Rule 90.Enforcing Relief for or Against a Nonparty

Rule 90 is the shortest rule in the ruleset. When an order grants relief for a nonparty, or may be enforced against a nonparty, the procedure for enforcing it is the same as for a party.

Why it is needed

Family law reaches people who never filed anything. A grandparent who intervened under Rule 33(a) and obtained visitation; a third party joined under Rule 91.6 in a harassment injunction matter; an employer subject to an income withholding order; a person holding property a decree allocates. Without this rule, each would raise the question whether the enforcement machinery in Rules 89, 92 and 94 -- written in terms of parties -- reaches them at all.

It runs both ways

The rule covers relief granted for a nonparty as well as enforcement against one. A nonparty in whose favor an order runs can enforce it using the same procedures a party would, rather than having to file a separate action.

What it does not do

It supplies no new remedy and no independent basis for binding someone. It says only that where an order already grants relief for or against a nonparty, enforcement follows the ordinary path. Whether the order properly reached that person in the first place is a question for the rule that brought them in -- Rule 33 for intervention and joinder, Rule 41 for service, Rule 52 for subpoenas, and Rule 39(a)(3) for the personal service a contempt petition requires.