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May 8, 2003
For immediate release

Government Proclaims Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act

Office of the Attorney General

The Honourable Jeffrey Lantz, Attorney General, today announced the proclamation of the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act (ISO Act) on May 10, 2003. This announcement falls in line with ongoing work in all provincial jurisdictions and will assist in obtaining and enforcing support orders across jurisdictions. The new legislation replaces the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders Act.

"The proclamation of the ISO Act follows several years of committee work at the federal/provincial/territorial level," says Attorney General Lantz. "This new act will significantly streamline the existing child support application process when parties reside in different jurisdictions and is intended to simplify and add flexibility to the process of working across jurisdictions. It will assist self-represented litigants in accessing the justice system and understanding the processes in place."

Canadian provinces and territories are adopting a form-based application process to establish or vary a support order when the parties reside in two reciprocating jurisdictions.

The ISO Act applies where an application for support is commenced under provincial legislation in Prince Edward Island and the other party resides outside of Prince Edward Island, in a reciprocating jurisdiction.

Under the new procedure, persons seeking to establish or vary support obligations will complete a support application package, including sworn evidence, which will be forwarded to the reciprocating jurisdiction for a hearing and support determination. Similar packages from other jurisdictions will be dealt with in the same way in Prince Edward Island.

Information on the new process and electronic forms will be available on the government of PEI Web site at www.gov.pe.ca/iso, and information sessions will be provided by the Child Support Guidelines Office in the near future.

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Media Contact: Jennifer MacLeod
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