Hi, In June a judge ordered my ex’s salary be garnished because he is refusing to make his alimony payments. I am having his monthly payments paid through garnishment and am scheduled to go back in September for the amount in arrears. Does this money go through the state since it is alimony and not child support? He got behind one time before and it was for both child support and alimony and the payments were sent to the state and put into an account for me. I read somewhere that this is not true for alimony payments. He resides in Florida so I wasn’t sure if that made a difference. Does his employer have to process the garnishment within a certain period of time or is it just whenever they get it processed? Also when we go for the amount that’s in arrears can it be requested from his bank account since he has a large amount in savings? Thanks for your help.
No, garnishment for alimony would not go through the state as there is no state agency that deals with payment of alimony like there is for child support. There are no set timelines for when an employer has to process a garnishment order and start garnishing wages. If an employer does not do so within a reasonable amount of time, the employer may be subpoenaed to court to determine why it has not yet happened, but the employer is not under the direct control of the court as it is not a party to the action.
If you can prove that there is money in a bank account, you can ask the court to freeze that account so the money can’t disappear and order that the money be paid over towards arrears.
So the checks will come to me from his employer? Another question, he lives in Florida, I live in NC and his employer is based out of Georgia. What state’s laws will apply to the garnishment?
If the child support order is based on NC law, then it will also govern the garnishment.
This garnishment is for alimony not child support. Will it still be under NC law or will it be under Florida (state he lives in) or Georgia (where his employer is based) ?
If the alimony order is based on NC law, then it will also govern the garnishment.