More people with family law cases involving child support and parenting arrangements will be able to get information they need to get a resolution to their matters with the new amendments to the Supreme Court Family Rules and the Provincial Court Family Rules.

These amendments are being made to implement changes to the federal Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act that will come into force on Nov. 15, 2023.

The changes facilitate the court applications provided for in new amendments to the act, which authorizes a search for information about a party’s income or location that may be in certain federal data banks. They include a way for someone in a family law case to apply to search for certain income information and or location of another party for purposes of establishing or changing child support or given court documents so that a hearing can happen.

The changes will benefit divorced or separated people who need to obtain, change or enforce support or parenting arrangement matters where one person cannot be located or income information cannot be obtained. This can increase the effectiveness of court proceedings to establish, change and enforce support and parenting arrangements provisions in orders of payment.

Changes include:

• adding the ability to bring applications to request searches under the act in Supreme Court and Provincial Court;
• directing parties to file the supporting documents and affidavit evidence required by the new provisions in the act; and
• identifying terms that a court may consider when making orders authorized by the act related to:
  • preventing the person whose information is being searched from knowing about the search request;
  • allowing search information obtained to be provided to the parties without further court order; and
  • make orders protecting the disclosure of information obtained.

Learn More:

For more information about the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act, visit:
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/f-1.4/index.html

For more information about the Supreme Court Family Rules, visit:
https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/roc/roc/169_2009_00_multi

For more information about the Provincial Court Family Rules, visit:
https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/120_2020

For information on how legislation affects British Columbians, visit: 
https://workingforyou.gov.bc.ca/legislation