MIMS SYSTEM Glossary

Adjustments	Process of changing or adjusting any financial transactions (which may include balances on both the Creditor and Debtor Financial Statements) on files by way of Journal Voucher.
Affidavit of Arrears	The document sworn by the creditor or debtor stating what money is owed pursuant to the terms of an order/agreement. This must be accompanied by a calculation of arrears work sheet.
Agreement, Paternity or Maternity	Also known as a Maintenance Agreement. The majority of Agreements filed with the Maintenance Enforcement Program are received from HR&E. Private sector Agreements are enforceable but must follow a prescribed format (as defined by the Parentage and Maintenance Act). HR&E will draw up these Agreements to obtain a commitment by the debtor to pay maintenance for a child(ren). They are forwarded to MEP for processing and will be filed with the Court of Queens Bench. These agreements must be an original signed copy or a notarized copy or an original signed copy. Once filed with the Court of Queens Bench, it will be assigned an action number which will be recorded with MIMS (as it has been with METS) and is now enforceable by MEP. These agreements can be varied by another agreement even after they have been filed with Queen’s Bench.
Agreement, other than Paternity or Maternity	Agreements made by Children’s Services (pursuant to the Child Welfare Act) are enforceable by Maintenance Enforcement. As a rule, agreements made between the creditor and debtor are not enforceable by MEP. There is no provision for the enforcement of these types of agreements in the Maintenance Enforcement Act (MEA). The Maintenance Enforcement Act allows for the enforcement of Agreements from other REMO jurisdictions. The Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders Act (REMO Act) allows that if an Agreement is enforceable in a reciprocating jurisdiction then it will be enforceable under the MEA. This may include, but is not limited to: Separation Agreements or Minutes of Settlement. Children’s Services agreements must be original signed copies, all other agreements must be court certified by the Courts of their jurisdiction.
Archive File	Storage and tracking process for closed MEP file.
Arrangements	Arrangements are negotiated only if the file is in arrears. In an arrangement, the collections officer (based on a review of the Statement of Finance) determines the amount the debtor should be paying on arrears (in addition to the court ordered ongoing maintenance terms). A Promise to Pay is entered on MIMS. A Promise to Pay specifies the amount of the payments and its details, including date and user. Once the payment or payments are received or a wage attachment is adjusted to been established and will be noted as a MEP TERM in MIMS. Once MEP Terms are entered for the payments, they follow the same monitoring and warnings process as a conventional term in an order.
Arrears	Any charges that are unpaid are defined as arrears. These amounts can be specified in court orders as well as accrue over time. Arrears may be defined as enforceable and unenforceable. This will depend on the specific wording of the order being enforced. See other definitions under Orders and Terms.
Assignment	The process of automatically or manually associating receipts to a charge and a party. These funds are assigned during the period referred to as ‘pending’.
Backer	The Backer is the back page of a legal document that must contain the QB action number, Style of Cause, name, address, and telephone number of the solicitor or party who has initiated that document within the legal action. Many MEP collection documents have backers. Once a document is filed, the “filed” stamp is placed on the Backer. The Backer is displayed on the document with print side out in accordance with Queen’s Bench Regulations.
Bank Credits received via direct deposit	Method of payment where deposits are made directly to the MEP PFI account that are not made by MEP or the PFI (i.e.: employers making direct deposits to our bank account).
Bank Remittance	Method of payment whereby the payer, using a MEP remittance advice, pays at any Canadian Financial Institution.
Banking Information	Process to change the status of a corporate party to a bank party to facilitate electronic withdrawal and deposit of funds.
Batch Deposit Assembly	Process in which we gather all receipts in verified batches for deposit to our MEP financial institution and to update the system.
Batch	A set number of receipts grouped together for ease of verification and deposit. Each batch is assigned a unique number.
Blotter	This is where post-dated cheques are aged and tracked. History items can be viewed. Inventory of postdated receipts and non-negotiable receipts attached to a file (i.e.: trust cheques).
Calculation of Arrears Worksheet	When arrears are registered with MEP the party swearing the Affidavit must complete a calculation of arrears worksheet. This form shows a breakdown of how the arrears were calculated.
