guidance requested

Hello.
At our divorce, the financial terms were confirmed in the final order.
My ex has changed jobs and has been on gardening leave for 6 months. He had a large severance in shares which he put in his new wifes nam. Despite our order he stopped all payments, but did not seek to vary the order. He has remarried a wealthy woman an has not had to cut back on his lifestyle whilst not working.

I have racked up credit card debt looking after the children for 6 months.

Q1. can I seek payment of arrears, although he will claim that he can''t pay but has assets.

Q2. His job is bonus driven. How can I find out when and how much bonus he will receive.

Q3. He works in london but for an american bank, can the courts serve an earning attachments order ?

Many, many thanks !!

Q3.

Well, first of all, we do get a lot of queries like this on wiki due to the recession.

If he has lost his job he will not be able to pay the maintenance. However, I have always thought it is reasonable that he should award you some of his severance package. For a start it may include wages in lieu of notice, and to that extent he should carry on paying the maintenance for a period equivalent to the period of notice.

The Court has power to remit arrears and to some extent they would ; after all, if someone loses his job he will not be able to make the payments. There is also the consideration that he would be expected to seek work - assuming , that is, that he really is out of work. I wasn''t clear from your post just what his employment status is. '' Change jobs '' implies that he has a new one.

A lot depends on the terms of his redundancy and whether he really is redundant or just laid off on full pay. But in principle in cases like this you should get something. Note also by the way, you should consider an urgent re-calculation of any social security benefits, if you receive any.

I wouldn''t discourage you from applying for enforcement, you will get something but I can''t speculate as to how much.

LMM

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. Any informtion is a life line at the moment.

He has a new job which will have a bonus attached to it.

Would a court consider it reasonable to issue an earning attachment order to ensure that his bonus payment is used to pay the arrears before he spends it. ?

Thank you

Well - - - - if he has a new job, an attachment of earnings order is certainly one way of enforcing the payment of arrears, but it is not by any means the only one.

It does strike me, however, that if he has indeed landed a new job, it is possible that a variation of the order ( either way ) could be justified. As I said, arrears can be remitted , in whole or in part, if he has been without income for a time.

Other methods of enforcing a judgment can include :

Third party debt orders : this can be used to get at money held in banks or savings accounts, for example
Charging orders on property
Warrant of execution ( this means seizure of his goods, not hanging him !! )
Judgment summons.

Which of these is appropriate depends on the financial situation of the debtor.

LMM

Thanks again. Very helpful, much appreciated.

I suppose I can only say that negotiation can be a way forward.

As I said, I have always taken the view that a severance package can, and in most cases should, be used as a sort of parachute payment, to cushion the shock of redundancy for both sides.

But the problem is, negotiation works only if both parties want to reach a settlement in this way. All I can say that, on my retirement, I was able to negotiate a variation without going to Court.

LMM