Section 44 of the Maintenance Enforcement Act allows a court to order that a document be served by substitutional service on a client of the Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) by service on the Director. The Director of Maintenance Enforcement may, subject to the regulations, serve the document on the party in any manner that the Director considers appropriate. This means that the MEP program can serve court documents about maintenance payments on debtors (those who owe maintenance) or creditors (those who are entitled to receive maintenance).

Section 5(8) of the Maintenance Enforcement Regulation (the "regulation") states that the Director must receive:

• a filed copy of the order for substitutional service
• a completed request for service in Form 5 of the regulation
• 2 copies of each document to be served on each party
• the $50 fee for service.

To substitutionally serve a client, section 5(9) of the regulation says that the Director must have an address on file for the recipient. To avoid a wasted court application, lawyers should, before obtaining the substitutional service order, contact MEP to confirm that a current address is on file for the party.

When the court documents accompanied by an order for substitutional service are received by MEP, MEP will forward the documents to the client at the address MEP has on file by registered mail and request that the client contact MEP. If the client who has been served contacts MEP, staff will record this information on the MEP file. MEP staff will encourage the client to seek legal counsel to respond to the document. It is up to the applicant's (one who is serving the documents) counsel to inquire whether the respondent (one who is receiving the documents) has been served with the documents.

Please ensure that the return date on the application gives sufficient time for MEP to forward the documents to the party, as the party might reside in another jurisdiction.