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What if one of us lives in another province?

Maintenance orders or agreements filed with the FMEP can be enforced even when the payor or the recipient lives outside of BC.

British Columbia has reciprocal agreements with all Canadian provinces, the United States and several other countries - which means the FMEP can ask another province, territory, state or country to take enforcement action on its behalf, and they can do the same for the FMEP. If enforcement is necessary, the other program will take action based on its laws and enforcement methods. (The FMEP cannot tell another program what action to take or when to take it.)

If, however, the payor lives in a country where BC does not have a reciprocal agreement, the FMEP will not be able to take enforcement action, unless the payor has income or assets remaining in this country, or has a Canadian passport, marine or aviation licence.