East Coast West Coast Spousal Support

I live on the West Coast; my ex-husband lives on the East Coast. Twenty years ago, after 17 years of marriage, we divorced. At that time, we both lived on the East Coast. The judge ordered that he should pay me alimony until one of us succumbed. One year ago, he stopped payment and since then, has not sent the spousal support ordered by the Court and as mandated in the divorce decree.

(1) Because he is on the East Coast and I am on the West Coast, how would I go about filing for retro payments and the reinstatement of my weekly support payments.

(2) He owns his own business. Being self-employed, he may or may not draw a weekly paycheck, I do not know how he draws his salary. Either way, how do I go about enforcing the judge's ruling on support until death? And how do I proceed when I am on the West Coast and he is on the East Coast?

Thank you for your help.

You would need to file a Motion for Rule to Show Cause (more commonly known as contempt) in the court that issued the divorce decree.

You would make your arguments about his obligation to pay and his failure to pay.

He would make arguments about why he hasn't paid and why the court should feel sorry for him.

Usually, in the absence of something extraordinary, he would be found in contempt and given a deadline to make a lump sum payment and resume the weekly payments. Most of the time, the one found in contempt has to pay the other side's attorney fees also, if you ask for that. If he meets the lump sum payment and continues to make the regular payments, then you got what you wanted. If he doesn't, you take him back into court, and the court will most likely put his patootie in jail or impose other similarly painful sanctions.

He's apparently not going to do this out of the goodness of his heart (or his fear of the court), so you have to hold him to it and MAKE him do it, using the court as your giant club.

Best of luck to you!