Enforce Alimony: Legal Strategies for Securing Court-Ordered Spousal Support

When you seek to enforce alimony through contempt, the court can issue both civil and criminal sanctions. Civil contempt is remedial and designed to compel compliance; the judge may order the payor to be imprisoned until they pay a specific purge amount to satisfy the debt. Criminal contempt is punitive and intended to punish the payor for their blatant disrespect of the court’s authority. A well-experienced litigator can help you develop strategies to secure the remedy most likely to yield immediate liquidity, often leveraging the possibility of incarceration to force the payor to utilize hidden cash reserves or borrow against assets to satisfy the arrears. At this stage, any delay in enforcing noncompliance only benefits the payor, not the court or the recipient.

A successful action for alimony enforcement should not be a financial burden on the recipient. In most jurisdictions, state statutes mandate that the non-compliant payor must reimburse the petitioner for the legal fees and court costs incurred to secure the support. Furthermore, alimony arrears typically include interests accruing at a statutory rate, ensuring that the delay in payment is sanctioned financially. We meticulously calculate these additional costs to ensure that the final judgment covers the full economic impact of the payor's defiance and restores your intended financial position.

The most common defense in a support enforcement action is the claim of financial hardship or involuntary job loss. However, the court distinguishes between a legitimate economic downturn and voluntary impoverishment where a payor quits their job or hides income to avoid support. Our firm utilizes forensic investigators to root out these defenses, by proving that the payor maintains the capacity to earn or possesses undisclosed assets that can be liquidated to satisfy the support obligation. We do not accept excuses of market volatility as a valid reason for infringement of your court-ordered rights.

A comprehensive strategy for alimony enforcement must address all forms of compensation, not just a base salary. We ensure that IWOs are drafted to capture discretionary bonuses, sales commissions and even severance packages. This is particularly critical in high-net-worth cases where a significant portion of the payor’s income is performance-based or fluctuates seasonally. By securing these funds at the source, we insulate our clients from the payor’s attempts to hide windfalls or delay payments during high-earning months.

Collecting court-ordered alimony from a self-employed individual or business owner requires a different tactical approach, as there is a conflict of interest on the payor's side — in a self-employment case, the payor becomes the person who should withhold the support money from their own income. In these cases, we seek a receivership or a court order directing the business’s clients to make payments to the law firm or the court directly. Alternatively, we move to seize the business's operating accounts. This level of aggressive litigation is often the only way to compel compliance from a payor who controls their own cash flow and has historically manipulated their income to evade support.

Beyond real estate, we aggressively pursue the payor’s liquid assets to satisfy outstanding debts. A writ of garnishment can be served on any financial institution holding the payor’s funds, including checking accounts, savings accounts and non-qualified investment portfolios. This results in an immediate freeze of the accounts and the subsequent transfer of funds to the recipient. This surprise tactical strike is often necessary to secure payment before the payor can transfer money to offshore accounts or shell companies designed to frustrate creditors.

To further compel a recalcitrant spouse to satisfy their obligations, many states allow for the suspension of professional and recreational licenses as a consequence of non-payment. This includes driver’s licenses, law or medical licenses and even passports. The loss of the ability to travel or practice their profession creates an intolerable level of personal and professional pressure on the payor, often resulting in a prompt payment of all outstanding arrears to avoid career termination or the loss of basic privileges.

A payor who relocates often attempts to conceal their new location or employer to evade alimony enforcement. SJKP LLP utilizes advanced skip-tracing services and investigative resources to locate the payor and their assets anywhere in the country. Once found, we act quickly to serve the new employer and the local courts with the registered order, ensuring that the payor’s attempt to disappear results in an even more aggressive and immediate enforcement response.

For high-profile cases involving international relocation, we utilize international treaties and Hague Convention protocols to enforce alimony globally. While more complex than domestic enforcement, the principle remains the same: a valid court order from a United States court must be respected by treaty-bound nations. We coordinate with local counsel in foreign jurisdictions to seize international assets and ensure that the payor remains under the continuous pressure of judicial oversight, regardless of where they choose to reside.