Contempt: What to do if your ex isn't following Court Orders - Jonathan M. Stanley
Going through divorce or custody case can be an incredibly frustrating process. After all that stress and expense, you finally either reached an agreement with your ex or received orders from the Court. Now, your ex is choosing to ignore all of those carefully worded orders. When this happens, it can feel like the all headaches that you went through amounted to nothing.
However, both Domestic Relations and Juvenile courts in Ohio have procedures in place in order to encourage compliance with Court Orders and to punish non-compliance. When you wish to enforce existing orders, you will file a contempt action with the Court.
First, you will want to document all of your ex’s actions so they can be presented to the Court. If your ex is refusing to allow you to have parenting time, make sure you get the refusals in text message or email. And make sure to continue trying to enforce the existing schedule. If your ex is refusing to reimburse you for ordered expenses, make sure to email them copies of the invoices along with your requests for reimbursement. If your ex is refusing to take the children to scheduled events or appointments, make sure to get written proof of the missed activities. It will strengthen your case if (1) you continued attempting to follow the existing orders and (2) you have evidence to show the Court proving that your ex is failing to follow the order.
Second, you will prepare your Motion for Contempt and file it with the Court. This document will lay out the alleged violations of the previous orders and request that the Court levy sanctions against your ex. These sanctions can include fines and possible jail time. Finally, if you have retained an attorney to draft this Motion, you can request to be reimbursed for fees paid to that attorney for preparing documents and attending hearings.
Third, you will need to have your ex served with the documents that you filed with the Court. This can be a difficult process which many people find frustrating. A Court will not move forward with a hearing until it is confirmed that the other Party has been served. Generally, there are three methods of serving the other party. These are:
Certified Mail - The documents will be mailed out by the Clerk and your ex will have to sign for them when they are received. This may be difficult if you do not know your ex’s address or if they refuse to sign.
Process Server - A certified process server is appointed by the Court and they will hand deliver the documents to your ex. This process can be more costly than the other methods depending on how many times the process server attempts to locate and serve your ex.
Sheriff Service - The documents will be provided to the Sheriff of the county where your ex lives and the Sheriff will attempt to serve the documents. This process cannot be used if you do not have a current address for your ex.
There are other methods of serving parties when you do not have a current address, they live out-of-state, they live outside of the country, or one the three methods listed above have failed. We will be writing a future blog post on solving these problems. However, an experienced domestic relations attorney can help you to understand your options and choose which one is best for your specific situation.
Finally, once your ex has been properly served, the Court can move forward with having a hearing. The Judge or Magistrate will hear testimony from both sides and examine the evidence that you have prepared. The Judge or Magistrate will then make a decision and decide whether there is enough evidence to establish contempt and whether sanctions are warranted.
If you believe that your ex is not following court orders, please contact our office or give us a call at (614) 760-8103 in order to schedule a free consultation and discuss your options.
- Jonathan M. Stanley, Esq.