My ex just let me know he lost his job three months ago and will not be able to pay me child support or alimony from this point on. Very upset he didn’t tell me when it first happened so that i could be better prepared. Now i am going to be forced to leave my rental home and get an apartment once again uprooting my kids who finaly just got settled. I had planned to get a second job in the beginning of the year but had a family emergency that caused me not to be able to job hunt for a few months. Now i am looking for anything to help with the cost of fufilling my rental agreement, getting an apartment and paying for moving.
I am not even certain he has lost his job. He has lied numerous times about his salary during our divorce process. He still has lawn service, a boat load of antiques in his home and a membership to a club that costs $90 a month.
I have to now wait until the 1st of the month to see what is really going on. I have not received any adjustment to child support or alimony documents.
I would like to know what the process is once he fails to pay me on the first of the month and how to be sure he isn’t hiding money from me. He pays me with a personal check every month so he isn’t having it pulled from his salary or income.
Can he be forced to sell unnecessary material things to pay me? Can he be forced to get cash from his 401k?
If he does not pay you, you will need to either file a breach of contract action or a motion for contempt depending upon whether these terms are a part of a separation agreement or a court order. It really depends on if these provisions are modifiable and if so, if he files a motion/action to modify them. The court cannot force him to sell anything, but that may be the reality that he is faced with if he is looking at jail time if he doesn’t comply.
It is a court order with both child support and alimony. He is suppose to pay me on the 1st of July and has said he probably can not. He has not filed any court documents to modify his payments that I am aware of as of today. Based on my experience with the court system, even if he did the request the day before he was suppose to pay me, it would be months before we were in court again. What is my course of action until then, file a contempt of court document? Do I need to file them separately since they are two different court orders? I assume yes. Can I do it myself of do I need my attorney again?
You have to wait for him to fail to pay pursuant to the order before filing for contempt. If you do not want to hire your attorney, you should consider using Rosen Online to assist you with filing the motion and preparing for court.
I just reviewed some posts and saw that if alimony is agreed upon in a separation agreement and not order by a judge in court, it can not be modified. Is this correct? Child support and alimony were both agreed upon in our separation agreement, but he was able to modify child support when we went to court. We never went in front of the judge, we agreed to an amount before our case was heard. Was that a mistake on my end by not letting a judge decide? My ex’s attorney has been making sneaky changes to all documents from the beginning and I’m concerned I fell for something in court. It is what it is with child support because it is official now. What I need to know is about the alimony. I assume he can’t modify it because I’m sure I would have received a court document by now. I sent a letter to his attorney over a week ago because they made changes to the child support documentation in the hard copy that wasn’t even close to what we agreed upon in court. In this letter I addressed alimony payments. Not an hour later I get a plea from my ex to adjust alimony based on his current living situation. I live in a small house that I rent, he owns a $400,000 house. What are my choices for filing a contempt of court? I’m pro se. Thank you so much for your time.
If alimony is not part of a court order, then your ex doesn’t have the ability to modify it. If he fails to pay, your legal recourse is a breach of contract action. Contempt doesn’t apply unless he violates a court order.