If you have a support order that was made outside BC, you can still enforce it. One way to do this is by enrolling with the BC Family Maintenance Agency (BCFMA) to enforce support (also called maintenance) It's a provincial government program that collects and tracks support.
If you enroll with BCFMA, they'll enforce an order or written agreement for child or spousal support from any court that has a reciprocal agreement with BC. BC has reciprocal agreements with all the provinces and territories in Canada, all the U.S. states, and many countries around the world to recognize and enforce each other’s support orders. These reciprocating jurisdictions collect on family support orders and agreements made in other reciprocating jurisdictions.
See Interjurisdictional Support Orders (ISO) on the Ministry of Attorney General website for a full list of countries that have reciprocal agreements with BC.
Expand the heading that fits your situation to find out how to enforce your support order.
Enrol in BCFMA
To get an enrolment application for BCFMA either:
- download an application from the BCFMA website,
- phone BCFMA and ask them to mail one to you, or
- ask at your local court registry.
Give BCFMA your application along with a certified copy of your order.
A certified copy has a court stamp on it and is signed by a court official to show it's an authentic (real) copy. If your order isn't certified already, contact the court where it was made to find out how to get it certified.
BCFMA will register the order in a Court Registry on your behalf in accordance with the Interjurisdictional Support Order Act. Once the order is registered, it can be enforced by BCFMA even though the order wasn't made in BC. It's a free service.