Child support officers
Who are they?
Child support officers are employees of the provincial Ministry of Justice who offer specialized assistance in child support matters and help parents to navigate the procedures involved to get and change child support orders and agreements.
What do they do?
- Provide parents with information about legislation (the law), court, the child support guidelines, the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program, the availability of legal and financial advice, and the range of settlement and mediation options available.
- Identify the appropriate services for each case and assess the need for referrals to other support services.
- Explore whether facilitated negotiation is appropriate in a particular case and if so, facilitate negotiations between parents who want to work towards agreement on child support.
- Provide parents with information regarding the current tax treatments of support payments.
- Help parents to compile the required financial disclosure documents by offering advice about where and how to access financial documentation.
- Calculate child support amounts based on a review of existing orders and financial information.
- Help parents complete the required documents (including consent and agreement documents and applications for court), draft orders and legal documents, and witness the signatures of both parties as a commissioner for taking Affidavits.
Where can I find one?
Child support officers are currently available at the Family Justice Centres in Vancouver, Kelowna, Surrey, and Nanaimo. To contact a child support officer, call Enquiry BC at:
- 604-660-2421 (from Vancouver),
- 250-387-6121 (from Victoria), or
- 1-800-663-7867 (from outside Vancouver and Victoria).
Ask for a transfer to a child support officer near you. You will not need to pay for the call.