contempt and financial resposibility

wisconsin- my brother lives in nyc, and his ex-wife lives in wisconsin. the hearing this morning took place in wisconsin. according to their divorce agreement, my brother was to pay $250 a month on one of their debts. he got behind because he wasn't earning enough money. now, he has a job that allows him to pay her $400 a month, plus his rent and utilities and his transportation (metro), leaving him with $80 a month for food and misc. this is all in an effort to catch up on what he owes. the hearing today was impossible to get back for- he obviously has no extra money for a flight plus, if he leaves his job, the money to find a replacement comes out of his paycheck. so, he called his ex's lawyer, who told him it was fine that he wouldn't be there and that if he played catchup until spring, he could go back to his original payments. well, that isn't what happened. they put my brother in contempt for not calling into the hearing this morning. then, they said that he needs to pay $400 a month for a year and then make a balloon payment of $6000 at the end of that period! if he doesn't, he will serve jail time! what happened? is there anything we can do?

colbyma said:

wisconsin- my brother lives in nyc, and his ex-wife lives in wisconsin. the hearing this morning took place in wisconsin. according to their divorce agreement, my brother was to pay $250 a month on one of their debts. he got behind because he wasn't earning enough money. now, he has a job that allows him to pay her $400 a month, plus his rent and utilities and his transportation (metro), leaving him with $80 a month for food and misc. this is all in an effort to catch up on what he owes. the hearing today was impossible to get back for- he obviously has no extra money for a flight plus, if he leaves his job, the money to find a replacement comes out of his paycheck. so, he called his ex's lawyer, who told him it was fine that he wouldn't be there and that if he played catchup until spring, he could go back to his original payments. well, that isn't what happened. they put my brother in contempt for not calling into the hearing this morning. then, they said that he needs to pay $400 a month for a year and then make a balloon payment of $6000 at the end of that period! if he doesn't, he will serve jail time! what happened? is there anything we can do?

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My response:

What happened is that he wasn't there to protect his interests and to offer a defense to the Order to Show Cause - - that's what happened.

There's nothing that can be done now. He wasn't there. Now, all he can do is obey the new court orders, or suffer the consequences. It's too late to be asking "What can we do now". He had his opportunity. And, besides, he has no money to "do anything now" even if there was an "anything he can do now".

IAAL