Province to crack down on deadbeat parents

By: Staff Writer

28/04/2010 3:18 PM |

Stiffer sanctions and improved enforcement are key in making sure that family support payments are made, and made on time, said Manitoba Attorney General Andrew Swan, who introduced new proposals in the legislature today.

"The end of a relationship shouldn't be the start of financial hard times for children and families, caused by parents ignoring their financial obligations," Swan said. "Kids need proper support; good intentions won't fill their lunch boxes."

Amendments proposed in the strengthened enforcement of family support payments and miscellaneous amendments act would support the use of a new computer system and enhance enforcement tools and options available to the Maintenance Enforcement Program including:

· increasing fines to a maximum of $10,000 and jail time to a maximum of 200 days for debtors who are wilfully in default;

· providing for support deduction notices, a new administrative enforcement tool;

· providing for financial penalties to be imposed on debtors who fail to pay maintenance or fail to pay on time;

· adding the ability to charge to the debtor the cost of certain enforcement actions required to be taken because of their failure to pay; and

· restricting the duration of court orders suspending the enforcement of a maintenance order by the Maintenance Enforcement Program and the circumstances in which a suspension order could be made.

The Family Maintenance Act would be amended to allow a child-support order to be recalculated even though a party fails to provide updated financial information, clarify that initial orders of child support could be made retroactively as well as for the future and spell out the court's authority to order genetic testing to help determine a child's parentage.

Proposed changes would also clarify that responses to applications to vary orders need to take into consideration material changes in circumstances that have occurred since the order was made or last changed.

The proposed legislation would also amend the Court of Queen's Bench Act. The change would oblige court-appointed family evaluators helping with custody, access and other related family matters to report to the court the refusal of any party to co-operate with them. The court could draw any inference from the refusal that it considers appropriate.

The amendments would also mean Manitoba would have the toughest sanctions in Canada for debtors who wilfully default on their support payments, by hiding their assets, for example.

Manitoba’s Maintenance Enforcement Program monitors and collect family support payments like child support and spousal support, including about 15,400 accounts per year. In 2009, the program collected more than $50 million, through techniques like garnishment of wages, seizure of assets and suspension of driver's licenses.

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