Tactics Against Non-Payment - עמיהוד בורוכוב, משרד עורכי דין

My ex-husband has stopped paying maintenance set by the court for over six months now because, he says, I am dating someone. He is very comfortable financially and there is no objective reason for him not paying maintenance for the children. I have been wondering what would pressurise him into paying. He is a jeep freak . He has just bought a new one. Could I use this as a weapon ?

Maintenance / Child Support •Tactics Against Non-Payment

Yes, you can open a file at the bailiffs to enforce the maintenance judgment. Your husband will be served with the documents, and details about payment options and a warning about steps that can be taken against him if he continues not paying. If he still refuses to react or pay up after the 20 day deadline, you can apply to the Chief Bailiff for a “freeze” on his new jeep, if it is registered in his name at the Vehicle Licensing Centre .If granted, this would stop your husband from transferring ownership of the jeep. If after a further 14 days he still refused to pay up, the Chief Bailiff could order the vehicle to be sold to cover the debt.

I am currently separated and my children live with my wife. I always paid maintenance for her and the children on time, and have never been late with a payment. Despite this, my wife now demands that I find someone to act as a guarantor. Is she entitled to request this ?

Maintenance / Child Support •Tactics Against Non-Payment

No ! Irrespective of whether someone with a maintenance obligation makes the payments on time every month or not, the demand to produce a guarantor is arbitrary and sounds fabricated. If, however, a person with a maintenance obligation intends to go abroad for a certain period of time, then such a demand could be justified, in order to guarantee the continuation of payments, during his absence from the country.

My ‘ex’ deliberately avoids paying child maintenance directly into my bank account as the judgment authorising our maintenance payment orders him to do. I have given my bank details to his lawyer but he continues to give the children several hundred shekels on each visit and buy them things like shoes or clothes they say they need, rather than paying properly. What should I do ?

Maintenance / Child Support •Tactics Against Non-Payment

Any ‘handouts’ made outside the formal maintenance arrangements in a divorce agreement/judgment are considered to be voluntary and do not count as maintenance. Accordingly, a mother of minor children who is supposed to receive maintenance for them in her bank account – but does not get it there in a consistent manner – is entitled to open a file at the bailiff’s office. She should also make a note of sums given by the father so that these can be deducted from the‘debt’ he owes.

Can a stop order be issued by an Israeli court against a father as part of child maintenance proceedings if he is a foreign resident ?

Maintenance / Child Support •Tactics Against Non-Payment

As a rule no, but yes as an exception. According to the Civil Procedure Rules of 1984 a ‘stop order’ will not be issued against a foreign resident unless there are “exceptional circumstances” and “special reasons which should be recorded.” In practice, though, in general a Chief Bailiff is more likely to grant an exit order against a foreign resident than a court dealing with a maintenance plea. This is because once a maintenance case reaches the bailiff’s it has already been decided by the court and is being asked to enforce if after the husband/ex husband/father has failed to pay as required

My husband is a drug addict and does not pay me and my children maintenance although I have a court judgment ordering him to do so. I’ve heard that a husband who refuses to pay maintenance can be jailed – could I get a jail order at the bailiff’s against my husband to make him pay?

Maintenance / Child Support •Tactics Against Non-Payment

Firstly, orders imprisoning maintenance debtors are aimed at those men who have the financial ability to pay – but doesn’t pay or just refuses to out of spite. Secondly, the Supreme Court of Justice held in the early nineties that such an order cannot be made against a drug addict. You should try and get the maintenance paid from National Insurance if you cannot get it through your husband, or his parents

Can a father whose address is unknown be served with an order to imprison him for non-payment of child maintenance, when he turns up for visitation?

Maintenance / Child Support •Tactics Against Non-Payment

Yes, according to a controversial decision given by Rishon LeZion Family Court in June 2006. In this case the court held that the father could afford to pay the child maintenance but refused to do so for other motives. Accordingly, orders to imprison him for non-payment of child maintenance could be enforced during times set for visitation . Each case should be decided on its merits, the court held.

Editor’s Remarks:

While it is in the minor’s good to receive maintenance to provide for him, it is certainly against his interests to witness his father being arrested,during visitation.

My husband still refuses to pay maintenance the court ordered for me and the children, although he’s able to financially. How can I make him pay up ?

Maintenance / Child Support •Tactics Against Non-Payment

Firstly, you should open a file at the Bailiffs. The Chief Bailiff has a range of means his disposal in the case of refusal to comply with a court judgment. These are normally only used some time after the debtor has received a warning to pay up within a 20 day deadline. The harshest option is imprisonment; he can order someone who refuses to pay maintenance to be jailed for up to 21 days each time , for each maintenance debt. After the wife applies for an order to jail him, the Chief Bailiff can jail him without a means test which is necessary for other civil debts.

My husband has skipped the country, fleeing with all our savings. We were in the process of divorce, and the family court had already ordered him to pay me and our three children temporary maintenance every month. Now, I am left without a shekel and 3 pre-school age children to support. How can I get my husband to pay up if he’s fled the country ?

Maintenance / Child Support •Tactics Against Non-Payment

Firstly, you should open a file at the bailiff’s office to enforce the maintenance judgment. This allows you to keep tabs on the maintenance debt as it will be automatically updated by their computer to incorporate changes in the consumer price index and interest. Opening the file will also enable you to apply for an order to prevent your husband from leaving Israel if he returns (which he is likely to do to see the children) If he sets foot on Israeli soil, border police will prevent him leaving, and you can proceed with various sanctions, culminating in jail, to ensure payment. Alternatively, if you know where he is abroad, you can ask for permission to serve him with documents relating to the file at the bailiffs, and he will be told how he can pay and warned of the consequences of non-payment.

My husband is just spiteful and although I now have a court judgment giving me and the kids maintenance, I know he won’t pay, although he has enough money from his job in a high-tech company. Is there any way of avoiding the monthly hassle about whether the cheque will arrive if he behaves as I suspect ?

Maintenance / Child Support •Tactics Against Non-Payment

Yes, as you have hassle in getting your maintenance, you can open a file at the Bailiff’s and ask the Chief Bailiff to order your husband’s employer to withhold an amount (equal to the maintenance awarded) from his salary every month, and to transfer it directly to your bank account. If maintenance debt accumulates, it can also be worked off this way, too.

You have another option if a debt builds up – if your knows which bank her husband uses, even if you do not know which branch, or the account number, you can apply to the Chief Bailiff for an order to withhold a sum equal to the debt from his account.

Alternatively, it is possible to “freeze” a car or other property and take steps to sell it via the bailiffs to recover the debt.