Contempt of Court..HELP

Hello, we are from Washington state and I have a few questions. My husband owes some back support..(long story) Anyway, in March his X-wife took him to court to get a judgement placed on him for the back support owed. The judge ordered that he was to pay the back support with his 1999 tax return. Before we received our tax return (jointly filed) the state of Wa stepped in and started collecting the back support via a garnishment. They also are collecting the current support and the daycare. The tax return mostly belonged to me as I claimed my daughter and I make more money so we kept it since she was getting money through the garnishment. Now his X has filed contempt of court and asking for jail time to be placed on my husband because he didn't turn over his tax return. Is there anything that we can do? What are the odds of him really going to jail over this?
Any info would be much appreciated asap..

Thanks,
Glenda

You do not state how much is owed. If he was still owing money and he refused to pay with the tax return then yes, he is in comtempt of court. If by the time the tax return came through he was up to date, then no, there is no case to be heard.

The arguement about the tax return being mostly yours will not wash well with the court and I am sure you would rather use it to help pay off his debt than see him go to jail.

My question is, if you knew he had to pay back support with his tax return, why did you file jointly?? If you had filed seperately, then you could have kept YOUR return and paid his support with his. This just seems like the logical thing to have done in your situation. Otherwise, KNOWING the return had to go to back support, you should have used it to pay his debt. I guess I just though everyone KNEW that people go to jail for not paying support!!!

We had already filed our tax return before the court ordered that my husband pay over it. Secondly, the moneys that the court state that he owe his X-wife are a bunch of crock anyway. He doesn't really owe her any of the money but the court beleived her over him and so he is now having to pay her even more money. She is money hungry and we both didn't want to turn in money that we needed to pay off our medical bills and so on to her because she shouldn't have gotten the money anyway. In Washington State there is a clause stating that if the court orders that back support is paid with the tax return and it is a jointly filed tax return then the entire return does not belong to the person owing the money. If they send my husband to jail over this then it would be stupid as he wouldn't be paying anything for child support. He is paying child support and daycare...In fact they take 1/2 of his net income already as it is.... I think the state is very unfair to the father's!!!

A person can not just go into court and say 'yes, he owes me back support of 15k' and then for the judge to agree with no evidence or information. She would have had to prove that she was owed that money and had to prove that your husband did not pay. Also, your husband should have been able to PROVE that he had paid the money. If he could not then that is his own fault for not keeping records.

This is how the hearing should have gone if you are correct in that he does not owe any money..

Ex Wife: ‘ Judge, my scummy ex husband owes me 19k !’

Ex Husband: ‘ That is not true your worship, over the period from feb 96 until oct 98 I was court ordered to pay 7.2k. Due to a change in the court ordered amount I was then requested between the period of nov 98 and jul 2000 to pay 8.3k. Therefore a total of 15.5k should have been paid to my dear ex wife. I have papers here to prove that since feb 96 I have paid exactly 15.5k. My proof includes check stubs and also direct deposits that went straight into her account. Therefore my honor, the ex wife from hell is mistaken in her belief and her accounts are in error.’

Judge: ‘ If seems as though you are correct sir. Motion by plaintiff denied’


You still do not state the amount so no idea if he will go to jail. Sounds like you are very bitter and not wanting to pay her any money. In which case your hubby may go to jail. No, it is not stupid to send him to jail as he can not work and can not pay. The debt will be there when he gets out. The threat of jail to the average person who has never been near a jail in their life is normally the final factor in making them realize they have to pay CS. As the new spouse, you do have a choice and you are right in that your money should not be going to pay this debt off. Your choice is to help him or watch him drown…


For anyone else reading this.. I will let you into a little secret, the person with the most documentation, evidence and proof will generally always win over someone who does not.

What you say is probably true in most cases that whoever has the most proof wins but it's not the case with my husband.

The problem is that his X put their child in daycare for over a year without telling my husband about it...Then, she turned around and told the court that she has been paying for daycare and my husband hasn't been helping at all...Thus the court ordered that my husband pay back the FULL amount of the daycare she paid..Not just half but the FULL amount!

Yes I am bitter. He is paying over half of his paycheck to support a child that he can't even see because his X-wife refuses visitation or even phone contact. We have made several attempts to take her to court over this but the judges don't seem to listen to my husband. The court is in a very small town with only one judge who had personal problems with my husband even before he and his X were divorced. Thus this judge walks all over my husband and let's his X get away with everything.

I deal with Child Support issue's with my husband but also with my X-husband as he pay's child support for my daughter. I would never try and manipulate the system for my finacial benefit. MY X-husband makes 2x's what my current husband makes but yet he doesn't even pay as much as my husband pays for child support. My husband is being taken by his X because his X always modify's the court order when she isn't working and living off of welfare therefore they make my husband pay 100% of the alloted amount for his child...Then, she starts working again making more money then my husband but the state will not allow modification until it's been a year! This isn't fair!!