BILL 4 – 2005
ATTORNEY GENERAL STATUTES AMENDMENT ACT, 2005

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

 
Family Relations Act

1 Section 1 (1) of the Family Relations Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 128, is amended by adding the following definition:

"child support order" means a maintenance order, as defined in section 87, for the maintenance and support of a child; .

2 The following section is added:

Child support service

93.3 (1) In this section and in section 129 (4):

"child support" means the amount awarded in a child support order, or the amount agreed to in a child support agreement, for the maintenance and support of a child;

"child support agreement" means an agreement filed under section 121 for the maintenance and support of a child;

"child support service" means a child support service established under subsection (2);

"payee" means a person to whom child support is to be paid;

"payor" means a person who is obliged to pay child support;

"prescribed registry" means a court registry prescribed under section 129 (4) (a);

"recalculated amount" means the child support that is payable after that amount has been recalculated by the child support service under subsection (3) (b).

(2) The minister may establish a child support service for the purposes set out in this section.

(3) A child support service may do the following:

(a) assist courts in the determination of child support;

(b) subject to subsection (4), recalculate child support

(i) on the basis of updated income information, and

(ii) in accordance with this Act, the regulations and the child support guidelines;

(c) perform additional duties and functions as may be required by the minister.

(4) Subject to regulations made under section 129 (4) (i), the child support service may recalculate child support under subsection (3) (b) if

(a) the child support was determined under the child support guidelines, and

(b) the child support was established by

(i) a child support order made after the coming into force of this section and issued out of a prescribed registry, or

(ii) a child support agreement that has been filed with a prescribed registry of the court under section 121 and with the child support service and that includes the provisions prescribed by the regulations.

(5) If a child support order is issued out of a prescribed registry, the registry must promptly provide a copy of the child support order to the child support service.

(6) The following persons, including, without limitation, the government, must, promptly after being requested to do so by the child support service, provide or cause to be provided to the child support service the information prescribed by the regulations at the times and in the manner set out in the regulations:

(a) each party to a proceeding, brought out of a prescribed registry, in which a child support order is made and the assignee of such a party;

(b) each party to a child support agreement referred to in subsection (4) (b) (ii) and the assignee of such a party.

(7) If a person who is required under subsection (6) to provide information does not do so at the time and in the manner required, the child support service may recalculate the amount of the child support and, in doing so, may make the assumptions, and may apply any factors or criteria, set out in the regulations.

(8) A person who is or may be liable to provide information to the child support service under subsection (6) may, by providing an authorization in the prescribed form to the child support service in the prescribed manner, authorize the child support service to request and receive that information from a third party.

(9) Subject to subsection (11), if child support is recalculated by the child support service under this section and the recalculated child support differs from the current child support by at least the prescribed amount, the recalculated child support is, 31 days after both the payor and the payee of the child support are notified of the recalculation in the manner provided for in the regulations, deemed for all purposes to be the amount payable under the child support order or the child support agreement, as the case may be.

(10) If the payor or payee of child support does not agree with the recalculated amount, either party may, within 30 days after both parties are notified of the recalculation in the manner provided for in the regulations, apply to the court that made the child support order for an order under section 96.

(11) If an application is made under subsection (10), the operation of subsection (9) is suspended, and the child support order or child support agreement, as it read before recalculation, continues in effect until one of the following occurs:

(a) the application is determined;

(b) the application is dismissed;

(c) the application is withdrawn;

(d) the period prescribed by the regulations has passed without the applicant having taken any further steps in the application.

(12) If subsection (11) (a) applies to an application under subsection (10), the payor is liable to pay the child support ordered by the court on and after the effective date of the order.

(13) If subsection (11) (b), (c) or (d) applies to an application under subsection (10), the payor is liable to pay the recalculated amount on and after the day on which he or she would have become liable had the application not been made.

3 Section 99 (1) and (3) is repealed and the following substituted:

(1) On the written request of any person, an enforcement officer may, if he or she considers it appropriate, do any one or more of the following:

(a) assist the person to obtain a maintenance order or a variation of a maintenance order;

(b) assist the person to enforce a maintenance order;

(c) for the purposes of section 93.3, assist the person, including, without limitation, a government employee acting in the course of employment, in obtaining information respecting the location or address of

(i) a party to a proceeding in which a child support order has been made, or

(ii) a party to a child support agreement.

(3) An enforcement officer may demand from any person or public body, including the government, the following information that is in a record in the possession or control of that person or public body:

(a) for the purposes of assisting a person to obtain a maintenance order or a variation of a maintenance order or to enforce a maintenance order, information that concerns

(i) the location, address or place of employment,

(ii) the particulars of the assets or income, or

(iii) the location of the assets or the source of income

of the proposed respondent or person against whom the maintenance order is made;

(b) for the purposes of subsection (1) (c), information that concerns the location, address or place of employment of

(i) a party to a proceeding in which a child support order has been made, or

(ii) a party to a child support agreement.

4 Section 129 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(4) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the child support service and its establishment, structure, operations, duties and functions, including, without limitation, the following regulations:

(a) prescribing court registries as prescribed registries for the purposes of section 93.3;

(b) respecting the provisions that must be included in child support agreements in order for the child support provided for in those agreements to be recalculated under section 93.3 (4) (b) (ii);

(c) respecting information that may be requested by the child support service under section 93.3 (6);

(d) respecting the manner and form in which, and the time within which, records and information may or must be provided to or from the child support service;

(e) respecting the assumptions, factors and criteria that the child support service may use in recalculating child support payable by or to a person referred to in section 93.3 (7);

(f) respecting the manner and form in which a person may authorize the child support service to request and receive information from a third party under section 93.3 (8);

(g) prescribing an amount for the purposes of section 93.3 (9);

(h) respecting the period referred to in section 93.3 (11) (d);

(i) respecting the circumstances in which the child support service must decline to recalculate child support;

(j) respecting the rights and duties, in relation to the child support service, of parties to a proceeding in which a child support order is made.

 
Legal Services Society Act

5 Section 17 (2) of the Legal Services Society Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 30, is repealed and the following substituted:

(2) The aggregate of the expenditures made by the society in a fiscal year and the liabilities incurred by the society that might reasonably come due in the fiscal year must not exceed the total of the society's

(a) revenue for that fiscal year, and

(b) accumulated surplus from previous fiscal years.

6 Section 18 (1) is repealed and the following substituted:

(1) The society must provide a budget to the Attorney General when directed to do so by the Attorney General.

 
Offence Act

7 Section 132 of the Offence Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 338, is amended

(a) in subsection (2) (d) by striking out "subject to subsections (3) and (4)," and substituting "subject to subsection (4),", and

(b) by repealing subsection (3).

 
Provincial Court Act

8 Section 9.1 of the Provincial Court Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 379, is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by striking out "Subject to subsection (2), on" and substituting "On", and

(b) by repealing subsections (2) and (11) (d).

Commencement

9 The provisions of this Act referred to in column 1 of the following table come into force as set out in column 2 of the table: