===Orders for child support===

*provide security for their compliance with the court order, in other words, pay an amount of money into the court which the court will hold to guarantee the payment of child support,*pay any expenses incurred by the recipient as a result of the payor's actionsfailure to pay child support,*pay up to $5,000 for the benefit of another party or a child whose interests were affected by the payor's actionsfailure to pay child support,or*pay up to $5,000 as a fine, or</blockquote>*if nothing else will ensure the payor's compliance with the order, jail the payor for up to 30 days.

If nothing else works to ensure that the payor complies with the child support order, the court can also jail the payor for up to 30 days. Unfortunately for people who would rather be jailed than pay, section 231(3)(c) of the Family Law Act says that:

Since orders for support require the payment of money, arrears can also be enforced as a judgment debt under the provincial ''[http://canlii.ca/t/84h5 Court Order Enforcement Act]'' and . They can also be enforced under the ''[http://canlii.ca/t/840m Family Maintenance Enforcement Act]''. By , and section 3(1)(l) of the Act, act says that there is no limitation period for enforcement of time limit within which child support arrearsmust be enforced.

Payors can apply for an order reducing arrears that have accumulated under a court order under both the ''[[Divorce Act]]'' and the ''[[Family Law Act]]''. Such applications must be made using under the Act same legislation under which the original child support order was made.

===Agreements for child support===

Arrears that have accumulated under a separation agreement are owed as a result because of a contractual obligation the promises each party made to provide supportthe other when they signed the agreement. A separation agreement is a contract that can be enforced in the courts court, just like any other contract.

Agreements for support are most easily enforced by filing them in court. Once they are filed in court, after which they agreements can be enforced as if just like they were are court orders. (Although agreements can still be enforced under the law of contracts, it's a lot simpler to file them in courtand take care of it that way. ) Section 148(2) of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' says:

Although recipients can enforce agreements and orders and agreements for child support on their own, most of the time recipients will give that job to the [http://www.fmep.gov.bc.ca/ Family Maintenance Enforcement Program] (FMEP). This is a provincial government program under the provincial ''[http://canlii.ca/t/840m Family Maintenance Enforcement Act]'' which has been contracted out .  FMEP is a free service for recipients. Its purpose is to an American companyenforce the payment of child support and children's special expenses and extraordinary expenses, Maximus (Themis)although the enforcement of special expenses and extraordinary expenses through FMEP isn't exactly straightforward. You should contact FMEP to ask what they can or cannot do about enforcing agreements and orders about the payment of children's special expenses and extraordinary expenses.

It's important to know that FMEP can't change agreements and orders about child support. While it can make important, judge-like decisions about who is and isn't entitled to receive child support when children are 19 years old or older, FMEP can't increase or decrease the amount of a free service for recipients whose purpose is to enforce child support obligation and Section 7 expenses (special and extraordinary expenses). Please note that enforcement of Section 7 expenses through FMEP is not straightforward. You should contact FMEP to ask what they it can 't reduce or cannot do with respect to Section 7 expensescancel arrears of child support.

FMEP has no ability It's also important to change the orders and agreements know that are filed with it for enforcement, although it will make important, judge-like decisions about payors who is and isn't entitled to receive child support in cases of children over 19. FMEP cannot increase or decrease the amount of a child support obligation and it cannot reduce or cancel arrears of child support. If you are a payor who wishes want to apply to court to reduce or cancel arrears of child support arrears, and the accumulating under an agreement or order that's been filed with FMEP is involved in your case, you must serve FMEP , as well as the recipient , with your their application.