The Alberta Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) is authorized by the Alberta Maintenance Enforcement Act to collect child and spousal maintenance granted by the courts. MEP can also enforce certain types of maintenance agreements. Once an order or agreement has been registered with MEP, maintenance payments that the debtor (payor) would normally remit directly to the creditor (recipient) are sent to MEP. MEP then forwards the payment to the creditor once the funds have cleared through a trust account.
Personal information collected by MEP is managed according to the Alberta Maintenance
Enforcement Act, the Alberta FOIP
Act and other applicable legislation. Information is used or disclosed
only for the purpose for which it was collected or for a consistent purpose. It
is retained only for the length of time necessary to fulfill the purpose for which
it was collected.
The following information covers specialized services offered through the Maintenance Enforcement Program section of the Alberta Justice website.
General e-mail
Visitors to the site may send general inquiries to MEP's e-mail address at
albertamep@gov.ab.ca. This e-mail
will be received and responded to by an officer of MEP. Electronic mail sent to
MEP is treated in the same way the program handles letters received through the
postal system. Personal information is collected solely for the provision of services.
MEP Accounts Online
Once an order or agreement has been registered with MEP, clients receive an
account number. Clients can then contact MEP for a PIN (personal identification
number). The account number and PIN allow clients to log in to MEP
Accounts Online where they may access information about their accounts and
communicate with MEP staff. Communications between clients and MEP are encrypted,
which means that outside of the intended recipients the data transmitted is scrambled
so as to make it unintelligible.
Applets
To enable the exchange of information by e-mail, text chat or to request a call back, a small computer program or applet is downloaded to the client's computer. This program is kept on the client's computer for the duration of the session. Once the session ends the applet is automatically removed.
Log out
Close all internet browser windows
To protect privacy, clients are instructed to close all Internet browser windows when they are finished their session. Closing all Internet browser windows will prevent unauthorized access to their MEP Accounts Online session. When clients have completed reviewing their MEP file information and are ready to leave the application they can click the “Log Out” link provided at the bottom left of every page. The Login screen will appear, and clients may choose to enter the application again or close the browser.
Information collected on MEP site usage
General statistics are collected on the number and type of client logins and
the various services used. This information helps in the assessment of MEP
Accounts Online and the MEP Client Services Centre and is used only for that
purpose. It is not used to create individual profiles nor is it used for commercial
marketing purposes. It is collected in compliance with section 33(c) of the Alberta
Freedom
of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act.
Contact information
For any information about any of the policies described above or about the MEP website in general, please contact us:
By e-mail: albertamep@gov.ab.ca
By telephone: 780-422-5555 in the Edmonton area or dial
310-0000 for toll-free access anywhere in Alberta
By fax: 780-401-7575