The B.C. government has introduced new legislation that would allow ICBC to cancel the driver’s licence of someone who owes more than $3,000 in child support payments.
Currently, the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program (FMEP) can ask ICBC to refuse to issue or renew a driver’s licence of someone with substantial arrears.
“Drivers licences come up for renewal every five years. And so there is a the potential that someone who just renewed their license could say I don’t have to pay because it’s four years until I have to renew and that is fine,” said Eby. “This means they can act more quickly.”
“We give the office of enforcement the tools that they need to get that parents attention.”
The FMEP will only cancel licences if someone is ignoring requests to pay support payments or set up a payment plan.
Currently there are around 9,900 people who have restrictions against them for not paying child support, including either a licence not be issued or not being renewed.
If the new legislation passes, a parent will get 30 days to set up a payment plan or pay off due support payments before licence is cancelled.
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The new legislation also includes a change that would no longer require a parent to file an entire court order in the Land Titles Registry. The government is concerned that the parent is owed money should not have to make public a lot of the private information included in the court order.
“Someone who is trying to collect child support payments from someone who is not paying should not have to expose personal and private information in the land title office just to get enforcement of that order,” said Eby.
According to the provincial government, FMEP has collected $3.6 billion in due child support payments since it was established in 1988-89.
Vancouver lawyer Kyla Lee says the legislation unfairly punishes people who need their car to get to work. Lee says for those who do not have access to public transit, losing a licence could cause financial harm that would make paying pay child support even more difficult.
“All of these people are going to be significantly disadvantaged in the ability to correct the arrears by this legislation. It is also going to harm them by putting them in further dire financial straits,” said Lee.
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