Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: property settlement vs back alimony

Yes, it gives you leverage in as much as it gives you a potential resource from which you can satisfy your spousal support arrearage. If there are also unresolved personal property issues, I would start there before moving to real property as the former may permit you to more advantageously offset the arrearage.

Re: property settlement vs back alimony

Property settlement should have been addressed by the Court when alimony was awarded, as incident to your divorce. If this did not occur you should contact an attorney.

Re: property settlement vs back alimony

The fact that you didn't get a ruling from the divorce court as to disposition of the marital home means you must now resolve it privately if you can. You are still joint owners of the property. Presumably whoever has been living in it has been paying the mortgage if there is one. If there is enough equity in the property, you could try to satisfy your back alimony obligation by exchanging it for your equity, assuming your ex wants to keep the home. If the two of you can agree to sell it, your share of the equity could be used to pay off the alimony obligation. If you want to sell and she refuses, you could file a partition action in court to force a sale.