Department of Justice

CHILD SUPPORT BILL RECEIVES ROYAL ASSENT

February 20, 1997 -- Bill C-41, legislation to improve Canada's child support system, received Royal Assent yesterday.

“This new legislation places the interests of children first and ensures that parents live up to their responsibilities for child support payments in a manner that is fair and consistent”, said Justice Minister Allan Rock.

The new legislation, which will be in effect for May 1,

1997, includes:

·amendments to the Divorce Act to establish a framework for the use of child support guidelines. The guidelines will be established through the regulatory process scheduled to begin in March, 1997;

·amendments to the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance (FOAEA) to add Revenue Canada to the list of federal departments whose databanks can be searched for the purpose of locating persons who have breached family support orders;

·new provisions in the FOAEA Act to establish a new federal licence denial scheme. The scheme authorizes the suspension of passports, and certain federal transport licences where a payer of child support has persistently breached support obligations;

·amendments to the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act to expand access to federal public service employee pension benefits to satisfy support arrears; and,

·amendments to the Canada Shipping Act to allow the wages of a person working at sea to be garnished in order to enforce a family support obligation.

This legislation is part of the federal government's Child Support Initiative which also includes new tax rules for child support payments. Child support paid under a written agreement or court order made on or after May 1, 1997 will no longer be deductible to the payer, or included in the income of the recipient for tax purposes. The new tax treatment will not apply retroactively or automatically to existing orders unless either party applies for a variation in the amount of child support after April 30, 1997. Parents who want the new tax treatment to apply without modifying the amount of their existing order or agreement can do so by filing a form with Revenu Canada.

The federal government will re-target all the revenues derived from the tax changes on child support payments, as well as additional funds, towards low income families with children.

For further information on the Child Support Initiative, please call 1-888-373-2222, or within the Ottawa area at (613) 946-2222. For information on the proposed tax changes, please call Revenue Canada's tax service office at

1-800-959-8281.

Ref.:     Jennifer Lang           Murielle Brazeau
          Minister's Office       Child Support Team
          (613) 992-4621          (613) 957-2788