Rule 24.Automatic enforcement of child support and periodic alimony

Rule 24 is enforcement without a motion. Nobody has to ask.

The monthly review

Clerks of court shall review all child support and periodic alimony accounts paid through the clerk of court, at least once a month.

The qualifier matters: the rule reaches accounts paid through the clerk. Support paid directly between the parties is outside it, and a party relying on Rule 24 needs the payments running through the court.

When an account is in arrears

An account is considered in arrears if a scheduled payment has not been received when review is made and at least five working days have passed. The five working days are the grace period built into the definition, not a separate courtesy.

What follows, automatically

Whenever an account is in arrears, the clerk shall issue a rule to show cause and an affidavit identifying the order requiring the payments and the amount of the arrearage, directing the party in arrears to appear at a specific time and date.

And the provision that gives the rule its force: that clerk-issued rule shall have the same force and effect as a rule to show cause issued by a judge.

How it fits with Rule 14

Rule 14(b) requires a rule to show cause for contempt to be issued by a Family Court judge except as provided by Rules 24 and 27. This is one of the two exceptions, and the court's own Note to Rule 14 says so directly: rules to show cause under Rules 24 and 27 are issued by the clerk, for enforcement of support and of visitation respectively.

Everything else about the proceeding still comes from Rule 14 — the evidentiary hearing, the moving party's prima facie case of willful contempt, the shift to the respondent to show a defense or inability to comply, and the court's discretion over sanctions.