In most divorces the spouse is ordered to pay some child support to the other who needs the money to help support her and the children. In many cases, the spouse ordered to pay child support misses or don’t make the payments at all. When these kinds of things happen the court do different things to make sure of the “enforcement of arrearages”. If you have a problem with your own payments contact Bucks County divorce lawyer.
The court has the power to make the person pay the arrearages in many different ways; there are 7 different powers that the courts use to enforce the payments. The important ones are: award interest on unpaid installments; require security to insure future payments, and award counsel fees and costs.
In the case of Willoughby v. Willoughby the spouse is in prison and the ball is in the courts hands to see how he will make the payments.
Roy Willoughby was incarcerated for criminal activity, and the court had to determine if his jail time permitted him to not to pay his alimony payments to his wife and family. The court ruled that the incarceration does not justify the modification of paying the wife’s alimony payments. They also ruled that just because the husband not is able to pay the “arrearages” while in prison, they should not be eliminated while he is serving his sentence or when he is released. When Mr. Willoughby is released there will be a trial court hearing under Section 3703 to enforce the payment of arrearages. The cite is: Willoughby v. Willoughby 862 A.2d 654 (Pa. Super 2004).