Acadia File Photo
The Ontario government has officially implemented the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support which allows the province’s Family Responsibility Office to work with the other countries and jurisdictions that have implemented the treaty.
It allows countries to enforce spousal and child support orders and collect payments through wage garnishments, asset seizures, licence suspensions and other legal means in the jurisdiction where the payor lives.
This comes as the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance was ratified by the Canadian government in October. The treaty added 38 jurisdictions that Ontario can work with to enforce and collect spousal and child support when parents or spouses live abroad, enabling enforcement in a total of more than 55 countries.
“Family responsibilities do not stop at our border, which is why we are pleased to be able to expand our partnerships around the world to ensure people receive court-ordered supports,” said Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Michael Parsa. “More families will be getting the support they depend on to pay for living and child expenses.”
The new jurisdictions that the Family Responsibility Office can work with as of February 1, 2024, are:
- Albania
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Ecuador
- Estonia
- The European Union
- France
- Greece
- Guyana
- Honduras
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Montenegro
- The Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- The Philippines
- Portugal
- Romania
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Turkey
- Ukraine
The new jurisdictions that the Family Responsibility Office can work with at a later date are:
- Azerbaijan (as of February 28, 2024)
- Cabo Verde (as of January 12, 2025)
- Kyrgyzstan (as of November 1, 2024)
The changes also go beyond the collection of financial support.
The treaty provides a streamlined and cost-efficient process for establishing, changing and enforcing a court order for support in the countries that are included in the treaty.
This will help save court resources and shorten the time it takes to collect financial support internationally.
