This section deals with ways to make a person obliged to pay maintenance actually do so, if he does not effect payment pay according to the terms set by court, whether they based on confrontational legal proceedings or according to an agreement it authorized.
'Direct Debiting' of Maintenance From Wages
Question:
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 ?
Answer:
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.
Sell Jeep - or Pay Up Maintenance !
Question:
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 ?
Answer:
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.
Husband Flees - Leaves Maintenance Debt
Question:
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 ?
Answer:
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.
Another option exists - claiming the maintenance from National Insurance
('Bituach Leumi') . This is possible if you are unsuccessful in getting it from your husband . You can claim from the National Insurance up to a ceiling rate, and then file for the difference at the Bailiff’s office.
A third option lists. If your husband has left property in his name in Israel (even if it is joint property) it may be possible to freeze his rights in it and act to realize it through sale via the bailiffs
Ultimate Sanctions For Non-Payment - Jail
Question:
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 ?
Answer:
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.
Father Jailed For Non-Payment of Maintenance – At Visitation
Question:
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?
Answer:
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.
No Jail For Drug Addict For Maintenance Non-Payment
Question:
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?
Answer:
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.
Maintenance - 'Stop Order' Against Foreign Resident Exception
Question:
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 ?
Answer:
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
‘Ex’ Hands Money To Children - Maintenance Not Paid Properly
Question:
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 ?
Answer:
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.
Unreasonable Demand For Maintenance Guarantor
Question:
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 ?
Answer:
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.
Father In Jail- Child Maintenance From Property
Question:
My marriage has been going downhill for sometime because my husband has been mixing in criminal circles. He moved back into the studio flat he bought before we married and has been living a batchelor life, buying a new sports car and yacht. He has now been sentenced to several years in prison. How will I get maintenance to support myself and the children if he is prison ?
Answer:
If a person is in prison with no income , it is possible for any maintenance he owes – e.g. to his wife and children – to be paid for from his property, that includes savings, real estate and moveable property such as a car or yacht. In a child maintenance case before Tel Aviv Family Court in July 2001 the father was in prison. He owned an apartment which was rented out. He also owned a car. In its judgment the court said: ‘.. It is possible to set maintenance not just from ongoing income but from the debtor’s property and, regarding our matters, not just from the ‘fruit’, but from the ‘tree’ – the apartment and the car.’
Action Against Handicapped Father To Ensure Child Maintenance
Question:
I want to divorce. My husband was injured in a car accident and is permanently confined to a wheelchair. He cannot work and we are struggling to survive on the benefits he receives from the state. We own a home in both our names and have a mortgage. He wants to buy my share of the home – but I don’t know how he will pay child maintenance. We have two young children. Can the court order him to sell his part of the home to cover the children’s maintenance ?
Answer:
This is very unlikely , according to a decision made by the Tel Aviv Family Court in June 2002 in a child maintenance case involving a father who was 100% disabled and unable to work. It rejected his ex-wife’s claims that he should sell his home - which had been specially adapted to accommodate his wheelchair – and live in rented accommodation instead in order to support his children. This was impractical as he would be unable to adapt rented accommodation, it held. Child maintenance was set but the court held that it should be paid for by the National Insurance Institute according to the 1972 Maintenance (Guarantee of Payment ) Act as the defendant had no means of supporting his children , his income from his benefits and pension barely covering his own needs
'Stop Order' On Husband/Father
Question:
What can a wife do to stop her husband leaving Israel and leaving her and their children without money to live on ?
Answer:
The first option available to the wife/mother is to file for maintenance for her and the children at the family court, and to file for an order preventing his exit from Israsel, within the framework of this plea.
Another way of obtaining the same result, in the case of both the husband and wife being Jewish, is by filing for either divorce or marital reconciliation ('Shlom Bayit') at the rabbinical court,and applying for a 'stop order' within the framework of this. If one of the parties is not Jewish, the wife can initiate dissolution of marriage (civil divorce) proceedings, started at the Supreme Court, and within these she can apply for a 'stop order' on her husband.
A third option exists; if within the maintenance plea the wife files temporary maintenance is set, and her husband does not pay, then she can immediately open a file to enforce the decision at the bailiff's office, and apply there for an order preventing him from leaving the country.
One caveat – the wife cannot apply for a 'stop order' in all of these proceedings together – this would not show good faith and could work against her.
Guarantees Needed to Cancel 'Stop Order' Against Foreign Resident
Question:
Is it possible that a foreign resident may have to provide financial guarantees of some kind in order to cancel a stop order issued against him as part of child maintenance proceedings ?
