BILL 32 — 2015
FAMILY MAINTENANCE ENFORCEMENT
AMENDMENT ACT, 2015

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

1 Section 1 of the Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 127, is amended in the definition of "creditor" by repealing paragraph (a) (i).

2 Section 10 (4.1) is repealed and the following substituted:

(4.1) The director may reallocate the amount of payments received in relation to a debtor among the creditors of the debtor if the director considers that it is reasonable and just to do so.

3 Section 14.4 (4) (b) is repealed and the following substituted:

(b) the debtor was receiving any of the following at the time the further default occurred:

(i) income assistance under the Employment and Assistance Act;

(ii) disability assistance under the Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Act;

(iii) income assistance under the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Income Assistance Program.

4 The following section is added:

Default fee limitation period

14.5  (1) The Limitation Act and section 86.1 of the Financial Administration Act do not apply to a claim by the government against a debtor for a default fee under section 14.4.

(2) The government must not bring a proceeding for the recovery of a default fee a debtor is liable to pay under section 14.4 more than 6 years after the earliest date on which both of the following apply:

(a) the debtor is liable to pay a default fee;

(b) no amount is owing in respect of any maintenance order applying to the debtor.

(3) This section applies to a claim by the government against a debtor for a default fee under section 14.4 if, on April 1, 2015,

(a) the government had a claim against the debtor for the default fee, and

(b) an amount was owing in respect of a maintenance order applying to the debtor.

(4) This section is retroactive to the extent necessary to give subsection (3) full force and effect.

5 Section 15 is amended

(a) by repealing subsection (1) and substituting the following:

(1) If the debtor has at any time defaulted in a payment required under a maintenance order, the director may serve a notice of attachment in the prescribed form on a person who

(a) owes or is likely to owe money or a benefit to the debtor, or

(b) is obligated to indemnify, in whole or in part, a person who owes or is likely to owe money to a debtor. , and

(b) by adding the following subsection:

(8.2) In the case of an attachee obligated to indemnify a person who owes or is likely to owe money to a debtor, payment by the attachee to the director discharges, to the extent of the payment,

(a) the obligation of the indemnified person to pay money to the debtor, and

(b) the obligation of the attachee to indemnify the indemnified person.

6 Section 17 is repealed and the following substituted:

Attachment document from outside British Columbia

17  (1) The director may serve a document that purports to be issued by a competent authority outside British Columbia on a person who is indebted or likely to become indebted to the debtor if the document

(a) is filed with the director,

(b) is of similar effect to a notice of attachment, and

(c) is in respect of maintenance enforced by the competent authority.

(2) Sections 15 (3) to (8.2) and 16 apply in respect of a document served under subsection (1) of this section as if the document were a notice of attachment served under section 15 (1).

(3) For the purposes of the application of sections 15 and 16 to a document under this section:

"debtor" includes a person who is required to pay maintenance in a jurisdiction outside British Columbia;

"maintenance order" includes an order of a court in a jurisdiction outside British Columbia.

7 Section 22 (2) is amended by adding "or who is otherwise before the court" after "summoned or apprehended under subsection (1)".

8 Section 33 (1) is repealed and the following substituted:

(1) A maintenance order made by or registered for enforcement with the Supreme Court, including arrears, may be filed with the Provincial Court and enforced under this Act as if it were an order of that court.

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:

 
Explanatory Notes

SECTION 1: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 1] corrects a reference error.

SECTION 2: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 10] establishes that the director may reallocate all payments received in relation to a debtor, whether or not received from the debtor, among creditors.

SECTION 3: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 14.4] adds receipt of income assistance under the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Income Assistance Program as a reason a debtor is not liable to pay an annual default fee to the government.

SECTION 4: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 14.5] provides for a specific limitation period for government claims for default fees.

SECTION 5: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 15] authorizes the director to serve a notice of attachment on persons who have indemnified other persons who owe money to a debtor.

SECTION 6: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 17] authorizes the director to serve a document issued by a competent authority outside of British Columbia with the same legal effect as a notice of attachment.

SECTION 7: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 22] authorizes the court to issue an order under this section of the Act to a person who is before the court whether or not the person has been summoned or apprehended under this section.

SECTION 8: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 33] authorizes the Provincial Court to enforce Supreme Court orders without the requirement of certification.