If we do not receive payments from the maintenance payer who lives abroad, we’ll consider enforced collection in Norway.

Enforced collection abroad

If enforced collection in Norway is not possible, we’ll explore the possibility of requesting assistance from foreign authorities. We can only do this if both Norway and the foreign authority are covered by the same convention or agreement.

In cases where there is no international agreement or when collection through an agreement is not possible, we must rely on the maintenance payer to make payments voluntarily.

Conventions that include collection abroad

The most important conventions that Norway are covered by are

• the Nordic convention of 23 March 1962
• the Hague convention of 23 November 2007
• other agreements and conventions that include Switzerland, Australia, and certain Canadian provinces

Difficult collection process

The process of enforced collection in foreign countries requires substantial resources. There is never a guarantee that we’ll successfully recover the money. Collection can be unpredictable and often takes a very long time.

Our ability to affect the collection process after we have contacted a foreign authority is limited. Therefore, we must be cautious about sending reminders to foreign authorities that have confirmed to have received our collection request.