courts Review ("Examining the Connection Between Child Access and Child Support") points out that most research studies find that fathers with most contact with their children after separation are more likely to pay full child support. Unfortunately, research also indicates that both contact and payment taper off over time. While advocacy groups for fathers cite interference with access by the custody parent as a major problem, other research confirms that most custody parents want the father to play a larger role in the children's upbringing and complain of missed or late visits. This article also points out that many studies have found that concerns about the child's safety and well-being feature prominently in disputes about access.

The Family Maintenance Enforcement Program deals with thousands of cases. As a result, the Program is designed as a mass enforcement model which:

• Emphasizes administrative enforcement rather than court hearings whenever possible;

• Limits one-to-one communications with recipients to maximize time spent on actual enforcement;

• Places responsibility for determining how best to enforce an Order with FMEP staff, rather than individual recipients; and

• Is characterized by large caseloads, standardized procedures and a high degree of computerization.

The Program is administered out of three Regional Offices:

Lower Mainland (Burnaby)
Interior and North (Kamloops)
Vancouver Island (Victoria)

In addition to this, there are four Specialty Units:

Central Enrollment Unit (Victoria)
Out of Province Unit (Victoria)
Central Payment Processing Unit (Victoria)
Provincial Office (Burnaby)

The Family Maintenance Enforce-ment Program will collect about $50 million dollars this year for the 22,000 enrolled families, but this is only 66% of the total which should be paid.

For cases where there is no barrier to enforcement (such as lack of information or the payor being on income assistance or in prison), 28% are fully paid, 61% have received partial payment, and 11% have received no money since enrolling in the Program.

Our experience is that the toughest cases to enforce are where the payor is self-employed, works under the table, or moves from job to job. However, we never give up. Through the FMEP, families who are entitled to ongoing financial support are not alone. The Program has committed experts working to collect their money.

People who want more information or to enroll an Order with the Program should call the Central Enrollment Unit at 1-800-663-7616 or in the Victoria area, 356-8889.

Jocelyn Gifford, Managing Director
& Nora Williams, Regional Manager