Making the other side follow the decree.
A decree is a judgment, and a judgment that is ignored is enforced, not renegotiated. Wyoming gives the district court contempt power over custody and support orders, makes every missed support payment a judgment the day it is due, and lets the court carry out a property division the other party will not. Most of the tools work without a hearing. The one that does, contempt, turns on a single word: willful.
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Three things the statutes already settle.
Support ordered paid through the clerk is, for each installment, "on the date it is due, a judgment by operation of law" (W.S. § 20-2-310(c)). No motion, no hearing. Unpaid thirty-two days later, it carries an automatic ten-percent late penalty (W.S. § 1-16-103).
On "a showing that the parent has willfully violated" a custody or support order, the court may require the parent to show cause, find contempt, "award attorney's fees, costs and any other relief as the court may deem necessary" (W.S. § 20-2-204(b); § 20-2-310(b), (e)).
Every support order carries an income withholding order, effective immediately unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing (W.S. § 20-6-204(a)). It can be expanded to take current support plus an amount toward arrears from each paycheck (W.S. § 20-6-215).
Willful, and proved.
What a contempt motion has to show
Civil contempt in Wyoming has three elements, restated by the Supreme Court as recently as 2025: an effective order that required certain conduct, the other party's knowledge of it, and willful disobedience, all proved by clear and convincing evidence. The first two are documents. The order is the decree or the stipulated modification; knowledge is service or the party's signature on the stipulation. Willfulness is the hearing. For support it is proved with the clerk's ledger set against bank records and a work history, because a parent who could not pay is not in contempt and a parent who paid for a new truck instead is. For custody it is a dated log of the exchanges and the texts around them.
The remedy is the court's choice "under the circumstances." For withheld visitation it is ordinarily make-up time, a more specific schedule, fees, and a warning on the record; a pattern can become the material change that reopens custody, which the custody modification page covers. For support it is a judgment for the arrears, a payment plan with a return date, and a purge amount that opens the jail door for a parent who can pay and will not. An unemployed, able-bodied parent can be ordered into the state's POWER work program instead (W.S. § 20-2-310(d)).
Fees
Attorney's fees are written into every one of these sections, and into the withholding act for any hearing held under it (W.S. § 20-6-217). The parent who forced the motion generally pays for it, which is the point of filing it rather than sending a fourth letter.
- 01A letter with the order attached, the clerk's ledger and the amount; certified mail, dated
- 02Withholding entered or expanded to the employer, for current support plus arrears, up to the federal limit
- 03The Child Support Program's tools, no hearing: credit reporting, a lien once arrears reach three months of support, tax-refund offset, passport denial
- 04License suspension: driver's license by order unless the full arrearage is paid or a payment plan approved; professional, hunting and fishing licenses on the department's petition
- 05The affidavit for the ten-percent late penalties, filed with the clerk
- 06A motion for an order to show cause: judgment for the arrears, fees, a purge amount or a plan
- 07Jail until the purge is paid; for a child in another state, referral to the U.S. Attorney
Steps 02–04: W.S. §§ 20-6-204, 20-6-215, 20-6-106(w) and (y), 20-6-111 and 20-6-112. The Child Support Program is part of the Department of Family Services and opens a case for either parent regardless of income.
Four kinds of order, four kinds of enforcement.
- Child support. The ledger does most of the work. Each missed installment is a judgment; withholding, the lien, license suspension and the late penalty follow without a hearing; contempt comes last. Keep every payment through the clerk, never hand to hand, so the ledger is the record. The support page covers the order itself.
- Custody and visitation. No agency collects a missed weekend. Enforcement is a motion for an order to show cause under W.S. § 20-2-204(b), built on a log kept from the first missed exchange: date, time, what was said, who saw it. Make-up time and fees are the usual order; a modified schedule follows a pattern. For a parent who has taken the children out of state, the UCCJEA lets the Wyoming order be registered and enforced there, with a warrant to take physical custody in an emergency.
