What Are Violations to My Divorce Agreement?

You and your former spouse should both know that your divorce agreement is not merely a suggestion for how to handle yourselves from here on out, but it is a legally binding court order. This means that you must follow the terms and conditions for property division, child custody, child support, and spousal support exactly, or else you may be in violation of this contract. This may come with serious legal and financial repercussions. With that being said, please follow along to find out the possible violations your former spouse may make to your divorce agreement and how one of the Clarksville divorce lawyers at Fendley and Birch can help you get the court’s attention if necessary.

What are possible violations of my divorce agreement?

Your former spouse’s violations of your enforced divorce agreement may be obvert, but a lot of the time, they are more subliminal and nuanced. For example, your former spouse may be making your child and spousal support payments on time and in full each month without fail. While this makes them appear to be in compliance with your agreement, you may later on discover that they concealed assets or income during your initial divorce proceedings. So, they may have intentionally attempted to reduce their support obligations when, in actuality, they can be providing you and your child with more aid you desperately require. This may have similarly affected your equitable property division.

In another example, your former spouse may be following your parenting time schedule precisely, picking up and dropping off your child when they are supposed to. However, upon further investigation, you may learn that your former spouse moved a significant distance away from you, or even out of state, without getting the necessary court permission first. With this, you may fear that your child is now spending time in an unsafe or inadequate home environment.

Should I involve the court after such a violation?

If your former spouse’s violation of your divorce agreement is minor and a one-off incident, you may simply have a peaceful yet honest conversation with them. Or, you may enter mediation if you agree that the terms must be slightly modified so such an incident does not happen again.

But with a more serious violation, like the ones mentioned above, you may have to involve the court and file to enforce divorce terms. With this, the Tennessee family court may give additional orders to your former spouse to enforce the divorce terms further.

Or, if you believe that your former spouse’s violations are intentional and malicious, you may instead file for contempt of court. This motion has the court impose consequences on your former spouse if they continually fail to comply with your divorce agreement. For example, if the issue is with the child or spousal support obligations, they may face wage garnishment while being ordered to pay your legal fees and additional fines. For child custody issues, they may lose their custody rights or even face jail time if they are found guilty of placing your child in immediate danger.

As a former spouse who is being mistreated and disrespected, there is no one better you can turn to than one of the talented Clarksville family lawyers from our firm. So please, call us at Fendley and Birch as soon as possible.