Contempt of Court

[drjsbach]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

Because Texas no longer has "debtor's prison," it seems that I can get no relief from the court with regard to the debt owed to me and awarded in the Final Decree. Since the divorce, I have twice sued for Enforcement. I now have 3 very expensive pieces of paper and no relief.

I have been told that I cannot sue for Contempt of Court for debts. Most of the decree had to do with debts (because my ex "gifted" all property to me before our divorce).

Recently in a deposition for discovery of any assets, my ex committed perjury (basically lying in every answer) as well as committed aggravated perjury when he filed a Motion to Quash and made false statements to the court in said motion.

My question is this: Can I not now sue for contempt of court based on two things: perjury/aggravated perjury and the debt that was owed on real property which he was awarded in the decree of divorce?

An explanation: In the final decree, my ex was awarded a vehicle with two caveats: He was to make the monthly payments for the vehicle to me (so that I could pay the finance company) AND he was to refinance the vehicle into his own name by a specified date. He was told that if he was late on any payment and/or failed to refinance the vehicle, I had the right to ask for the return of the vehicle within 12 hours. He failed to do either of those things. Instead, he kept the vehicle for 4 months and 7 days and refused to return it to me 3 times when I requested it - only making the payment for 2 months (I was forced to pay for the vehicle in order to keep my credit from plummeting), he failed to refinance the vehicle into his own name, and when he finally returned the vehicle to me, he had caused close to $3,000 worth of body damage. He had also agreed to pay me the payments for the vehicle when he was in sole possession of it prior to our divorce ($1,885). While this is technically a debt, it has to do with actual property.

He was in sole possession of the vehicle for months while I made the payments. I had no use from the vehicle, yet I was obligated to pay for it because my name is on the title (he was a co-signator only) and I did not want the vehicle to get repossessed. He received a parking ticket while in possession of the vehicle. I had to pay it.

Can I sue him for contempt based on this debt since it was caused by the possession of real property? Can I also sue him for contempt due to perjury in the deposition? (I could have sold the vehicle for what was owed on it
before he took possession of it. When he returned it, because of the damage, I could not sell it for the amount that was owed on it and would have taken a loss. He did not claim it on his insurance. My lawyers made him aware of the damage when we sent him estimates).

Thank you.

[mistoffolees]

You can't sue for contempt for perjury - that is between him and the court.

Who told you you couldn't sue for contempt over the debts? If you have a valid court order and he is not following the court order, you can sue for contempt - whether the court order involves payment of debt or him polishing your shoes. The court order is an order and not negotiable.

Now, even if he is convicted of contempt of court, it is not going to collect your debt for you - you'll still have to do that. If he has no assets or income within the jurisdiction of the court, there may, indeed, be no way for you to collect. If he has income or assets, you can petition for them to be attached.

What does your attorney say?

[drjsbach]

My lawyer simply wants to write him a strongly worded letter.

Because he lied throughout the deposition, we don't really have any way of knowing if he does, in fact, have assets or not. He and his girlfriend have a checking account together. He does have a job, albeit, a lower paying job. He and his girlfriend are, somehow, paying for an apartment, cable, internet, cellphones, car payment, groceries, entertainment, etc. Someone has money coming from somewhere. They've even been on vacation 3 times in the past year. I've been paying his bills.

The court would not even know if he had lied in his deposition since he was in my lawyer's office and not in the courtroom. Someone has to bring it to the court's attention. Who would that be?

From what I've read and from what my lawyer tells me, we cannot ask a judge to consider contempt for the payment of debts. He's already been found in contempt in the enforcement orders, but the judge simply signed those and sent me on my way. I think that we must not be requesting the right form of action from the judge. If we can show that, at least, the debts owed regarding the vehicle have to do with tangible property, I'm hoping that I can get paid for that. As far as the other things go, I have offered to renegotiate terms with my ex-husband. He and his girlfriend have been verbally abusive or made no response at all - to me, to my lawyer, or to the court.

I'm really at a loss.

[mistoffolees]

I'm going to bow out and wait for someone with more experience with contempt to chime in (I've never had to deal with contempt issues). I'm a little surprised at much of what you're saying, but let's let someone who has been through it respond.