Calculation of Payment Worksheet	When a Wage Continuing Attachment (Wage Garnishee) is processed, the employer is provided with a calculation of payment worksheet. The employer must complete the payment work sheet and must remit it with the payment. MEP requires a record of how the payment remitted was calculated.
Certified Copy of Order	A Certified copy of an Order is a true copy of the original order on file with the court. It is identified with an embossed seal and a written designation with the seal, to that effect. Registration of a file can proceed with a true copy, a photocopy or facsimile copy of the order as long as the order is from Alberta. REMO Jurisdictions must provide MEP with certified copies of their orders that they wish us to register and enforce. Certified copies may be required for certain collection actions.
Charge	Obligation owed to a party, which may or may not be recurring. It includes costs, extraordinary expenses (section 7 expenses), maintenance, support, alimony, and legal costs (but not restricted to this list). Charges are recorded in categories.
Children’s Services	Ministry of Children’s Services – previously known as Director of Child Welfare/Child Welfare. The Maintenance Enforcement Act allows for the enforcement of certain of these orders and agreements.
Chronic Debtor	During the time that a file is registered with MEP, if a satisfactory compliance level is not maintained and the file continues to be in arrears, a debtor will be referenced as a chronic debtor.
Civil Enforcement Agent (Bailiff)	This is an agency defined by the Province of Alberta with specialized legislation. The Bailiffs specialize in the service of legal documents and the seizure of assets.
Classification	Each party in MIMS must have a Classification. The current Classification for the Party Type Individual is Person and Income Source. The current Classification for the Party Type Organization is Income Source, Bank, REMO Jurisdiction, Court, HR&E, Crown and Director.
Code 6	System flag to advise for possible adjustments with HR&E when HR&E benefits are less than the court ordered maintenance amount or when the client requests that HR&E deduct her maintenance amount from her benefits. HR&E will be sent notification each and every time MEP disburses funds to creditor via Special Handling.
COLA Also see CPI	Cost of Living Allowance – a COLA is an increase to the maintenance specified in a court order/agreement. This may be based on a variety of methods to calculate the increment. Many rely on the Consumer Price Indexing (see CPI), but many others rely on the increase or decrease of earnings of either party or may also be defined by a fixed amount.
Complete File	When an incomplete file has all the required documents necessary to complete the registration process, the registration agent will finalize the registration process, which results in the file being rated as “active” or “complete”.
Compliance	When there are no arrears on a file and the debtor maintains his ongoing payments based on the terms of the order or if negotiations have resulted in a payment arrangement and the debtor has maintained these payments as agreed, the file is considered to be in compliance. All MEP files are categorized based on the Collection Progression. This progression defines levels of compliance and each file bears a numeric or alphabet code defining its compliance level.
Compliance Level	Each file in MEP will have an assigned compliance level. The levels are 0-7, A-F. The Collection Progression defines what all the compliance levels are. MIMS will automatically assign compliance levels. It will also be possible to manually manipulate the compliance levels.
Compliance Unit	This is a specialized unit in MEP. The files handled are at compliance level 5. The main duties of this unit are the processing of the default hearings and all it’s related functions as well as processing the Notice of Motions served upon the program.
Compromise	Compromises can only be offered on files with subrogated arrears. The debtor initiates compromise negotiations by requesting a settlement of crown arrears (subrogated charges). MEP Director approves the acceptance of a lesser amount to satisfy outstanding arrears. A Statement of Finance must always be received from the debtor before a Compromise can proceed. Compromise requires MEP Director’s decision and signature, and is NOT filed with the Court of Queens Bench but rather sent to Treasury.
Confirmation Order	When a Provisional Order is granted, it does not come into effect until a Court of a competent jurisdiction has confirmed it. The Provisional agent deals directly with the Courts and is an agent of the Attorney Generals Office.
Continuing Attachment, Notice of Wages Non Wages	It is also known as a Garnishee or attachment. The MEP has a continuing attachment specifically for Wages and one for Non-Wages. The wording of these documents is set out in the MEA Regulations. A Continuing Attachment is an order independent of the maintenance order. It is issued by the Director of MEP and served upon the income source of the debtor or a party enjoined to the original action.
