Court Order

madamejojo

Hi Forum, I'm a newbie here so please be gentle:A

I have a question and it's quite a specific question, so if anyone has any experience of this before, please do comment.

My question is related to divorce. My financial order was signed in 2003. Ex husband had a solicitor, I did not. I trusted him. He took all of the money from the sale of the marital home and bought a house in California, where he has lived ever since. He is British and is there on a Green Card. He currently owns a $1.5 million house on the coast. He has his own small business there. I agreed to regular payments off of a lump sum out of the proceeds of the house. The split was about 70:30 to him. What can I say, I'm not materialistic, and I just wanted the thing over. BUT... That 30%...trying to even get that from him over the past 10 years has been hell on earth. I've been so distressed from the fallout of it that I've even contemplated things that I thought I would never ever contemplate, ie ending it all. He has used my requests for that money as a means of making people think that I'm a bitter twisted ex-wife. All of his family no longer talk to me, mine are on the fence as they cannot believe that someone would be that cruel, they think that I must have 'done something' to deserve the withholding of the money.

This is a court ordered amount!! He is currently in arrears to the tune of $7000. I went to the court to see what they could do. They cannot do anything apparently, as it's a lump sum and not maintenance. They advised me to go back to the solicitor. I have no money to pay solicitors fees. I am struggling to keep a roof over my head. Bottom line is that I have been ripped off and I allowed it to happen - but I did trust in the 'gentlemens agreement' that we had. And so yes, I am an idiot, I know that.

My question is - and thanks for reading that long winded background info - is there any method of recovering a lump sum amount, ordered by the family courts, when the person who owes it is in the USA? I cannot find any information on the internet about this. If I could go to the small claims court and even get them to say - 'Yes, he owes that and here's a new piece of paper to say as much', I would be happy. $45k is owed on the order in total, but that stretches over the next 5/6 years. Monthly payments of $700 are supposed to be paid. I even said to him that I would have to start levying interest. He just ignored that and said 'whatever'. I don't think I can handle another 5/6 years of this. The last ten years have been the worst of my life.:(

This is such a longshot, posting this here in the hope that someone reading has anything they could suggest to me as a way of taking this matter forward.

Thanks again for reading.

Jo

Thegirl

Hi

Sorry, I can't answer your question as I don't know the answer, but I didn't want to ignore you.

Try http://www.wikivorce.com/divorce/ as there are lots of people who know lots of stuff and can offer help, advice or lend an ear.

I hope that someone who knows a bit more can be along to help soon.

RAS

Hi

You have not indicated whether this is child support or a lump sum from capital for your support?

madamejojo

Hi there - this is not child support or spousal support, it is capital payments off of a lump sum - so instead of giving me the 30% of the 100%, he took the 100% and begged me to accept monthly payments for my 30%, spread over 15 years. His father was dying of cancer at the time and he asked me not to create any fuss. This I did. And now I pay the price, big time.

Thanks Ras.

Jo

RAS wrote: »

Hi

You have not indicated whether this is child support or a lump sum from capital for your support?