Family Law: Post-Judgment Motions
CONTENTS
If you need to change or enforce your Maine
court order, you can ask the court for help by filing a form called a “post-judgment
motion." This guide can help you if you want to change or enforce a
divorce judgment or a parental rights and responsibilities order.
First, try to work out the problem with the other party. If that
doesn't work, then you can file the motion. If you both agree to a change,
you can still file a motion, asking the court to change the order to reflect
your new agreement. Do this if you want your agreement to be enforceable,
especially when you are changing child support.
Next, you will need to decide what kind of motion you need.
In most cases, you will chose one of these three:
Motion to Modify
File this motion if you need a change in your order.
Motion to Enforce
File this motion if the other party is not following your order and you want
the court to enforce it. Your other choice is Motion for Contempt
(see below). Here are some reasons why a Motion to Enforce may be a
better choice:
- If you have
mutual children, you will meet with a
Family Law Magistrate (Magistrate) soon after you file your papers. The meeting is more informal than
a court hearing and easier to do without a lawyer. Also, if your case
goes beyond this meeting, the Magistrate will help to guide your case through the court.
- The forms and court process are easier, compared to a Motion for
Contempt.
- If your case goes to a
contested hearing, your “burden of proof”
will be easier to meet. Proving contempt is harder to do.
Motion for Contempt
This is an alternative to the Motion to Enforce (see above). If you
file this kind of motion:
- You must get a Judge to approve your action first, before serving the other party with the papers.
- You may have to wait longer to get a hearing with a Judge.
- The other party is
subpoenaed to a formal court hearing.
- You will have to prove more at the formal hearing to get a Contempt
Order.
- A Judge may order more serious sanctions than you can get with a Motion
to Enforce.
In summary, a Motion for Contempt is asking the court to take more
drastic action. Generally, using a Motion to Enforce is simpler and
should work to get what you need. However, if the other party is ignoring
an earlier Order to Enforce or is extremely hostile to doing what the court
orders, you may want to go the next step by bringing a Motion for Contempt.
After you decide which kind of Motion best matches what you need, read more about
what to do by clicking on the type of Motion you decide to file:
Motion to Modify
Motion to Enforce
Motion for Contempt
If you see a linked word that you don't understand, click on it to go to
the glossary. Then click
on "back" to return to the text where you were reading.
Click here to get online court forms.
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Important Note
The steps explained below under Motion to Modify and Motion
to Enforce tell you about all of the Maine Court’s Family
Division procedures: case conferences, mediation, and formal hearings.
The court may skip or re-order some of the steps, in order to best
manage your case.
You can be defaulted
and charged costs if you fail to appear. Don't miss your
court dates!
Notify the court in writing right away if your mailing address changes.
If you don’t do this, you may not get court notices, which will cause you to miss
important court dates.
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A family law matter is serious and the results may affect your family
for many years. So we recommend that you get help from a lawyer if you can.
But we know that there are not enough free lawyers to help everyone who
can't afford one.
If you can't get a lawyer, this guide, along with the forms you get from
the Court, will help you get started. If you file either a Motion to
Enforce or a Motion to Modify and you have
mutual children, a Family Law Magistrate (Magistrate)
will try to help you and the other party through the process.
Even so, you must prepare your paperwork and court case carefully.
(If your case does not involve children, click here for more information.)
- If you need more help with filling out the forms or have other questions
about your court case, call:
Volunteer Lawyers
Project
Helpline
1-800-442-4293
- If you need more help with:
 Getting food or shelter- Paying for medical care
- Getting benefits, like TANF
- Escaping domestic violence
- Other legal issues
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call
Pine
Tree Legal Assistance
If you are still unclear about what kind of motion you need, go back to
Before You Start. If you have
decided what type of motion you need, go there now to find out what steps
to take:
Motion
to Modify
Motion
to Enforce
Motion
for Contempt
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Notice
Prepared by Pine Tree
Legal Assistance
January 2007
Sometimes the laws
change. We cannot promise that this information is always
up-to-date and correct. If the date above is not this year,
call us to see if there is an update.
We provide this
information as a public service. It is not legal advice.
By sending you this information, we are not acting as your lawyer.
Always consult a lawyer, if you can, before taking legal action.
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