Question: Is the IRA money protected from alimony paid by the State Probation Service?
– Divorced
A. Much depends on the dish and your particular situation.
If someone has maintenance, the spouse who is supposed to receive the payments must take steps to obtain relief.
It is within the discretion and power of a court to liquidate a paying spouse’s IRA for payment of maintenance arrears, said Jeralyn Lawrence, a family law attorney with Lawrence Law in Watchung.
That means the IRA’s money is not protected from being used by the parole department to pay alimony, Lawrence said.
But that doesn’t usually happen, she said.
“Rather than garnishing the IRA through the appropriate probation department, it is more common for a court to first pass judgment on the offending party and then force the IRA to be dissolved by a court order,” said Lawrence.
She said that in cases with numerous violations of orders or agreements, the court could decide to liquidate a portion of the IRA that will be held in trust and used to meet future alimony payments.
“While this is an option available to the court, winding up the IRA of a defaulting party for this purpose is often viewed as an exceptional form of relief and is generally used as a last resort,” she said.
Anyone seeking alimony reimbursement through liquidation of the defaulting party’s IRA must first file an application with the court for this particular form of relief, she said. After the motion is filed, the court can choose one or more sanctions to get the defaulting party to meet the outstanding maintenance obligation, she said.
There are several other ways a court can attempt to get the defaulting party to pay, including ruling against the defaulting party that may incur interest, Lawrence said. Or the defaulting party may be given time to pay the outstanding amount, or the defaulting party’s driver’s license may be suspended. It could also impose financial sanctions on the defaulting party or require the defaulting party to participate in a court-approved charitable program, she said.
The defaulting party could even be jailed or the court could issue an arrest warrant for the defaulting party, she said.
“It is at the discretion of the court to seek appropriate remedy, which will ultimately be determined based on the unique and individual facts of a particular case,” said Lawrence.
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Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.com’s weekly e-newsletter.
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