What if an ex spouse violates a new divorce decree?
<p>I expect my ex to violate our brand new, court approved, negotiated divorce decree.</p>

<p>Should I keep a log of such transgressions?</p>

<p>At what point should I seek legal help to enforce compliance: financial and otherwise?  </p>

<p>Some options seem to be: At the time of the first transgression, After a certain number of transgressions, When the dollar amount goes over a certain amount.</p>

<p>(I hope things go smoothly going forward, or at least reasonably smoothly, but I doubt that will happen.)</p>

<p>Frankly, this is only partially a legal question - mostly it's just about what makes most sense for you, personally. Anyway, I'll try to help.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>I expect my ex to violate our brand new, court approved, negotiated
  divorce decree.</p>
  
  <p>Should I keep a log of such transgressions?</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Yes - why not?</strong> It costs very little (just a bit of your time), and while it may not turn out to be useful, it could very well be:</p>

<ul>
<li>to show to others (lawyer, judge) that a transgression happened repeatedly</li>
<li>to better explain the history of the problems between you</li>
<li>to help yourself better judge the situation (is it getting better, or worse?)</li>
</ul>

<p>So just grab a notepad (or a computer file, or whatever) and make some short notes when something significant happens.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>At what point should I seek legal help to enforce compliance:
  financial and otherwise?</p>
  
  <p>Some options seem to be: At the time of the first transgression, After
  a certain number of transgressions, When the dollar amount goes over a
  certain amount.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Now this is not really a legal question - the answer is: it depends.</strong> Legally, you usually do not need to tolerate any transgressions (details may depend on jurisdiction and nature of settlement), so you could probably sue even for trivial transgressions.</p>

<p>However, in practice pursuing legal action comes with a <strong>cost</strong>:</p>

<ul>
<li>your time, for researching and talking to a lawyer</li>
<li>your money, for the lawyer, court and other costs</li>
<li>possibly your peace of mind, if you find it stressful to pursue someone in court, to have heated discussions etc.</li>
</ul>

<p>Of course, if you successfully pursue a transgression, this will have <strong>upsides</strong>, too. So, as always in life, you must <strong>weigh both and decide</strong>. A good lawyer should help you with that (though for a fee). If you have a specific legal question, you can also ask here :-).</p>

divorce