Last reviewed in April 2023 by the Clicklaw Editors.

When a person who is supposed to pay maintenance support stops making those payments, they owe a debt to the person who is supposed to get the payments. The money owed is called arrears. There are two ways to collect arrears:

• Get help from the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program (FMEP), a free program that assists with enforcing support obligations.
• Take your own steps to enforce the arrears.

Good starting points include:

• Enforcing Support Orders and Agreement, from People's Law School, can help you learn more about what you can do to enforce payments owed under a support order or agreement. 
• Enforcing Orders Outside BC, from the BC government, is a resource that you can use if a payor lives outside BC.
• Court Orders, from Legal Aid BC, has a section called "When more than one province or country is involved." It describes situations that can come up when a parent in a family law matter is outside BC.

Need more help?

• Contact Family Maintenance Enforcement Program (FMEP), from BC Family Maintenance Agency, for help with enforcing the maintenance order.
• Find more help near you on Clicklaw HelpMap.

See our related common questions:

• See all common questions about family law

tags

enforcement of support, child support, party living outside BC, interjurisdictional issues, Family Maintenance Enforcement Program (FMEP), arrears, maintenance payments