Support Enforcement Program - Justice and Public Safety

Payors who have lost their job due to the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to continue paying support. Please call 709-637-2608 to speak to the officer assigned to your file and allow two business days for your call to be returned.

For up-to-date information on account balances, payments and enforcement please use the web portal. We thank you for your continued patience during these extraordinary times.

Notices and Bulletins

For secure on-line access to your account with Support Enforcement, please log in:

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Download the user manual (744 KB).

If you are not signed up, or for more information, Read our brochure (795 KB).

How to contact us

Contact Information for the Support Enforcement Division.

Telephone Listing Last Updated: June 6, 2023

Please note that, due to the volume of calls received, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to speak to someone immediately. Utilize the Enforcement Officers voice messaging system and your call will be returned within two business days.

Business Hours:

Summer

8:30am – 12:30pm
1:30 pm – 4:00pm

Winter

8:30am – 12:30pm
1:30 pm – 4:30pm

The Support Enforcement Division performs a number of services related to the collection and distribution of court-ordered funds for support, maintenance or alimony. The authority for the establishment of the agency lies under the Support Orders Enforcement Act, 2006.

Responsible for
Collection Actions
Balance and Payment Inquiries
How to pay your support
Resolving Problems
How to contact us
Forms
Interjurisdictional Support Orders (Information and Forms)
Frequently Asked Questions
Child Support Recalculation Service
Employers
Publications
Quick Links

Responsible for

Registering Support Orders issued in the province and incoming Support Orders from other jurisdictions (final and provisional) for enforcement;
Receiving and disbursing court-ordered funds for support, maintenance or alimony;
Issuing Notices of Garnishment (employers, banks, federal government);
Transmitting Support Orders to other jurisdictions (final and provisional);
Initiating Default Summonses;
Tracing delinquent payers; and
Initiating seizure and sale under the Judgment Enforcement Act
Receiving and transmitting ISO applications under the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act.

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Collection Actions

When payments are not made on court orders or agreements registered with the Support Enforcement Program (SEP), collection action(s) will be taken. SEP has many collection tools available and may use one or more of these tools to achieve compliance on an order. The following is a list of these actions:

Wage Garnishments
SEP can require employers to make scheduled deductions from a debtor’s wages in order to bring about compliance. All wage garnishees attach 50%* of the debtors net pay until the arrears are paid. After arrears are paid, wages are attached only for the amount due under the order. *SEP has the authority to take 100% under certain conditions.
Bank Garnishment
SEP can intercept money payable to the debtor from bank accounts or other sources such as mutual funds, rent or contract fees. It also will intercept money on deposit up to the amount outstanding with SEP. This includes joint bank accounts.
Pension Garnishment
SEP can attach certain pension entitlements that a debtor is entitled to under a Registered Pension Plan.
Federal Garnishment
Under an agreement with the Federal Justice Department, SEP can attach funds payable to the debtor from federal sources, such as Income Tax refunds, GST/HST rebates, Canada Pension Plans, Training Allowances and Employment Insurance. SEP attaches 100% of Income Tax and GST rebates.
Federal Licence Denial
Under an agreement with the federal Justice Department, SEP can restrict the issuing of passports, federal licences, and permits. SEP can also cause an existing passport or federal licence to be revoked.
Credit Bureau Reporting
SEP can report a failure to pay child or spousal support to the credit bureau as a bad debt.
Registration with the Sheriff Under the Judgment Enforcement Act, SEP can register the unpaid support with the High Sheriff. This registration is a lien against all real property and can prevent the owner from re-mortgaging or selling the property without settling the unpaid balance with SEP. SEP can also force the sale of real estate.
Seize and Sell Action
SEP can seize and sell a debtor’s assets (i.e. Vehicles, Inventory, RRSP’s, shares, bonds etc.) through the High Sheriff. The seized assets may be sold to settle the debtor’s arrears.
Default Hearing
SEP can issue a default summons against the debtor to appear in court and give evidence why they have not complied with their support obligation. The court can send a debtor to jail for continued non-payment of support.
Suspend/Cancel Big Game Licences
SEP can issue a Notice to Wildlife Division of the Department of Environment and Conservation to suspend or cancel debtor’s Big Game Licences.
Motor Vehicle Restrictions
SEP can issue a Notice to Registrar of Motor Vehicles to suspend or refuse to renew a debtor’s driving privileges.

