How Courts Enforce Alimony Payments

There are many reason why a spouse may fall behind or stop making alimony payments. Some of those reasons are legitimate – accidents, lost job, medical problems – others, less so. But regardless of the reason, any pause or halt in alimony payments can have serious repercussions for the spouse receiving them.

If your alimony payments do stop, there are a variety of potential remedies the receiving spouse can pursue to get the payments started again.
 

Figure Out What Happened

The first step in remedying missing alimony payments is (if possible) call or contact your ex-spouse and find out the reason. It’s possible there was an emergency, or other extenuating circumstances that might explain the problem.

If the problem can be resolved without getting the court involved, all the better. Sometimes the best remedy is the one you figure out on your own, and that’s okay as long as it solves the problem for both parties involved.

If, on the other hand, your ex-spouse has stopped paying alimony because they are deliberately ignoring the court order, that’s another issue entirely.

In all likelihood, you’ll have to enlist the help of your divorce attorney to draft paperwork and go back to court to ask a judge to enforce the order. While this is the most complicated and difficult route to getting alimony payments started again, it’s often the most necessary one.
 

What The Court Will Do

The thing about court orders is this: Judges getty pretty upset when people don’t follow them. Additionally, the courts have broad leeway in deciding how to remedy the problem of late or withheld alimony payments. Some of the potential ways a court may enforce payments include:

• Contempt: A judge could hold your ex-spouse in contempt of court and order them to pay all alimony due. If your ex continues to not pay, the judge can order jail time for continued disobedience.

 

• Income Withholding: This requires the paying spouse’s employer to withhold a certain portion of their income from every check and mail it directly to you. This works very well, unless your ex-spouse is self-employed (or unemployed).

 

• Writ Of Execution: A judge can award you a portion of your ex-spouse’s bank accounts, CDs, and other assets through the courts.

 

• Judgement And Interest: If your ex owes you a substantial amount, you can ask the court to issue a money judgment against them for the total amount owed, along with interest. You may also be entitled to reimbursement for the attorneys’ fees you incurred in connection with the efforts to get your overdue alimony paid.

The process likely won’t happen overnight, which can be both frustrating and financially difficult for the receiving spouse. And, unfortunately, even with the courts on your side, an ex that is determined to not pay is very hard to get money from.
 

Work With The System

If your alimony payments have stopped or aren’t for the amounts they should be, trust your attorney and the court to fix the problem if you can’t work it out with your ex by yourself.

Unfortunately, this is one of the most common legal problems divorced people have. The good news is that there are a wide array of potential solutions, and the legal system is overwhelmingly your best bet for getting the problem solved.