Continuing Attachment, Federal	It is a specific continuing attachment that is used to intercept Federal funds owed to the debtor. The wording of this document is set out in the MEA Regulations. These may include, income tax refunds, GST, EI, Training Allowance, or CPP. The debtor and other order information is entered onto the FOAEA database by the support agents and a copy of the continuing attachment is sent to FOAEA for processing. It takes approximately 45 days before registration is completed. A list of all the debtor’s aliases must accompany each request for a Federal garnishee.
CORES	An acronym that refers to the Provincial Registry in Alberta where searches are conducted to obtain information pertaining to limited corporations, partnerships and trade names. Also known as Companies Branch or Corporate Registry.
Corporate Cheque Clearing	A process to electronically clear MEP issued cheques that have been negotiated.
Court	Usually references the Court of Queens Bench of Alberta. All orders/agreements registered with the MEP must be filed with the Court of Queen’s Bench before enforcement can proceed.
CPI Also see COLA	Consumer Price Index – Value calculated periodically by the federal government to demonstrate the percentage of increase of the cost of living by region.
Creditor	Every MIMS file must have at least one creditor. A creditor is an involved party to whom charges accrue. When the debtor makes a payment; the funds are assigned to a specific charge and therefore a specific creditor. The crown can be a creditor. The creditor named at the time of registration will be designated as the Primary Creditor and will retain that status for the life of the MIMS file. See Primary Creditor.
Crown	The Provincial Treasury, also known as the Crown in right of Alberta.
DBI	Debtor Banking Information details. Specific banking information entered for the electronic withdrawal of funds for a debtor. Such as institution, account number and payment terms.
Debtor	Every MIMS file will have one debtor. A debtor is the involved party that is directed to make payments to a creditor by a court order or agreement.
Default Hearing	A Court action initiated by the Director to gain financial disclosure from a chronic debtor or to obtain an order directing amounts to be paid on arrears. This order does not limit other actions or remedies available to the Director. This hearing may also result in the issuance of a warrant for the debtor’s arrest.
Default Order	An order of the court to make specific provisions for the payment of arrears or to direct specific financial disclosure. This order does not impact other remedies available to the Director and may not affect any terms of the originating or subsequent variation orders. This is not a variation order. In the event the debtor does not appear at the scheduled hearing, the court may also issue a Warrant for the debtor’s arrest.
Direct Deposit	Method of electronically transferring funds directly to a bank account based on authorization to directly deposit.
Disbursement	Process of issuing payments to a party either by cheque, direct deposit, or foreign money order (FMO’s must be purchased from the PFI).
DT	These are the arrears declared in the creditor’s affidavit or arrears submitted with the registration package and are noted as DT arrears on the Creditor and Debtor Financial Statements. The Maintenance Enforcement Act was amended, that effective July 1, 1994, the Program was limited to collecting arrears that have accrued since July 1, 1984.
Enforceable Arrears	These are amounts that have accrued as arrears over and above an amount set in a court order, (i.e.) The court order sets arrears at $5000.00, and they are to be repaid at $100 per month. The debtor fails to make these payments as ordered. MEP would not be able to collect the entire balance of $5000.00 but would be able to take steps to collect any ongoing recurring charges, and, any of the arrears payments of $100 that had not been previously paid by the debtor.
Enjoin	Legal term meaning ‘make party to’. Refers to new orders which include third parties to registered originating orders, (i.e.) orders including debtor corporations, or non-compliant income sources.
Extract	Currently the method of gathering or compiling financial information from our system to advise the MEP financial institution of upcoming withdrawals and deposits.
Financial Hold – F01	Prevents automatic assignment of receipts. Requires that staff monitor conditions related to the assignment of the funds.
Financial Warning – F17	Instructions on how receipts should be handled prior to deposit. This is currently handled on a manual monitoring basis if instructions are detailed. Because of some types of deposit verification occurring at the PFI, instructions such as gathering payment details cannot be completed.
File Tracking	This is the process used to determine the location of a hardcopy MEP file. This function lies with the file room and with every staff member. The expectation is to have all hardcopy of MEP files located in a central location and to have all relevant documentation scanned on each file. With access to all the scanned information, it is expected that all staff will be able to work on the files without needing to pull the hardcopy of the file. If specific information needs to be gathered or copied from a file, the MEP staff will forward a W/R to the file room requesting what specific documentation needs to be copied or pulled. (i.e.) certified copies for filing of a Land Titles Notice of Filing or exhibits to be attached in an Affidavit in support of a pending action.
