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2nd Session, 40th Legislature

This version is based on the printed bill that was distributed in the Legislature after First Reading.   It is not the official version.   If accuracy is critical, you can obtain a copy of the printed bill from Statutory Publications or view the online bilingual version (PDF).

Bill 207

THE FAMILY MAINTENANCE AMENDMENT AND GARNISHMENT AMENDMENT ACT


  Bilingual version (PDF) Explanatory Note

(Assented to                                         )

WHEREAS the cost of legal proceedings to obtain or enforce a maintenance order can be significant;

AND WHEREAS an unsatisfied award of costs in favour of a person entitled to maintenance payments ought to be enforceable in the same manner as the maintenance order;

THEREFORE HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, enacts as follows:

C.C.S.M. c. F20 amended

1

The Family Maintenance Act is amended by adding the following after subsection 53(5):

Costs unpaid after six months

53(6)

If — in any proceeding in which a maintenance order is made, registered or confirmed — the court orders the debtor to pay costs, the enforcement provisions of this Part become applicable to the costs, if any, that remain unpaid six months after the costs became payable. But the enforcement provisions apply to the costs only if they also apply to the maintenance order.

C.C.S.M. c. G20 amended

2

The definition "maintenance order" in section 13 of The Garnishment Act is amended by adding the following after clause (b):

(b.1) an award of costs to which Part VI of The Family Maintenance Act is applicable under subsection 53(6) of that Act;

Coming into force

3

This Act comes into force on the day it receives royal assent.

Explanatory Note

This Bill provides that Part VI of The Family Maintenance Act (Enforcement of Maintenance Orders) applies to an award of costs in favour of a person entitled to maintenance payments if the costs remain unpaid for more than six months. A related amendment to The Garnishment Act allows for garnishment of those costs as if they were part of the maintenance order.