Enforcement of Money Judgments and Divorce Decrees in Maine

Until recently divorce decrees in Maine were frequently enforced by capias execution, a remedy at law by which the wife or her attorney could jail the ex-husband for failure to pay money overdue in alimony, support or litigation costs. Most states use contempt proceedings whenever imprisonment is deemed an appropriate sanction in a divorce action, but in Maine a capias execution gave the aggrieved party advantages not available in a contempt petition. First, even though issuance of the capias was a matter for the court's discretion, there was no requirement either in statute or in common law that the court consider a husband's inability to pay as a defense. Second, the capias was issued by the court directly to the wife's attorney thus giving him power to decide when to arrest the husband rather than reserving that decision to the court. In Yoder v. County of Cumberland and its companion case, Lindsey v. County of Cumberland, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court declared the divorce capias unconstitutional because it failed to protect adequately the rights of indigent husbands subject to its process. Although this note will focus primarily on divorce decrees, recent developments in criminal fine and civil debt collection will also be discussed briefly because the issues raised affect policies of divorce decree enforcement. Developments in any one of the three areas may influence the other two.