Note: The above are presented for information purposes only and may not be able to be used in all cases. If there are any discrepancies between the Act and the information above, the Act will prevail.

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Balance and Payment Inquiries

Support Enforcement Web Portal:

The web portal is located at the following link https://sea-remote.justice.gov.nl.ca/ and can provide you with account balance and payments information as well as details of who your case worker is; their contact information, the current order being enforced and the current order terms. It also allows you to text message your case worker and provides direct access to account statements. To sign up for this service you will need a Personal Identification Number (PIN) which we will send to you on request. This service is available 24/7 so we encourage you all to contact us to get set up. If you don’t have internet you may contact your case worker to obtain your PIN. Our contact information is :

Email: Seps@gov.nl.ca
Toll free : 1.855.637.2608
Local: 637.2608
Fax: 709.634.9518

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How to pay your support

Payment Options (10 KB)

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Child Support Recalculation Service

Please be advised that the Child Support Recalculation Service remains operational during the COVID-19 situation. At this time, all deadlines for the recalculation of support orders and the filing of income information, and the filing of Notice of Objections remain unchanged.

If you have an immediate concern regarding the enforcement of your support order or agreement, please contact the Support Enforcement Agency at seps@gov.nl.ca or the secure web portal at https://sea-remote.justice.gov.nl.ca.

Stay safe and healthy.

The Child Support Recalculation Office helps maintain a fair standard of support for children. This service is provided when child support is ordered by a court, or set out in an agreement that has been filed with a court. The monthly amount of child support payable is reviewed annually and updated if there has been a change in the income of the person who is paying child support.

The Recalculation Office operates as part of the services provided under the Support Enforcement Program. The authority for its operations lies under the Administrative Recalculation of Child Support Regulations, made pursuant to the Family Law Act.

Please note that this overview is intended as general information only. It does not contain a complete statement of the law. If you require legal advice regarding a specific situation, you should contact a lawyer.

An information pamphlet is provided at the link below:

Recalculation Information Brochure (100 KB)

Recalculation of Child Support

The Recalculation Office conducts an administrative recalculation of child support in cases where the court order or child support agreement has been filed with a court and contains a “recalculation clause” that requires the recalculation of child support. This allows the parties to update child support annually without having to go back to court to seek a variation when there has been a change in a party’s income. It also ensures the level of financial support paid for the benefit of the children reflects the updated income. There is no fee for this service.

The Recalculation Office does not recalculate the following:

special or extraordinary expenses;
child support where there is a shared parenting arrangement; and
child support where the original amount was not based on the Child Support Guidelines table amount.

Parties must notify the Recalculation Office of any changes to their contact information (mailing address, phone number, e-mail address, etc.) within ten days of the change.

What is the Recalculation process?

1. The party who is required to pay child support must provide the Recalculation Office with their updated income information on an annual basis. This information is used to recalculate the monthly amount of child support. If the Office receives satisfactory income information, then the Office will change the child support amount to reflect the child support table amount that corresponds to the updated income. If the change in child support is greater than $5.00 per month, the parties are notified of the recalculated amount in a Recalculation Notice.

2. Where the Recalculation Office determines that there will be no change in the child support amount (i.e.: the change is less than $5.00 per month), a letter will be sent to both parties notifying them that there will be no change to the child support amount that year.

3. If the party required to pay child support does not provide satisfactory income information to the Recalculation Office within the required time frame, the Recalculation Office will calculate the gross annual income of the payer to be the income amount on which the most recent child support order, agreement, or recalculation notice was based, plus either:

(a) 10% of that income where the court order or agreement was filed before March 1, 2018; or
(b) 20% of that income where the court order or agreement was filed on or after March 1, 2018.

