Enforcement of Alimony Orders

Another avenue that may be taken by a spouse who is owed alimony is to seek to have a garnishment of wages or income deduction order put into place against the obligated spouse. Garnishments often prove to be a faster and less expensive way to collect support than initiating a contempt proceeding. Normally, garnishments operate by attaching the earnings of the obligated spouse before he or she receives compensation from his or her employer. If the obligated spouse is in arrears on paying his or her alimony, the garnishment for support will continue until the obligation is current. Any payments received will first be applied to the current month's obligation and any surplus payments will reduce the arrears owed. Despite the amount of alimony owed however, Georgia law only allows up to 50% of the obligated spouse's net income to be garnished in order to satisfy an alimony obligation.

Income withholding or income deduction orders are similar to garnishments in that they deduct the amount necessary to satisfy the spousal support payment directly from the obligated spouse's income. In fact, in Georgia, all new or newly amended alimony orders are subject to income deduction orders automatically. Essentially, in every case involving an order of alimony, the court will contemporaneously enter an income deduction order as well, and this income deduction order will continue to apply until the alimony obligation is exhausted. O.C.G.A. § 19-6-32(a). However, under certain circumstances, a court will not automatically enter in income deduction order. Normally, if the parties agree that an income deduction order is not necessary, a court will not enter one. But, if the obligated spouse ever fails to pay his or her alimony, the recipient spouse may subsequently seek an income deduction order.