In addition to your monthly child support payments, you may heavily depend on your monthly alimony payments to make ends meet. So it is unacceptable when your former spouse does not hold up their end of the agreement and consistently misses these payment due dates. In a case such as this, you must bring it to the attention of the New Jersey family court. Continue reading to learn what happens if your former spouse refuses to pay alimony and how an experienced Morristown alimony lawyer at Graves Andrews, LLC can help you receive the financial support you require.
What happens if my former spouse refuses to make their court-ordered alimony payments?
You must understand that it is your right to receive alimony payments as per the court order made in your divorce proceedings. So if you are denied this right, your first reaction may be to contact your former spouse directly to get down to the bottom of the issue. However, especially if you and your former spouse ended up on bad terms, it is wise to take this issue down a legal avenue, instead.
More specifically, your attorney may send a notice to your former spouse on your behalf, in which they may warn that they are in default. And if your former spouse fails to respond to this notice, then your attorney may take your case to court. This may result in the court ordering for your former spouse’s wages to be garnished, so that you may receive your due payments after all. In extreme scenarios, the court may order your former spouse to a driver’s license revocation, property surrender, or even jail time.
How might my former spouse formally petition for a modification to the alimony order?
It is worth mentioning that there is a way your former spouse may legally petition for their alimony obligation to be modified. That is, they may file for a post-judgment modification with the New Jersey family court. With this, they may argue for such a modification due to having since involuntarily lost their employment or otherwise incurred a significant decrease in earnings. Or they may argue that you have since gotten remarried, a promotion at work, a family inheritance, or otherwise a new source of financial stability.
If your former spouse is successful in their argument, then they may lawfully stop making monthly alimony payments, or at the very least reduce the amount they send you per month. However, you are entitled to receive the same payments from them until the court makes a filing ruling on the modification. But to avoid a negative outcome altogether, we believe that legal representation from a skilled Morristown family law attorney is the best fit for you and your post-judgment modification proceedings. So please get in touch with Graves Andrews, LLC as soon as you can.
