Philippe Lortie – The 2007 Hague Child Support Convention – Opportunities for Domestic Reforms

Further to providing a picture of the international recovery of child support before the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention and presenting an overview of the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention, Mr. Lortie will highlight the practical challenges in this area of the law such as the increasing number of divorces and the resulting number of child support cases, the budget crises experienced by many States and the role of States in providing welfare, social security payments in lieu of the child support that should normally be provided by the parents.

Against this background, Mr. Lortie will present opportunities for domestic law reforms in relation to the recovery of child support with respect to matters such as: effective access to procedures (e.g., administrative versus court-based systems); the location of the debtor; the establishment of parentage; the determination of the amount of maintenance to be paid; the swift recognition, enforceability and effective enforcement of decisions; information technology; and, questions of applicable law.