My ex-husband lives in Gwinnett county Georgia and he violated a divorce agreement by not paying the agreed settlement.

You haven't given us a lot of details, but I am guessing from your post that the decree is from Gwinnett also. Attorneys fees certainly can sometimes be recovered in a contempt. As for other remedies, that would depend on details you did not give.

You would need to hire a GA attorney who can then file the contempt in Gwinnet County for you. As my colleague stated, you could also ask for attorneys fees for having to bring the contempt action. Without more information as to what problems you may be experiencing with your ex husband, it is hard to say what else could be included in your contempt action. You will need to call and speak with an attorney to discuss that!

I agree with my colleagues. You need to file the contempt action in Gwinnett County. Prior to filing an action, you may want an attorney to write a letter demanding payment. This may scare him to pay what is owed prior to filing. You may be able to recover attorney's fees. You should hire an attorney that practices in Gwinnett County. You will be able to proceed remotely for most, if not all, of your case if you hire an attorney to assist you. I would need to know more about your case to give you more thorough advice.

First, I recommend that an attorney get a copy of your divorce decree and review it with you. It is vital that an experienced attorney ensure that he has failed to comply with the terms and verify how expansive and to what extent he is in violation. For example, I once had an obnoxious attorney insist that my client was $88,000 in arrears in his child support, when in fact he could prove that at worst he was only $40,000 in arrears. Ultimately, it was about half of that when it was resolved. Second, most judges will appreciate good faith efforts to resolve the matter before bringing it to court. I would attempt to contact him and present him with (1) a clear breakdown of his violations and (2) a plan to resolve them to your satisfaction. In most cases, he will ignore these attempts or not agree. Was this effort wasted? No, on the contrary, it shows good faith efforts to resolve things, and it makes your argument for attorney fees even stronger. You now have the benefit of saying to the judge: Look, we tried to resolve this. Our proposal was reasonable, and he blew us off. Third, you can file a petition for contempt in the superior court. You can also ask for his incarceration, immediate full or partial compliance, a plan to clear up all violations, and reimbursement of attorney fees. The court also has the power to make things even more uncomfortable, imposing fines, other sanctions, etc. One obstacle you will have is being in Korea. You will normally be expected to appear in court to prosecute your case. Of course, in the negotiation phase, this can be very valuable. You can use the threat of having to come back here to defend and all the travel costs as an additional reimbursement you will seek to have to court order him to repay you, in the event you have to go to court. I hope these observations help. They are meant to be helpful, but they are not the solution. You still need to retain counsel to do this efficiently and completely. Good luck to you. Steve Shewmaker