If you have a Maintenance Order granted by the Court and your spouse is refusing to pay, the Court can order the following remedies to secure your payment:

1. An attachment of earnings order.

The court can order that the maintenance payments are deducted from your spouse’s salary by their employer. The employer will send the payments directly to the Court, who will then forward them to the recipient. However, this method of enforcement is only effective if the paying spouse has an employer (as opposed to being self-employed).

2. A warrant of control

The court can order for assets of the spouse to be seized and sold to recover the outstanding amount.

3. Third party debt order

If the paying spouse is owed a debt from a third party, the court can order that this debt is repaid to the recipient spouse instead. The debt will ‘leapfrog’ the paying spouse and be repaid directly to the recipient spouse.

4. Charging order

The court can register a Charge against property owned by the paying spouse. However, the receiving spouse would only receive their money in the event of a sale. The court can order a sale of the property but this would require separate proceedings.

5. Judgement summons

Under the Debtors Act 1869, the court has the power to commit to prison a respondent who has not paid a periodical payments order or a lump sum order. This can only be done if (a) the respondent has defaulted and (b) the respondent has a means to pay but is neglecting or refusing to do so.

At George Green LLP our specialist Family Solicitors are experts in advising clients in respect of enforcing maintenance orders and the options available to them. If you would like any further information or advice or if you wish to discuss your matter in a free initial telephone consultation call Mark Vandaele on 01902 796930 (mvandaele@georgegreen.co.uk) at our Wolverhampton office or Rachel Baker on 01384 340 580 (rbaker@georgegreen.co.uk at our Cradley Heath office.