Interjurisdictional Support Orders
Support Where the Other Person Lives Outside
After a separation or divorce, one parent and/or former spouse or common-law partner may choose to move to another province, territory or country. The process for applying for child, spousal, and/or common-law partner support when one person lives outside New Brunswick may look different depending on individual circumstances.
There are two different laws that can help an individual get or change a support order: Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act (provincial ISO legislation) and Divorce Act (federal legislation).
- New Brunswick has reciprocal agreements with all Canadian provinces and territories and with several foreign countries to recognize each other's family support (maintenance) laws. The New Brunswick law about reciprocity is the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act, which is called 'ISO' for short. You can ask the court to decide about the financial part of your family relationship, even though the other person is in a "reciprocating jurisdiction".
- The federal Divorce Act also has a new interjurisdictional support process. This federal legislation allows a former spouse (person already divorced in Canada), to ask a Canadian court or a provincial child support service to decide a support claim in the province or territory where the other former spouse resides. Many of the forms you use for the provincial interjurisdictional process are the same under the Divorce Act.
Speak to a lawyer for advice about which law best applies in your situation.
Support Application Forms includes the required forms to apply for or change child, spousal and/or common-law support when one person lives outside New Brunswick. Guides are available for each form to explain how they should be filled out.
If you have questions about applying for support when one person lives outside New Brunswick, you can contact the Office of the Registrar by telephone at (506) 453-2452. Detailed contact information may be found at Office of the Registrar – Contact Information.
Before completing your forms, please review the information below.
Step 1: Read the FormSupport Introduction and General Information Guide.
This guide explains how to complete an application to apply for or change child, spousal and/or common-law support amounts when one person lives outside New Brunswick. It will also help you to identify the forms needed to make your application.
Step 2: Download and complete your forms.
Support Application Forms include the required forms to apply for or change child, spousal and/or common-law support when one person lives outside New Brunswick; there are FormSupport guides available for each form to explain how they should be filled out. These forms and guides are found here.
Forms can be completed:
- Online - by opening the form, downloading and saving the form to your computer or flash drive, completing the form and then printing it out (recommended); OR
- By hand - by opening the form, printing and completing the form by hand.
The forms are PDF format – Portable Document Format files – and require either Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader software in order to view them. Go to the Adobe website to download the software if you require it. (Some ISO forms are not currently in fillable PDF format; until such time as they can be made “fillable”, those forms will need to be printed and completed “by hand”. We apologize for the inconvenience.)
Step 3: Keep your information safe.
If you are using a computer in a public place (library, internet cafe, etc.), keep your information safe and private by erasing your browser cache when you are done with the forms.