Enforcement of Court Orders
Now that your divorce is completed and a Judgment of Divorce has been entered with the court, your former spouse refuses to follow the terms of the Judgment of Divorce. What do you do?
There is no need to suffer unnecessarily because one party refuses to comply with the terms of the Judgment of Divorce. You need to go back to Court to enforce the terms of your Judgment of Divorce.
The Judgment of Divorce defines the terms of your agreement, or the ruling of the judge after your trial. The Judgment of Divorce will specifically describe the terms such as division of bank accounts, retirement accounts, debt, personal property, real property, parenting time, child support, tax exemptions/tax refunds, and spousal support.
These terms in the Judgment of Divorce become enforceable after the Judgment of Divorce has been entered, and are enforceable through the Court.
Your former spouse is in violation of the Judgment of Divorce if they refuse to transfer an asset to you, refuse to give you personal property that you were awarded, fails to pay child support of spousal support, fails to sign a quit claim deed to transfer real property to you, refuses to refinance real estate or automobiles, or fails to meet any other terms that may be in your Judgment of Divorce.
If your former spouse is not following the terms of the Judgment of Divorce, your former spouse can be forced to appear in court on a “Show Cause” motion. This means they must appear in court and show a good cause why they have failed to abide by the terms of the Judgment of Divorce. If they are unable to provide the court with a legitimate reason for their failure to abide by the terms of the Judgment of Divorce, the court can order the violating party to immediately rectify their non-compliance. And often the former spouse will be responsible for payment of attorney’s fees you’ve incurred in bringing your show cause motion if it is shown that their noncompliance was willful.
Please contact Laurie Schmitt at Schmitt Law, PLLC to discuss the nature of the violation of the Judgment of Divorce and what remedies are available to you.
