Tag Archives: contempt

South Bend Child Support Lawyer – Revisiting the Meaning of Contempt for Not Paying Child Support

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For the most part, debtor’s prisons have been eliminated in the United States.  The one exception to this general rule is in the area of enforcing a child support order.  A non-custodial parent who has a Court Ordered child support obligation runs the risk of being incarcerated (or coerced) into paying child support if he or she willingly refuses to pay.  The Indiana Supreme Court has summed it up nicely by saying:

A child support order is enforceable by contempt only if the parent has the financial ability to pay the support due and his or her failure to pay is willful. Pettit v. Pettit, 626 N.E.2d 444, 447-48 (Ind. 1993)

So by this definition it would appear that if you are looking for work, making the majority of a weekly child support obligation payment, you would not run the risk of being found in contempt.  Well, the Indiana Court of Appeals would at least agree with you.

In the case In re G.B.H., 945 N.E.2d 753 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011), the Court of Appeals had overturned a lower court’s ruling that a father was in contempt for non-payment of child support.  Essentially, the father was paying the majority of his court ordered child support payments out of his unemployment and attempting to make up the short-fall by doing odd jobs until he could find full-time employment.

He fell behind by $2 per week when he was found to be in Contempt for failing to pay child support.

The Court of Appeals found that the Contempt finding was a stretch as the non-custodial parent was presenting evidence at various court hearings to show that he was attempting to find work, was working a variety of odd jobs to try to make up some of the arrearage payments, and his unemployment was covering all but $2 of the Court Ordered Child Support amount.

The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, child support, paternity, and child custody, criminal defense matters, DUIs, theft charges, and license suspensions; and financial matters such as Bankruptcy and Foreclosure. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so.  DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

Indiana Contempt Hearings and Family Law – South Bend Divorce Lawyer

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Getting a divorce decree finalized is important as the divorce decree sets forth who gets what, how much child support will be paid, what custody and visitation will look like, etc.  In many situations most parties are able to live within the divorce decree with no serious problems or they are able to agree to another arrangement.  In situations where the court orders are not being met by either party, then you may have to consider asking the Court to use its contempt powers to assist you in enforcing the divorce decree.

What is contempt?

Being held in contempt is being told by the court that you are violating the order of the court (intentionally or knowingly) by failing to pay child support, spousal maintenance, or by denying visitation or interfering with the non-custodial parent’s visitation rights.  In order to be held in contempt, the party asking for relief from the Court needs to present evidence that shows that you are intentionally disobeying the Court’s order(s).  The Court will then give the offending party the ability to present his or her evidence as to why the order is not being met.

What happens after being found in contempt?

If the Court determines that a party is contempt for violating the terms of a divorce decree or other family law order, then the Court has several different options.  The idea behind the contempt punishment is not some much to punish, but to coerce the offending party to comply with the order.  For instance, if the court finds someone in contempt for interfering with the visitation that the non-custodial parent has with the child, then the Court may order that the person be required to serve a jail sentence.  The Court may suspend that sentence so long as the offending party complies with the visitation order.

When it comes to child support matters, the Court can order a jail sentence so long as a purge amount is set.  So let’s say that the offending, non-paying party is found to be in contempt the Court then sentences the non-paying party to a 90 day jail sentence.  The Court then must set what is called a purge amount.  This purge amount can be used to avoid the jail sentence.  So in the above situation the Court may sentence the non-paying party to 90 days or pay $2,000.  If the person who is not paying child support is sentenced to this type of sentence, he or she can either serve the 90 day sentence or pay $2,000 to avoid the jail time.

if you are having difficulties with visitation or child support, contact me today.

The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, parenting time, child support, paternity, and child custody, criminal defense matters, DUIs, theft charges, and license suspensions. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so.  DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.