Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

It will be necessary to return to court to obtain an order requiring income withholding for your payments. You can do it yourself if you know how, but there are many pitfalls when representing yourself. Perhaps you could call a divorce lawyer for an initial consultation which are usually done at no charge (ask first) and get specific advice concerning your situation.

The witholding provisions are intended to cover delinquent support payments. If the payments he is to make to you are for the sole purpose of paying off a community debt, the witholding provisions (Chapter 40 Section 4A paragraphs 4 (and following) of the New Mexico Statutes) may not apply and you will have to ask the court to enforce the order by filing a motion for an order to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of court for failing to make the payments required by the courty order.

You can do this yourself but using an attorney would have better chance of success. Your MSA probably has a clause in it that provides for attonrey fees if one of you has to go to court to enforce the terms of the agreement. Even if not, you can ask for attorney fees.

You could think about sending him a notice of delinquency as provided in 40-4A-4 and, in the notice reminding him that if you have to go to court to collect he will be on the hook for attorney fees in addition to the delinquent payments. Be sure to include all the things listed in the statute and file it with the clerk of the court. If he doesn't respond then go to an attorney.

You can find the new mexico statutes at http://www.conwaygreene.com/nmsu/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-h.htm&2.0