File	A unique numbered folder, which must have one debtor and at least one creditor. All requests for registration result in the creation of an incomplete file (see Incomplete file). The purpose of this is to maintain an audit trail of all incoming registration requests and to be able to have reference material available when inquiries are made on that specific file and the reasons for the way it was processed. Not all end up registered and complete. It will be where all hard copies of party info, order info, and financial adjustments are filed.) All communication records and correspondence are also filed here.
Filing of Documents/Orders	The process of presenting documents, orders or agreements to the Clerk’s Court of the Court of Queen’s Bench. All orders and agreements must be filed with Queen’s Bench before MEP is able to commence collection proceedings.
Foreign Disbursements	The process of disbursing funds in currencies other than Canadian (purchase of foreign money order to send to a creditor).
Foreign Exchange	The difference charged or paid by the PFI on foreign receipts deposited or foreign money orders purchased.
Foreign Receipts	All receipts that are not Canadian funds.
Forged Cheques	MEP issued cheques that were cashed fraudulently by a party other than the recipient.
Friend of the Court	Another reference for Lawyer, specifically in relation to Provisional Applications.
Garnishee	See Continuing Attachment
General Ledger	System ledger for recording all financial transactions for balancing to our MEP financial institution trust account.
Hanging Money	These are receipts (cheques, money orders, etc.) that are posted to a file and are waiting for batch deposit assembly. Verification of assignment occurs as a process while funds remain ‘hanging’.
Hold Period	Length of time we hold receipts for prior to disbursing.
HR&E	Human Resources and Employment – formally known as Social Services
Incentive Terms	These are directions from the Courts, in the form of an order regarding the repayment of arrears. These terms create some financial advantage for the debtor to comply with the order. (i.e.) for every $1.00 paid the debtor is given a $2.00 credit or if the debtor does not pay the arrears as ordered, the balance of the stayed arrears become due and payable.
Incomplete File	The file is created to acknowledge receipt of a request for registration. All requests for registration result in the creation of an incomplete file. The purpose of this is to maintain an audit trail of all incoming requests for registration regardless of the final outcome of that file. The file remains as incomplete until the registration process is completed (whether if be by way of activation or closure).
Indexing	Indexing is referenced to the process of checking an item and finding out what file it belongs to. It is almost always referring to incoming work. For this process, you could use a name, address, telephone number, financial institution, company name, and references included with funds.
Instrument Code	Code that categorizes the receipt we are depositing and determines which hold period is to be applied to that receipt; i.e.: PQ (preferred cheque) 2-day hold, Q (personal cheque) 10-day hold, or O (money order) overnight.
IVR	Interactive Voice Response
Journal Voucher	Form and method for processing various adjustments to files immediately (updating foreign exchange, transfers, adding or deleting charges, etc.).
Lock Box	Method of payment whereby the payer remits the money directly to the PFI via the Post Office.
MEA	Maintenance Enforcement Act
MEP	Maintenance Enforcement Program
MEP Director	The Director is responsible for the Maintenance Enforcement Program. All funds collected by the program are paid to the Director and the Director disburses the money. The Director has various statutory and regulatory legal authorities.
MIMS	Maintenance Information Management System
MEP File	This is a file that has been created on MIMS to record the information contained in a file. See Incomplete File and Complete File.
MEP File Status	A MEP File status will be one of the following: - Incomplete - Active - Closed (never Active) un-serviced. - Closed (was Active)
Misapplied Funds	Receipts posted to a file in error - (not necessarily MEP’s error, i.e. employer may have given MEP incorrect information).
MOVES	This is the Alberta Provincial Registry System that issues, monitors, restricts and cancels Motor Vehicle privileges. All license restrictions and cancellations are processed directly on the MOVES database.
Non-Negotiable Receipts	All receipts, which cannot be deposited to the P.F.I. (stale dated, body & figure difference, no signature, trust cheques, or any items MEP doesn’t want to negotiate for reasons such as too many NSF’s).