- Property. The division cannot be modified once the decree is final, only enforced. A deed, a title or a retirement order the other party will not sign can be executed by someone the court appoints at that party's expense, or the judgment itself can transfer the title (W.R.C.P. 70). An unpaid equalization payment is a money judgment at ten percent a year (W.S. § 1-16-102(a)), collected by execution, garnishment and a judgment lien. The retirement page covers the orders that take longest to get signed.
- Alimony and medical support. Alimony ordered in the decree is enforced by contempt like support, and a payor who decides alone that it should end is in contempt; the alimony page explains the petition to change it instead. A parent who refuses ordered health coverage can be held in contempt and is liable for the premiums and uncovered care the other parent paid in the gap, with fees (W.S. § 20-2-401(d), (e)).
Settlement terms, the defense, Teton County practice, and state lines.
Why an incorporated agreement is enforced by contempt, how to answer a show-cause motion, what the court expects, and orders that crossed a state line
Terms that came from a settlement
Most Teton County decrees are stipulated: the parties signed a settlement agreement or a parenting plan, and the judge incorporated it into the decree. Once incorporated, those terms are the court's order, not a private contract, and a party who ignores them faces contempt rather than a breach-of-contract suit. That is the reason to insist on incorporation when the agreement is drafted, and the reason the agreement has to be written in terms a judge can enforce: a date for the refinance, a dollar figure for the equalization, exchange times with a location. "Reasonable visitation" and "the parties will cooperate" cannot be enforced by anyone. The decree should also name a consequence for a missed deadline, such as a sale of the house if the refinance does not close. The divorce page covers how a settlement becomes a decree; the property page covers what the division can say.
If you are the one served with a show-cause motion
Do not ignore it, and do not pay what you can and hope. The motion is answered with the record: proof of payments the ledger missed, the layoff notice or medical record behind the shortfall, the texts showing the other parent agreed to swap the weekend. Inability to pay is a defense to contempt, but it has to be proved, and it is no defense to the judgment for the arrears. A parent whose income has actually dropped should file a petition to modify the same week, because a modification runs only from the date it is served; the support modification page explains the twenty-percent rule and why the filing date matters more than anything else in the case.
In Teton County
Every enforcement motion in the county is decided by the district judge who entered the decree, and her published practices shape how these are filed. Many motions are decided on the papers, and a hearing is set only once the motion is fully briefed; the brief that works cites the statute that entitles the party to the relief and attaches the ledger, the log and the order, rather than reciting the history of the marriage. She generates her own orders on contested motions; a motion to continue or to appear by video must state the other side's position; every email to chambers staff is copied to the other party. When a child's safety is the reason for urgency, she wants a short presentation of why swift action is needed and prefers a verified motion. The court sits in temporary courtrooms at 250 East Simpson Avenue; the courthouse page has the details, and the temporary orders page covers restraints entered while a case is pending.
Orders across a state line
A parent who moved to Idaho or Utah with a Wyoming support order does not leave the order behind. Under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act a Wyoming order can be registered in the state where the paying parent now works and collected through that state's withholding system, and the department's lien is given full faith and credit by other states (W.S. § 20-6-106(y)). Custody orders register and are enforced under the UCCJEA the same way. Willful failure to pay more than $5,000, or for more than a year, for a child living in another state is a federal offense under 18 U.S.C. § 228, prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney and not by the family court. The modifications overview covers the interstate rules in more detail. Where the conduct behind an enforcement motion is also a crime, such as a protection-order violation, the domestic violence defense page covers the criminal side.
What people ask about enforcing a decree.
What happens at a contempt hearing in Wyoming family court?
Does unpaid child support accrue interest in Wyoming?
My ex will not sign the deed to the house the decree gave me. What can I do?
Can I withhold visitation because my ex is behind on child support?
Can the other parent go to jail for not paying child support?
The decree says my ex pays me $40,000 by a deadline that passed. How do I collect?
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