Diaries
Diary 8: Maintenance and Enforcement Failures
Maintenance and Enforcement Program Failures
After leaving my husband, I was told that collecting child support would be no problem. Well, as they say…the best laid plans…
After confirming the court order from the arbitrator which took over four years, I waited patiently as the Maintenance and Enforcement Program contacted my ex-husband to collect the monthly child support cheques. Six months later, I was still in the queue to collect the arrears which was supposed to be paid to me every month. Finally, I called MEP (the Maintenance and Enforcement Program) phone number and asked why child support and expenses for my children was not being paid. The government administrator informed me that it is almost impossible to collect arrears and child support from a self-employed person. Of course, I was shocked and asked why…I thought this was impossible. She went on to explain that they must disclose their income to MEP. My ex-husband was not disclosing and would not agree to show any income statements for the last year as well as his current income. My ex-husband is a lawyer. He knew very well how to play the game.
To complicate matters further, my children informed me that “Daddy” was carrying around loads of cash in his car as he was being paid directly in cash for his real-estate transactions. Yes, my ex-husband is a lawyer. Instead of having his fees roll through his Professional Corporation as is the legal requirement, my ex was taking cash deals so that he wouldn’t have to pay me or the tax man.
At that point, I went back to court to ask what I could do about the mounting arrears that was collecting monthly. Now a year later my child support arrears and other expenses were at $60K which he still refused to pay. The court informed me if there were no assets in the province of Alberta, I would not be able to collect the arrears. Being that my ex-husband is a lawyer, he knew the law and knew that he could hide his assets outside of Alberta. He currently owns a boat worth $40K and a cabin worth over $500K in BC and to this date is refusing to pay child support for both of our children. This is a warning for those who think that child support will be paid if ordered by the court. No, the debtor does not have to adhere to the court order or pay if they hide their assets out of the province of jurisdiction.
Learnings:
The Maintenance and Enforcement Program is set up by the government to ensure that children receive support from their parents.
If your partner is self-employed, collecting child support from them can be very difficult. There are three conditions which make it almost impossible for the government (Alberta) to collect child support on your behalf:
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Your ex-spouse is self-employed (can’t garnish wages as there is no employer to collect from).
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Your ex-spouse moves assets out of the province of AB (sends their assets outside of Court of Queen’s bench jurisdiction in Alberta).
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Your ex-spouse refuses to make an income or gets paid in cash to avoid having an income (even when a judge has set an income for them). Your ex-spouse will be able to claim little or no income and not pay for the children’s needs or expenses.
