You Could Get a Contempt Citation for Not Paying Alimony
Video Transcribed: What happens if I don’t pay my spouse’s support in Oklahoma? I’m James Worth, an attorney in Tulsa. And that’s the question that we have. Alimony orders, what if you don’t comply with them? What happens?
Well, there are a number of things that can happen. Spouse support or alimony, just like any other judgment can be collected, like a judgment is collected. So you could look at garnishing wages, levying bank accounts, or putting a lien on real estate or other property. Those are various ways to collect. Also, you can try to collect through contempt.
So if you do not pay your spouse support, your ex could file an application for a contempt citation, alleging that you’re violating intentionally the court’s order. In Oklahoma, if you’re found guilty of contempt, you could get up to six months imprisonment. In a case like this, imprisonment is only to force compliance. So as they say, you are the key to your own release for a sentence like that.
Meaning if you are sentenced to time for violating an alimony order, getting into compliance with the order is grounds to be released. Usually, generally speaking, they’re not going to hold you for six months. They’re going to hold you as long as it takes to get compliant. So as far as what happens if you don’t pay your spouse support, worst case scenario, you get thrown into jail on contempt. In the best-case scenario, you demonstrate that you don’t have the ability to pay and you file for a modification to try to get it changed.
There are also things in between that they can try to enforce through garnishments of your wages, levying of bank accounts, the lien on real property, and for sale of real property that is not exempt from collection. So, that’s the general information that I can provide in this video.
If you’re dealing with a circumstance you’re going to want to talk to an Oklahoma alimony attorney privately and confidentially about your specific circumstances to get that scheduled with somebody at my office you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
