Enforcement
Unfortunately, there will always be some people that, for whatever reason, refuse to comply with court orders.
The court order could be a parenting plan, a decree of dissolution of marriage, an order of child support, a temporary order, or some other type of order. Some common violations of a court order could include, but are not limited to, the following:
- A parent not paying child support
- An ex-spouse not paying maintenance
- An ex-spouse not complying with other financial provisions in the order, such as failing to make payments on the mortgage if the home was awarded to them
- A parent refusing to make the children available to the other parent.
Enforcement of these orders can take varying approaches from writing a letter to the offending party (or that party’s attorney), to filing a motion to enforce the order, to filing a motion to hold the other person in contempt of court, and in extreme cases, to requesting that the court jail the offending party.
There are a few exceptions to the requirement for complete compliance with a court order, including when one parent has a good faith belief that contact with the other parent could endanger his or her children, or when a person lacks the capacity to comply with a court order due to becoming disabled, unable to work, and unable to fulfill court ordered financial obligations. (Read more here regarding the “unable to fulfill” topic). In these cases, most courts would not find the violating party in contempt for neglecting the order so long as they took prompt action to file a petition to modify the court order with which they were unable to comply.
For more information on enforcing out-of-state judgments, click here.
The Levey Law Group fervently believes that, aside from rare exceptions, all court orders should be meticulously followed, and to do otherwise is to thumb one’s nose at the court. We have vast experience in the numerous methods of enforcing all types of court orders. Contact us today.