Legal fees are like any other bill in that the person who incurred them is legally obligated to pay them. If a lawyer is not paid what he is owed, he may take legal action against his former client. However, the lawyer will know that he can only sue the person who incurred the debt or who took it on. A husband cannot, therefore, be made to pay his ex-wife's debt.
Debts
A personal is only legally responsible for a debt to which they agreed to pay. Although debts are transferable, a debt will only be assigned to someone if the person agrees to take responsibility for it. A husband is not responsible for his wife's debts if he did not co-sign for the debts himself. After a divorce, a husband is no longer responsible for debts his former wife incurred on her own, even if she did so while they were still married.
Debt Collection
Debt collectors are forbidden by federal law from pressuring family members or acquaintances of a debtor about the debtor's payments. A debt collector would therefore be legally forbidden from seeking payment from a woman's former husband. The fact that the bills are legal bills will make no difference. This would also prohibit the creditors from attempting to garnish the former husband's wages.
Garnishments
Before a garnishment can be executed, it must first be approved by a judge. A judge can only legally grant a garnishment order if the garnishment complies with all federal, state and local laws. Ordering the garnishment of the wages of someone who does not knowingly owe money on a debt would violate federal law. If a lawyer attempted to garnish wages without a judge's permission, he would be acting in violation of the law.
Considerations
An ex-wife's legal fees can only be garnished from a husband's paycheck if the husband is legally obligated to pay them. For example, if the husband agrees, as part of a divorce settlement, to pay for the legal fees his ex-wife incurred in the divorce, then he could be held liable for the money and his wages could be garnished by creditors if the fees became delinquent.
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