Spousal, child support recipients owed $60M: report

Nova Scotia’s enforcement program has failed to collect $60 million in court-ordered spousal and child support payments over its lifetime, a problem that was hindered by an office amalgamation in 2013, says the province’s auditor general.

In a report released Tuesday, Michael Pickup said there was a $10 million spike in monies owed after the former NDP government moved the maintenance enforcement program’s administration from five regional offices to New Waterford.

Pickup said the program lost many employees as a result of the move, which also compounded the weak enforcement problem.

He said it all affected families who rely on the payments.

“As the outstanding payments increase on any file, that runs the risk of people waiting longer to get their payments, or not getting them at all,” he told a news conference.

The report says there are 15,065 cases in the program involving 13,824 children. It says in fiscal 2017-18, $54.7 million in payments was sent to recipients.

However, over the life of the program, which began in 1996, $63.4 million in outstanding payments has accumulated. Of that total, $15.3 million is associated with inactive accounts that currently aren’t being enforced because of the payors’ situations, such as being on social assistance or incarceration.