Question: More than two years after our divorce, my ex-husband still doesn’t pay child support and a small amount of alimony on time. Initially, we had an agreement that called for direct payments to me. When he didn’t honor it, I had to go back to court and get a court order for him to make the payments to the court. This worked for a while, but he slipped back into his old routine after a couple of months. I have two young children to raise and need his payments on time, but he consistently remains in arrears. He has a good job with a rather large company and has now remarried. He tells me that he is paying what he can and, if I keep it up, he could lose his job. I can’t afford any more lawyer fees. How can I get his attention without causing him to lose his job?

Answer: Someone should have suggested garnishment of his wages as a way to ensure that your payments are made on a timely basis. “Garnishment” is a way in which you – as a former spouse with a valid court order requiring child support and alimony – can receive direct payments from your former husband’s employer, which deducts the amount due from his paycheck each month.

In order to begin garnishment, the family court must issue an order directing your ex-husband’s employer to withhold not only current support and alimony, but also a portion of accrued arrearage and even health insurance premiums.

As with any remedy, however, there are limitations. For example, there are limits on the percentage of wages that can be garnished, and special rules apply if the delinquent spouse is employed by the federal government or military service. The fact that your ex has remarried will reduce the percentage of his wages subject to garnishment. In addition, some types of income and money are not subject to garnishment. Lastly, your ex can’t be legally fired if you secure an order of garnishment, as this would be job discrimination.

In our view, garnishment is the most efficient way to enforce a former spouse’s obligation to pay support. We believe that garnishment provisions should be built into matrimonial agreements so that, should support and alimony not be paid in a timely fashion, collection options are more readily available.

SoloFact: MORE ON GARNISHMENT: Based on the Family Support Act, a federal law enacted in 1988, all states were required to allow garnishment by 1994. Garnishment imposes the obligation on the former spouse’s employer to provide support and alimony payments from the ex-spouse wages. This, in turn, imposes significant bookkeeping obligations on the employer. According to federal law, salary, commissions, bonuses, severance pay, sick pay, incentive pay, workers compensation benefits, and Railroad Retirement benefits are subject to being garnished. Exclusions include amounts owed for taxes, health insurance, and normal retirement contributions.

In our mobile society, payors and receivers of support and alimony payments often move from state to state. If the order of support was made by the court of a different state which had jurisdiction, the procedure to secure garnishment is more difficult, but can be accomplished. It is always best to check on the law of your state with a knowlegeable lawyer.