Notice of Motion	This is a court filed notice of an application to change the terms of an order. It must be accompanied by a supporting affidavit. After review, both need to be recorded in MIMS. MEP's interest in the Notice of Motion depends on the status of the MEP file (active/inactive) and what relief is sought by the applicant. MEP sends a notice to the creditors that they have received the Notice of Motion and that will not represent their interests. If remedies sought include costs against the Director or are a clear contravention of the Director's interests, or if the arrears are subrogated and the debtor's supporting affidavit includes evidence of capacity to pay, MEP staff may recommend intervention on behalf of the Director or of HR&E. This decision needs to be recorded in MIMS. MEP will retain legal counsel for the intervention process. MIMS will maintain a record of this information.
Ongoing	A recurring periodic charge (term) defined in a court order and recorded by MIMS. This may be for maintenance or for spousal support.
OOS	Out of systems payment: Confirmed money paid to the creditor outside the Program, which results in an adjustment to the file balance.
Order	When a court makes a decision it is issued in the form of an Order. The Party that initiates the action is obligated to present a written version of that order to the courts for approval and filing. An order is binding from the time it is granted though MIMS cannot be adjusted until the written version is received. The order must be filed with the Court of Queens Bench before MEP has the authority to collect.
Order, Default	See Default Order.
Order, Originating	The first order granted in a legal action is called the originating order. The terms of this order remain in effect until a court of a competent jurisdiction varies that order. If a particular term is varied but other terms are not addressed or spoken to, the silence of the court means that the originating term(s) continues in full force and effect.
Order, Third Party	A third party order results when an order is obtained against another party who was not originally named in the originating order. 3^rd Party Order includes orders that allow MEP to collect funds “sheltered” by/for the debtor, by/for a third party. In MEP, SIU will have the most bearing on these types of orders.
Order, Substitutional Service	A Substitutional Service Order is an order that defines how a document is to be served. When service has been affected in that manner, the party is deemed to have been served as if by personal service. Can be MEP or externally initiated.
Order, Set Aside	When a variation order is granted and the terms contravene the MEA or its regulations, or if subrogated arrears are cancelled, MEP may make an application to the courts for an order to set aside those specific terms of the variation order. MEP initiated.
Order, Variation	A variation order is an order granted after the originating order, for a change to the terms and/or conditions. (Divorce Orders and other civil action orders must be varied by an order. Alberta Paternity/Maternity/Maintenance (agreements or orders)/or Children Services Agreements can vary other such agreements by another agreement even after if has been filed in Queens Bench). Any terms in the originating order, which are not “spoken to” or addressed, remain in full force and effect.
P.F.I.	Primary Financial Institution – the branch of the financial institute where our Trust Account is serviced.
Party	A party is a MEP stakeholder that has been assigned a Party number. A party may be a debtor, creditor and dependent, employer, bank or other income source, HR&E or other remo jurisdiction. Party Numbers also exist in MIMS for other parties.
Party 2	Party used to track charges owed and paid directly to/from the Director of Maintenance Enforcement.
Party Bank Information	Specific banking information entered for the electronic transfer of funds to a creditor. See PBI
Party Number	Unique number which identifies a specific stakeholder i.e. debtors, creditors, dependants, income sources, banks, HR&E etc.
Party Role	Party Role is descriptive of the role the party plays in MEP in MIMS. Such as debtor, primary creditor, secondary creditor (etc), dependant, income source, bank, REMO jurisdiction, HR&E, etc.
Party Type	Party Type is the type of party as it relates to MIMS. The current Party Types are Individual and Organization.
PBI	Party Banking Information. This is banking information for the creditor.
Pending Money	All receipts posted to a file awaiting disbursement. These funds are available for assignment.
Personal Property Registry (PPR)	Writs are registered with the Personal Property Registry – also known as PPR. They offer security for the outstanding debt owed by the debtor. A writ must be filed in PPR when proceeding with a seizure. If a 3^rd party issues a garnishee summons and successfully intercepts funds, all funds are paid via the Clerk of the Court, who divides them amongst all execution creditors based on the writs filed with PPR. MEP has a priority to these garnisheed funds. MEP processes these registrations directly on-line and should periodically update the arrears balance. (See PERPIS)
Posted	The end results of applying a transaction to a file and appropriately affecting the balance.
