Ex-husband Working Again - and not telling me?

Talk to a lawyer, he'll find out if your ex is working indeed and have his
wages garnished. Should he quit working thereafter, you at least have some
money recovered. Tell him (through your lawyer) that the minute he
starts working again, his wages will be garnished relentlessly. What a prick
to deny his children some monetary support!

What she said.

First shot would be your state child support division, or whatever it's called in your state, and every state has one. They're really pretty good at what they do, if a valid support order is in place, they have no problems working across state lines, and they are cheaper than attorneys - like free.

Employment information is required to be submitted to them within 20 days of hiring a new employee. At that time, the state should be applying for wage withholding. This is supposed to be automatic, but better ask, anyway. Max withholding for child support it 50% of wages after taxes*. He's really refusing a six figure job to dodge support payments

*A couple of states go to 60% in the event of long overdue payments, and unemployment is not considered a valid reason for being overdue.

finding out if he is working above board is easy, as has been pointed out. However, it is highly likely that he is working on the black market, that he is either being paid under the table or he is bartering his services for life's necessities. These guys are untouchable if they want to be, if they are willing to sacrifice what it takes to make sure that the ex does not get a dime.

If I were you I would go through the motions every once in awhile to make sure that he is not working for reported income, but you should plan on getting nothing.

And if you find out he's bartering, sic the IRS on him.

Normally these guys are looking only to make the means to subsist, under $10k a year. They spend their time playing, not working. Because they would owe no tax on such little income no taxes were evaded. The IRS only has a bit over 3000 employees in the criminal division, small time child support evaders are not worth their time. They are going after the big time crooks.

An interesting story: the doc who deliverd my first kid told us the story about how he decided he was not going to work 60-80 hours a week to hand a lot of it to his ex for the rest of his life. He ditched a very lucrative practice and went into the Army as a Captain. Captains don't make much of anything in base pay, and all of the other pays are (were?) exempt from court order pays to exes. This guy got to do his job, 40 hours a week, with much of his pay deferred to retirement as the Army does for all, and his wife got next to nothing and never would. He was very proud of himself for coming up with this great idea. He was a good doctor, which was cool for us.

From a blithering idiot to a complete idiot. Yeah, what a guy!

You said finding out if he's working above board is easy. What about if it's spousal support not child support? Is there a way I can find out on my own without a lawyer?

Hire a private investigator.