Child Support Legislation

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Department of Justice
Office of the Minister and Attorney General
May 5, 2009

Dear Ms. ,

I am writing to address the concerns outlined in your letter of March 13, 2009. In your letter you asked about the authority to transfer excess monies into the Consolidated Revenue Fund after reasonable but unsuccessful efforts have been made to find the debtor and return the money to the debtor. The authority for this transfer is found in the Support Orders Enforcement Act. Subsection 9(4) of the Support Orders Enforcement Act states:

"the director shall return the excess money to the debtor, or where, after reasonable attempts by the director the debtor cannot be located, into the Consolidated Revenue Fund."

Thus, if after reasonable attempts, the debtor has not been located, then the Director of Support Enforcement is required to pay the excess money into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. This process has not applied to your SEP file as excess monies were not received by the Support Enforcement Program.

Currency Exchange

The currency exchange process cannot be used to create a payment of excess monthly support monies to a creditor. The process for currency conversion is regulated by the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act (ISO Act) and the regulations under the ISO Act. Section 12 of the regulations under the ISO Act states that if the amount of support ordered under the foreign order is not in Canadian currency, then the SEP is to convert the amount into Canadian currency using the rate of exchange applicable on the day the foreign order was made.

If a foreign currency cheque is received by the SEP, the value in Canadian dollars after the

currency exchange will be credited to the account The creditor is paid the monthly support amount owed pursuant to section 12 of the ISO ACT regulations. If changes in the exchange rate have occurred between the time the foreign order was made and when the foreign currency cheque is received, and overpayments have resulted, then the overpayments are paid to the creditor if there are arrears. If there are no arrears but P.O. Box 8700, St. John's, NL, Canada 8113 416 t 709.729.2869 f 709.729.04692 the change in the exchange rate has resulted in overpayments then those monies are retained in the account as a credit until there are arrears or the order is varied. If the changes in the exchange rate such that underpayments are recorded, then the debtor account would be in arrears.

......

Court Process

As indicated in the letter sent to you on October 21, 2008 by Ms. Debbie Paquette, Assistant Deputy Minister (Courts and Legal Services), while I am responsible for the overall administration of justice in this province, it is not appropriate for me to comment directly on your family law matter as it is currently before the courts. Judicial independence is an integral part of our democratic system and judges are independent of the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice has no role with respect to the regulation of the conduct of judges.

Complaints with respect to the propriety of a Supreme Court Justice's conduct should be addressed to the Canadian Judicial Council, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OW8 or info (,cj c-ccm. gc.ca .

Sincerely,
Thomas W. Marshall, Q.C.
Minister of Justice and
Attorney General