ICBC could soon cancel driver’s licences for people who owe child/spousal support

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The BC government has introduced legislation that would allow ICBC to cancel the driver’s licence of anyone who owes more than $3,000 in child or spousal support.

Currently, the Family Maintenance and Enforcement Program (FMEP) can only tell ICBC to refuse to issue or renew a driver’s licence at the time of renewal, which is every five years.

“Three or four years is a long time in the life of a child that’s not receiving child support,” Attorney General David Eby said. “There are other tools that are available that are used first, but in terms of getting the attention of someone who is chronically not paying their child support and refuses to talk about payment arrangements, this is an important tool.”

Parents who fall behind can also be denied passports and have money taken off their income tax returns and employment benefits.

If the law is approved, Henderson Heinrichs lawyer Joseph Broadhurst said he hopes it’s only enforced after thoughtful consideration.

“Three thousand is a relatively small amount of arrears,” he said. “And if you lose your driver’s license obviously that does create a problem that many people’s employment is reliant on their ability to get to work and they rely on cars to do so.”

Should the legislation pass, the changes are expected to take two to three months to take effect.

Family lawyer Mark Perry this this is a logical step but says with such a low threshold, the department responsible will likely consider removing licenses on a case by case basis.

“The decision is made by the director of [FMEP], not by ICBC and that director has the ability to warn people,” he said. “I wouldn’t expect a decision to cancel a license would be something that would be taken lightly.”

People who have a record of making payments will likely have more leeway than those with a history of missed deadlines, according to Perry.

About 70,000 parents are currently enrolled in the FMEP, according to the province, and 92 per cent of clients are paid on time.

Barbara is a mother who says she’s been dealing with the current system for years, but she doesn’t think the new rules will do anything.

“I’ve had an order in since 1990. My ex hasn’t driven for 20 years, and still owes me $30,000,” she told NEWS 1130. “It works for the people that… work at their job and they don’t want to lose their job.”

Barbara said she worries the rules create a cycle where people who owe money can no longer drive to the job they need to make payments. She adds she has met several people who fell into such a cycle.

“[They] owed child support at one time, couldn’t get a job, then they couldn’t get their licence back, so they couldn’t drive to the job,” she said.

Her concern is one that many others are expressing online.

The province has also announced intention to change the how people file their grievances if a parent is not paying support. The change would remove the requirement to submit the entire court order to the Land Titles Registry and replace it with a simple note on the file.

“Often these have very sensitive information for families. Someone who is trying to collect child support from a parent that’s not paying shouldn’t have to expose personal and private information in the Land Titles Registry just to get enforcement of that order,” Eby said.

The province says the change will also streamline the process.