The mission of the Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) is to help families achieve compliance with maintenance orders. MEP enforces court-ordered maintenance in accordance with the Maintenance Enforcement Act.

MEP seeks the voluntary cooperation of all people involved in orders for maintenance and relies to a great extent on the collective participation of its partners: debtors, creditors, employers, financial institutions, other income sources and the family law bar. If you are a lawyer practising family law, MEP hopes you will find the following information useful.

To all family law practitioners: The maintenance enforcement clause that is required to be included in all support orders has changed effective January 31, 2007. The new clause makes it clearer to parties that debtors have the option of initiating registration with MEP and that one party must in fact register before enforcement will commence. Please ensure you update all of your precedents with the following new clause:

The amounts owing under this Order shall be paid to the Director of Maintenance Enforcement ("MEP") at 7th Floor North, 10365-97 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3W7, 780-422-5555 (website: www.albertamep.gov.ab.ca) and shall be enforced by MEP upon the creditor (recipient of support) or debtor (payor of support) registering with MEP. Such enforcement shall continue until the party who registered gives MEP a notice in writing withdrawing the registration pursuant to Section 9 of the Maintenance Enforcement Act.

Section I - How do I obtain my client's MEP account information?

Section II - What orders and agreements are enforceable?

Section III - Does my client's support order say what I think it means?

Section IV - How do I ensure an additional expenses provision is enforced?

Section V - What are some examples of provisions in court orders that are difficult to interpret or enforce?

Section VI - How do I substitutionally serve a party in a court application through the Director of Maintenance Enforcement?

Section VII - How soon can I expect a reply? MEP's response times

Section VIII - How do I have MEP remove enforcement action?

Section IX - How do I apply to reduce maintenance or maintenance arrears?

Section X - What stays of enforcement are permitted by the Maintenance Enforcement Act?

Section XI - What is the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act?

MEP will update these pages as necessary and provide further information on topics such as stays of enforcement and applications in which the Director of Maintenance Enforcement may wish to intervene.

MEP Information Sheets provide additional information on a variety of topics.

The information and suggestions found on this web site reflect the Maintenance Enforcement Program's current policies and practices. Use of the information provided in this site should not be a substitute for appropriate legal research and analysis, including review of the Maintenance Enforcement Act, its regulations and any other relevant statutes and case law.

If you are a member of the legal profession and have particular questions, comments or suggestions regarding the information presented on this web site or regarding any of MEP's other policies or practices, please e-mail us at albertamep@gov.ab.ca. Staff will be happy to respond to your concerns and will consider any feedback.