Postdated Cheques/Deferred Cheques	Receipts received and held in inventory on blotter that will be negotiated for future payments.
Pre-Authorized Withdrawal	Method of electronically withdrawing funds from a bank account based on authorization from the bank account owner. (see DBI)
PERPIS	The name of the system, which manages the Personal Property Registry.
Primary Creditor	The creditor, who is named as the original creditor with MEP at the time of registration, will be designated as the Primary Creditor for that file. The Primary Creditor cannot be changed during the life of the file. This designation will have no impact on how the charges accrue or how the funds are disbursed if the file should have more than one creditor.
Promise to Pay (PtoP)	Promise to pay indicates that the debtor has agreed to make a payment or series of payments voluntarily on a specified date or series of dates. The promise and details are included in what is recorded (date/amount /MEP user/ number of promises from debtor and whether they were kept). After the grace period has expired on the PtoP a W/R will be sent to the MEP user so that they can review the PtoP on the due date to see if the funds have been received. The user will note if the PtoP was kept or broken. If it was kept, the MEP Terms will be entered on MIMS. All payment arrangements must be based on a Statement of Finance.
Provisional File	Uniquely numbered files created to track and manage transmission of Provisional Orders.
Provisional Order	Order granted in one Jurisdiction that must be confirmed in another Jurisdiction. Documents are transmitted to other jurisdiction Attorney General designates and received from it.
Receipts	All incoming payments or portions of payments are indexed, verified and posted to a file [S1] (personal cheques, employer cheques, cash, money orders, direct remittances, suspense etc.). Certain Journal Voucher adjustments also create receipts. These receipts are attached to the file with a unique identifying reference number.
Registration Package	Set of forms and information brochures provided to the registering party and is used to gather sufficient information to allow the registration agent to complete the registration process of a file.
Rejects	An electronic withdrawal or deposit, which has been rejected at the first level of transmission by the PFI or at the second level of transmission by individual bank branches.
Remittance Advice	It is a form that is pre-printed with debtor’s file information and micro encoded MEP PFI information. MEP asks that the party remitting the payment attach this form to their payment when it is submitted to facilitate indexing of the funds.
REMO ACT	Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders Act
REMO Jurisdiction	A maintenance program outside of Alberta with whom Alberta has a reciprocal agreement.
Returned Items	Receipts dishonored by the drawer bank, i.e. stale-dated, NSF, stop payments, etc.
Section 7 Expenses	This is the section of the Federal Child Support Guidelines encompassed in the Divorce Act that is a reference to terms for extraordinary expenses.
Seizure	The act of taking legal possession of a debtor’s assets, in an attempt to satisfy arrears owed, pursuant to an order/agreement. A bailiff with the Civil Enforcement Agency can only carry out the seizure procedure.
Settlement	Settlements in MEP always deal with the arrears on a file. The creditor initiates the settlement process in writing. Both creditor and debtor must sign the settlement documents. Four copies are generated, 1 for the court, 1 for each client, and 1 for the file. The settlement documents requires the MEP Director’s signature, and is filed with Queen’s Bench. A filed copy is then sent to the creditor and the debtor. The settlement represents an agreement between the creditor and debtor in which the creditor accepts a lesser amount in settlement on her registered or accumulated arrears.
Set Arrears/Court Ordered Arrears	From time to time the Courts will make a directive as to what arrears are owed on a file and in what amount. Instructions and special conditions (incentives), as to how these arrears are to be paid, may be given. (See enforceable arrears).
SIU	Special Investigations Unit. This is a specialized unit in MEP. They deal with all files at compliance level 6 and many special functions such at asset investigation on files in other compliance levels. Functions include handling files that are part of the “Help Us Find” website, union issues, detailed skip tracing and locating of assets and the obtaining of 3^rd party orders and other specialized collection functions relating to files.
Source Code	Code which identifies source of receipts; i.e.: DB = debtor, EM = employer.
Special Handling	F03 system flag to advise HR&E of all creditor disbursements. This term also refers to the process of manually pulling a cheque from the daily run for "special handling" (i.e.) cheque is to be mailed with a letter of explanation attached.
