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Q. My ex-husband stopped paying child support. I know you’ve written before about how to file a contempt complaint. However, my ex left the country. So what happens when your ex establishes residency in another country? Do I have a legal remedy or can he just stop paying without consequences?
A He doesn’t just get away with it, it just made the enforcement and collection process more complicated. The answer depends in large part on where he went. Some countries have bilateral treaties with the US. For example, if he went to the UK, you would contact a family law solicitor there, provide him with a certified copy of the judgment your ex is required to pay child support and ask for registration and enforcement.
If he’s gone to a more remote place, or to a country whose laws are vastly different from ours, you’ll have more trouble getting a foothold at all. But even then all is not lost.
You should still file a contempt complaint here. If he has gone to a country that has signed the Hague Convention on Foreign Service, you can serve him the contempt subpoena and it is up to him whether or not he shows up. If you cannot serve him easily, file an application and ask the court to allow you to serve him via DHL, email, whatsapp and/or even social media direct messaging. At the contempt hearing, even if he doesn’t show up, ask for a contempt verdict so you can attend to his estate. If you can show that he has assets here, such as real estate, if he doesn’t pay the judgment within a reasonable time, you can have the court order an attachment of his assets. If he still doesn’t pay, you can get a sell order and deduct the debt he owes you from the proceeds of the sale.
If your ex is still employed by a company with US offices, you can apply to the court to have their salary attached, and you can serve orders on the company’s US office.
If he has received tax refunds in the past, you can also try to get an attachment order on any tax refund he may have received – particularly on the state tax refund page. Be sure to ask for legal fees and interest every time you appear before a judge.
Email questions to whickey@brickjones.com
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