How Reasonable Should You Be with Missed Child Support or Alimony Payments?
The answer to the question of how reasonable you should be about missed child support or alimony payments is heavily dependent on your particular situation. If necessary, the weight of the law can be brought upon the ex-spouse who is not paying. However, we recommend a few guidelines to think about before going that route.
Evaluating the situation
How good is your relationship with your ex? If you have a peaceful relationship, you may be able to talk about the situation and find out what is causing the delay. Has your ex recently lost a job or suffered a medical emergency? These could be very reasonable causes for the delay or missed payments. Is your ex doing everything possible to make the payments, but is just falling short? An effort to pay, even during financially difficult times, indicates goodwill on the part of your ex.
However, goodwill doesn’t pay the bills. You may find yourself in a serious financial situation without your child support or alimony payments. If you can financially handle the delay in payments and you are confident the situation will quickly change, you may choose to be patient for a couple of months. However, this should only be temporary. If the situation does not normalize within a few months, you will need to take action.
Of course, your ex may not be acting in good faith and may simply be refusing to pay or making unsubstantiated excuses. Fortunately, there are ways for you to get your money in these situations, and we recommend you act quickly if you suspect your ex is holding out on you.
How you can get the child support and alimony that’s owed you
Statistics indicate that more than 80% of noncustodial parents in the U.S. are fathers, so the bulk of child support and alimony is paid by men. In Pennsylvania, if your ex falls short in child support, his wages can be garnished or his tax refund can be redirected to pay what he owes you. In addition, if he falls three months behind, his driver’s license and his hunting or fishing license can be suspended. Even a professional license provided by the state can be suspended. Liens against property or real estate or freezing of bank accounts are additional options available to pay support in arrears.
Willfully falling behind in payments could be considered contempt of court and could be penalized with additional fines or jail time. Though a prison sentence is not very common, since jail generally prevents the parent from making an income, it is not out of the question. In some cases, work release can be arranged to make sure payments can still be made while serving a sentence.
If your ex hasn’t been paying his court-mandated child support or alimony, you need to take action. There are state agencies that can help, but to get more complete and more immediate action, you may want to reach out to an attorney with expertise in divorce and child support, who knows the law and all the possible excuses an ex-spouse can make to avoid paying support. Reach out to us here at Goldberg Law to see how we can help you get the support you deserve.