Enforcement of Family Law Orders

A family law order, or agreement that is filed in court and treated like an order, is legally binding. That means all parties involved must do what the order or agreement says.

If another party is refusing to follow a family law order, you can apply to the court to enforce that order. For example, if your child’s parent is refusing to pay child support or fails to show up for their regularly scheduled parenting time, a court may step in to intervene and ensure the order is followed.

BC Family Maintenance Agency

Before explaining how to apply to a court to enforce a family law order, it’s important to note that the BC Family Maintenance Agency (BCFMA) is another key resource that can help you ensure court orders are followed.

The BCFMA is a free service provided by the BC Ministry of Attorney General to families in BC who are eligible to receive or pay family support. BCFMA helps to manage the child and/or spousal support terms set out in an agreement or order by working to monitor all payments and amounts owing. They can also work with the payor to develop a payment plan and take other steps to ensure payments are made. This can be a helpful service because it organizes and manages payments, alleviating the stress of monitoring this on your own.

Anyone with a spousal support or child support order or agreement in place can enroll in the BCFMA. Either parent can enrol, as long as one of the parents lives in BC. If the other lives outside of BC, you may still be able to enrol. The BCFMA has reciprocal agreements with all Canadian provinces and territories, the United States, and several other countries, which allows the BCFMA to ask that other country, province, or state to take action to collect payment on behalf of the BCFMA.

To learn more about the BCFMA and to begin enrolment, you can visit their website here.

Applying to Court to Enforce an Order

While you may want to consider enrolling in the BCFMA to enforce an order or agreement about spousal or child support, these kinds of orders and agreements can also be enforced by applying to a court. You can also apply to the court to enforce an order or agreement regarding other parenting arrangements, contact with a child, or parenting coordinators.

Which Court to go to?

Parties typically apply to enforce their orders in the same court the order was originally made in. For example, if the order you want to enforce was made by the Supreme Court of British Columbia, most often you would apply to the Supreme Court to enforce that order. The same would be true of the Provincial Court. However, you can also apply to the Provincial Court to enforce a Supreme Court order. This may be desirable due to lower costs and less complexity in procedure at the Provincial Court.

Keep in mind that this only applies to those orders made in BC. When an order is interjurisdictional, meaning it was made outside of BC, such as in a different province or country, it can be a bit more complicated.

How the Court (or BCFMA) Can Intervene

If you apply to a court or the BCFMA to enforce an order or filed agreement, there are a variety of enforcement measures it can employ to ensure the other party does what they are supposed to. The actions a court will take depends on the kind of order you seek to enforce, how the other party has failed to follow it, what court made the order, and whether the order was made pursuant to the BC Family Law Act or federal Divorce Act.

Child and Spousal Support

If a payor is failing to pay child and/or spousal support as ordered, or as set out in an agreement filed with the court, the BCFMA has the power to:

·       Garnish wages (take funds directly from the payor’s paycheque or tax return)

·       Cancel the payor’s drivers’ license

·       Prevent the payor from selling any property without first obtaining permission from the BCFMA

However, a failure to pay child and/or spousal support does not entitle the recipient to prevent the payor from having parenting time or contact with the child.

Parenting Orders or Agreements

A failure to follow a parenting order or agreement can be complicated, and in some circumstances may be justified. Parties encountering deviation from parenting orders or agreements should first try to discuss and resolve the matter between themselves, but if the issue is persistent, repetitive, and cannot be mutually resolved, it may be necessary to apply to a court to intervene. Any intervention by the court will be done with a view to the best interests of the child, and the court will consider whether there is a good reason to vary the order or agreement based on a change in circumstances or any other factor.

If the order was made by the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court might make a contempt order for a repeated failure to adhere to the order. The punishment for contempt can include a fine, jail time, or both.

With respect to an order made under the Family Law Act by either the Provincial Court or Supreme Court, a court may take one or more of the following enforcement steps:

·       Court-ordered mediation or family dispute resolution

·       Court-ordered counselling or other family programming

·       Implement supervision of the transfer of children between the parties

If one parent fails to exercise parenting time or contact as ordered or agreed, the court may order them to pay the other parent for any expenses arising from their failure to exercise parenting time or contact, such as lost wages, childcare, or transportation expenses.

If someone is denying parenting time or contact, without a lawful reason, the court may order:

·       Extra time with the children to make up for the lost time

·       Payment for any expenses arising from their denial of parenting time or contact, such as lost wages, childcare, or transportation expenses

·       Payment up to $5000 to the person denied parenting time or contact, or to the children

·       Payment of a fine up to $5000

Keep in mind that a party who has been ordered or has agreed to pay child support cannot stop doing so just because there are issues regarding parenting time or contact.

If you would like to learn more, please contact our team of Vancouver family lawyers for a consultation.