4. If a party wishes to dispute the recalculated amount of child support, they must file a Notice of Objection with the court and the Recalculation Office within the time frame set out in the Recalculation Notice. The Notice of Objection should set out the reason(s) why they are objecting to the new amount of child support. The court will advise both parties of a hearing date. The judge will then determine what amount of child support is appropriate.

5. If no Notice of Objection is filed with the Court within the required time frame, then the new child support amount stated in the Recalculation Notice will come into effect on the date set out in the Recalculation Notice.

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR RECALCULATION OFFICE

Child Support Recalculation Office
9th Floor, Sir Richard Squires Building
P.O. Box 2006
Corner Brook, NL
A2H 6J8

Telephone: (709) 634-4172

Fax: (709) 634-4155

E-mail: recalculation@gov.nl.ca

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Employers

Employers are a very important part of the enforcement of child support orders. Employers garnish wages in accordance with the “Notice of Garnishment” provisions and forward money to the program for the benefit of Newfoundland and Labrador children. To assist employers with executing the requirements of a garnishment order, the following document is offered to assist.

Garnishment Instruction Sheet (17 KB)

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Resolving Problems

Problem Review Process:

If you have identified a problem with how your case is being handled, you should follow the process as outlined below:

Discuss the matter with your case worker. The case worker may be able to assist you after identifying the problem.
If you are unable to resolve the problem to your satisfaction, ask to speak to the case worker’s manager.
If the manager is unable to resolve the issue, you can ask to speak with the Director, or if you wish, have your problem reviewed by the Director by submitting a written request. All written requests to resolve a problem must be addressed as follows:

Director of Support Enforcement
Re: Problem Review Process
P.O. Box 2006
Corner Brook, NL
A2H 6J8

If a written communication is received an acknowledgement of receipt will follow. Within 30 days of receipt of your letter you will receive a response from the Director. Because of the high volume of mail received each day it is very important that the address be marked exactly as shown so that your letter is properly directed.

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Interjurisdictional Support Orders

The Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act (ISO) is used to obtain or vary an order for support or to request registration and enforcement of an order where one of the parties does not live in the same jurisdiction within Canada, the United States or any other reciprocating country.

The applicant, whether applying under the Divorce Act or Family Law Act, must complete an ISO application and send it to the Designated Authority who then transfers the application to the Designated Authority in the jurisdiction where the respondent lives. The respondent will be served a copy of the application and will be required to appear in court at a later date. Once the hearing is complete an order will be made.

Applications for respondents who reside in Quebec

If the respondent resides in Quebec and your court order was granted under the Divorce Act, you would complete the ISO application as described above. If your order was granted under Family Law, you would have to apply under the REMO Act (Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders Act. This means that you must apply to the court here in Newfoundland and Labrador for a provisional hearing. Once a provisional order has been made, the order together with the transcripts of the hearing is forwarded to the Designated Authority who then transfers them to the Designated Authority in the jurisdiction where the respondent resides. After a court hearing in that jurisdiction takes place a confirmation order may be made or made with changes.

APPLICATION

The link below will take you to the ISO FORMS SELECT WEB PAGE where you can access the forms that you will need to include with your ISO application.

ISO Application Forms and frequently asked questions

Once the application has been completed and notarized it should be forwarded to the “Designated Authority” for Newfoundland and Labrador.

The address of the Designated Authority is as follows

Support Enforcement Division
Attention: ISO Designated Authority
Department of Justice and Public Safety
2^nd floor, Sir Richard Squires Building
P.O. Box 2006
Corner Brook, NL A2H 6J8
Tel: (709) 637-2608
Fax: (709) 634-9518

ISO and the USA

To establish/vary an order in the United States, the following US forms are available or if you wish to use the ISO forms, attach the US Petition and Transmittal form to ensure the application is recognized. These forms are as follows and are in PDF format.