The Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) and Child Support Recalculation Program (RP) are administrative programs that operate within the Alberta Ministry of Justice. This paper sets out the legislative framework for both programs; provides context for lawyers who have files that intersect with the programs; and explores considerations that lawyers should know when bringing applications to vary child support or to stay enforcement, drafting orders, and looking at MEP’s Debtor and Creditor Statements of Account. It also examines the administrative limits of the RP. This paper was presented at LESA’s Maintenance Enforcement Program: What Every Family Law Lawyer Should Know webinar on January 25, 2023.
The Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) and Child Support Recalculation Program (RP) are administrative programs that operate within the Ministry of Justice. This paper explores the legislative framework for the MEP and RP; the MEP’s enforcement authority; when to serve the MEP and why; drafting orders; the MEP’s section 7 and child status policies; the Child Support Recalculation Program Regulation and the administrative limits of the RP; and the FSOS complaint review process and the ombudsman. This paper was presented at LESA’s MEP: A Primer for Legal Support Staff webinar on December 6, 2023.