Answer:
Yes, although an order preventing a foreign resident from leaving Israel is only rarely granted , once it is given, it is possible that an Israeli court will demand some kind of guarantee that child maintenance will be paid to lift it. For example, in a leave of appeal case heard by Tel Aviv District Court in December 2003 concerning the cancellation of a stop order against an Israeli father living abroad , it was stressed that where child maintenance has been unpaid or difficult to obtain in practice, the lenient attitude towards foreign residents should not be applied. In the particular case , the District Court rejected an appeal against the family court's decision rejecting the Registrar's ruling not to cancel a 'stop order' against a foreign resident without any condition. His ex-wife had opened several files against him, including one for a child maintenance debt, at the bailiff's, totalling over 160,000 shekels
Child Maintenance Debt –Defence
Question:
My wife and I separated and the court ordered me to pay child maintenance after she filed for it. Some time afterwards we started living together again as a family. After several years I decided that the relationship was destroying both of us and that we should split up for good. My wife has a very vindictive nature and I suspect she will drag me into litigation to keep me from forgetting her ! She has said she will sue me for back child maintenance for those years we were together after the court judgment – claiming that it was still valid then. Can she do this ?
Answer:
In practice the mother may try and claim back maintenance through the bailiff’s office by presenting them with the maintenance judgment in her possession – and asking for it to be enforced. If she does the father should claim that he has already paid the debt for this period, presuming he did actually support the children then. He will have to prove this, although if he can show they lived together there will be a presumption in his favour that he did actually support the minors during this period.
Global Sum For Wife & Child in Maintenance Judgment- Bailiffs
Question:
I filed my husband for maintenance for myself and our child and the family court awarded a global sum for both of us. The judgment does not say how much of the money is for me and how much is for my son. I get the maintenance via the bailiff’s office. A short while ago I divorced. I know that under Jewish law I am no longer entitled to maintenance from my husband but I don’t know how much will be deducted from the global sum set. How will the Bailiff’s Office know what maintenance I should now get for my son ?
Answer:
Where maintenance is set for a number of people without any details being given in the judgment as to the share each should get, the Supreme Court has laid down guidelines about payment where one of them ceases to be eligible for financial support. It has held that in terms of the bailiff’s office, each person is to be regarded as having an equal share of the sum set in the maintenance judgment, regardless of whether the original amount set was for a wife and child or for several children.
Recovering Maintenance Debt – Mother or Minors-Turned- Adult ?
Question:
Who is entitled to recover money from a judgment for child maintenance made against a father , but which was not paid for many years – the mother, or the children , who have meantime reached adulthood, themselves ?
Answer:
The mother. Although the judgment was made in favour of the children, in actual fact their needs were provided for by the mother, as their father avoided paying the sums due for many years. Accordingly, she is entitled to file for and receive the maintenance debt via the Bailiff’s Office.
Children Reaching Maturity Cannot Relieve Father of Debt
Question:
My brother and I grew up with my mother after my parents divorced. My father did not pay us maintenance for many years , although the court had ordered him to do so . My mother wants to bring action against him at the bailiff’s to recover the unpaid debt but I feel sorry for him, and am inclined to “forgive and forget” as he is a weak person and just could not “get his act together” to work consistently and support us. As both of us have reached 18 now, can we “free” him of the maintenance debt?
Answer:
No ! Child maintenance debts are an exception to the rule whereby a debtor’s debt is wiped out if the person owed it gives him a reprieve. This is because in reality the custodial parent – in this case, the mother - supplied their needs, and not the non-custodial parent, the debtor-father. Accordingly, it is the mother who has the right to enforce the maintenance debt, or relieve him of it, and not the children, even though they have reached maturity.
Claiming Unpaid Child Maintenance From Deceased’s Estate
Question:
My father was supposed to pay me child maintenance according to a court judgment but did not do so for several years. My mother did not bring action to get the maintenance debt. I am now 18 and my father has recently died. Can I get the unpaid maintenance and if so, how ?
Answer:
As long as 25 years have not elapsed since the court passed the maintenance judgment, it is still effective and any unpaid maintenance represents a debt to be paid by the deceased father’s estate after his death. Accordingly action can be brought against the estate.
Maintenance Judgment – Costs Given Can Be Obtained Via Bailiff
Question :
I won my plea for maintenance against my husband and costs were awarded against him. He has been paying the maintenance but not the costs. Can I open a file at the Bailiff’s to get this?
Answer:
Yes ! Legal Costs awarded in a judgment are an integral part of it and can be obtained by opening a file at the Bailiff’s office to enforce the judgment.
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