ST	These are the subrogated arrears declared in HR&E’s affidavit or arrears submitted with the registration package and are noted as ST arrears on the Creditor and Debtor Financial Statements. The Maintenance Enforcement Act was amended that effective July 1, 1994, the Program was limited to collecting arrears that have accrued since July 1, 1984.
Stale-dated cheques	Un-negotiated MEP issued cheques that have not appeared on a bank reconciliation report for more than six months or cheques that we have received for payments that are more than six months old but have not been negotiated. This can occur in an instance of delay on registration for example.
Statement of Finance (SOF)	This is a sent to the debtor if the file is in arrears. It is needed to obtain financial disclosure and to provide the basis for negotiation of a suitable payment arrangement. The SOF also provides MEP with information that will allow the program to initiate collection proceedings if needed. There is a legislated requirement to return the SOF and its receipt by the MEP should be recorded on MIMS. The SOF needs to be updated periodically and should be automatically sent as trigger events occur or preconditions are met. These may include payment arrangements older than 6 months, a new CA being issued or no SOF received in over a year…
Stay	A term in an order directing MEP to handle the file in a special manner. This may be directions to MEP to suspend particular collection proceedings for a specified period of time pending an application to the courts or to allow the debtor to make defined payments and as long as they are being maintained collection proceedings will be held in abeyance. (but not limited to these). S.25 of the MEA addresses stays which are ONLY to affect wage and non-wage attachments (no impact on MVD restrictions, MVD cancellations, Federal License, Federal Garnishee, personal property or land titles). If a Stay is granted outside of the parameters of S.25 it may be necessary to proceed to have the order set aside, see Order, Set Aside.
Stop Payment	The process of an individual, or corporation (including the MEP) requesting that a financial institution not honor a negotiable item.
Style of Cause	The Style of Cause names the parties which are part of that legal action. The Style of Cause must be on the front page and on the backer of all documents filed with the Courts. All orders resulting after the originating documents must always use the same wording in their Style of Cause. A change of court levels could necessitate a change in the Style of Cause. For example, if a Provincial Court Order is filed in QB for collection purposes, this will not cause a change in the Style of Cause in MIMS, but if the 1st order is from Provincial Court and the next order is a Order from QB (i.e. a Divorce action or other QB civil action) we must note the new (2^nd) Style of Cause, from the QB order, in MIMS. An Order from the Court of Appeal does not affect the Style of Cause.
Subrogation	The Crown may stand in right of a creditor with respect to recurring charges or arrears payments made to MEP for periods the creditor is in receipt of Income Support benefits from HR&E. These benefits could be for Support for Independent Living (SFI) or Assured Income for the Severally Handicapped (AISH) This is supported by The Social Development Act.
Suspense Account for Provincial Treasurer (Account #18)	A specialized account to record and maintain receipts that have no existing MEP file or where we cannot identify or associate the sender or recipient with a MEP file.
Suspense Name Update	Current screen used to record and view information available about receipts not associated with a MEP file.
Telephone Payment	A method of payment whereby the payer electronically remits the payments through payer’s bank. These payments may be made by way of telephone or via the internet.
Terms, Order	These terms are of a financial nature. They are specific conditions set out in a court order, for the payment of maintenance, support, expenses, arrears or costs. The terms specify amounts and frequencies for these payments that are to be paid to the creditor(s).
Terms, MEP	Once the payment or payments are received or a wage attachment is adjusted the payment arrangement is deemed to have been established and will be noted as a MEP TERM on MIMS. Once MEP Terms for the payments are established, they follow the same monitoring and warnings process as a conventional order.
Third Party Order	See Order, Third Party
Transfer	Method of moving receipts from one file to another file.
Trust Cheques, Third Party	Receipts received from any party with special conditions, which must be reviewed and acted upon or met before deposit to the PFI.
Variation Order	See Order, Variation
Withdrawal	To withdraw, it to close the file. Closure may be requested by completing the MEP “Withdrawal” form, or by submitting written instructions to that effect. A creditor may request that their portion of the file be closed at any time, but if there are subrogated arrears or if they are currently in receipt of SFI benefits on that file, the file will remain open until such time there is no subrogated interest on that file.
Writ	To put in force the judgment or decree of a Court. In terms of MEP – we file a writ with the Personal Property Registry as security on the outstanding debt.