[Rufblackbird]

Not me, but a good friend of mine is in this situation. She recently got divorced after about five years of marriage. No kids, no house, but had money stashed in various brokerage accounts, which the ex took care of as he was a CFO for a local credit union. However, most of them were in solely his name, as he opened those accounts before they got married and assured her it's no big deal. Obviously, she was quite naive... He had landed his job after they got married and made $100k/yr, but she was doing her share of contributions as an eye doc and made slightly less.

Anyway, the settlement on the divorce papers was (I think) around $25k plus the car, which was about a third of what they were worth. However due to the economy (and the bad choices he made with stocks) they verbally agreed to a payment plan for a bit of cash up front, monthly payments for 6 months, and a bit of cash at the end of it. She thought that was more than fair, and it wouldn't put him in the red. Three months into the payments he stopped transferring money into the account, citing random things about lack of money (which included having to put money into the margin account, buying a new car, renovating his apartment, and the last email about finally getting his brother psychological help). She responded to his emails saying that the money isn't what he's paying her...it's what's rightfully hers. He is no longer responding to her emails, phone calls, texts, etc. She moved out of state shortly after the divorce and was trying to start over, but the job market hasn't exactly been great. What can she do, and what are her options at this time? If she was to hire an attorney, does it matter what state they're in?

Thanks in advance!