A Child Support Order is a VERY serious matter. Legally speaking, when one of the ex-spouses fails to pay child support, they will be punished more severely than if they had failed to pay alimony or marital debts under the terms of the divorce decree. Keep in mind failure to pay child support is a crime. In legal jargon the crime of failing to pay child support is called Contempt Of Court...
A Child Support Order is a VERY serious matter. Legally speaking, when one of the ex-spouses fails to pay child support, they will be punished more severely than if they had failed to pay alimony or marital debts under the terms of the divorce decree. Keep in mind failure to pay child support is a crime. In legal jargon the crime of failing to pay child support is called Contempt Of Court.
Contempt Of Court is a misdemeanor that in most jurisdictions carries with it a six month jail sentence and a five hundred dollar fine. In the typical Contempt Of Court of scenario, the mother and the father have finalized their divorce decree. In the terms of the divorce decree mother was awarded custody of the children and the father was ordered to pay X amount of support each month. Fast forward three years to the present time, dad has not paid a single dime of support in ten months. This means that mom now has to go back to court in order to file Contempt Charges against dad on the grounds that dad has 'failed to pay suport'.
Ultimately dad will either have to plead 'guilty' or 'not guilty' to the Contempt Charges and he will either pay the full amount of back support due in one lump sum payment or in the alternative he will be sentenced to time in jail.
Does Contempt Of Court sounds harsh to you? If yes, then the reason being is because Contempt Of Court IS harsh.
Unfortunately there are only a small handful of options that mom has at her disposal in order to avoid filing Contempt Charges against dad for failure to pay support. Again, just like we stated above, Contempt Of Court is a crime and it a VERY serious measure. We recommend that you pursue Contempt only after you have exhausted the other options at your disposal which include the following:
Option Number One: Contact the Department Of Human Services (DHS). DHS has entire branch of their service which is dedicated to support enforcement. DHS is slow moving, but once they get the ball rolling on your case, the legal mechanisms that they put in place to collect child support will run like clockwork.
Option Number Two: Levy Your Ex's Tax Refund. Most everyone of us receives a tax refund from Uncle Sam. In order to levy your ex's tax refund for payment of past-due support owed, we recommend that you speak with DHS.
Option Number Three: Contact A Private Attorney. There are a handful of private attorneys in each community who devote their law practice entirely on the field of 'support enforcement'. These types of attorneys are professionals and we recommend that you contact one of them to further discuss your options for moving forward with the enforcement process.
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