Cases of child and spousal support by age group of the child beneficiaries: highlights

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• As of March 31, 2013, just under 86,000 child and spousal support cases were enrolled in a maintenance enforcement program in the eight provinces and territories reporting to the Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs (SMEP) (excludes Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia and Nunavut).
• Just over 112,000 children and young adults were beneficiaries of support in cases enrolled in a maintenance enforcement program (MEP) in eight jurisdictions. The children and young adults had a median age of 14 and the vast majority of them (80%) were aged 18 years or under.
• In 2012/2013, MEPs collected just over $382 million directly from payors or other sources such as wage garnishments and federal interceptions (money collected includes amounts for regular support payments due, other payments due and arrears). This figure represented about 87% of total payments due.
• For families on social assistance, support payments received may be assigned to the provincial government to offset social assistance costs. As of March 31, 2013, slightly more than 1 in 10 (13%) of all enrolled cases in eight jurisdictions had their support payments assigned to the provincial government. The proportion of assigned cases was higher for cases involving younger children. About one-quarter (24%) of cases with children under six years of age were assigned to the government compared to 8% for cases involving young adults aged 18 to 25.
• In more than two-thirds (69%) of MEP cases enrolled with children, the order for child support was made pursuant to provincial or territorial legislation, while in 28% of the cases the child support order was made under the federal Divorce Act. The proportion of child support cases for which the support order was made under a provincial or territorial law or agreement was highest among children aged between 0 and 5 years (91%) while the lowest was among young adults aged 18 to 25 years (45%).
• Support payments do not necessarily end when a child beneficiary reaches the age of majority. More than half (56%) of youth beneficiaries aged 17 and 18 in 2008/2009 in six reporting jurisdictions were still receiving support payments five years later, in 2012/2013.