Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody

When a parent continuously violates a child custody order and negatively affects the other parent’s access to a child, what remedies are available in Florida? The parent may be held in contempt for willful violation of a court’s orders as happened in the case Thompson v. Melange, 1D19-854 (Fla. 1st DCA January 21, 2020).

The parties were divorced in 2010. Years of post-judgment litigation concerning the parenting plan ensued which resulted in a modified parenting plan being ordered in 2017. The former wife was awarded primary timesharing and ultimate decision-making authority over non-emergency healthcare. In 2018 the former husband filed motions alleging the former wife disrupted his timesharing and unilaterally cancelled previously ordered reunification therapy between him and the parties’ child. After a hearing, the court found the former wife in contempt, holding she continued to “micromanage” the former husband’s timesharing, that she went against the court’s order by cancelling the reunification therapy and that she was complicit in encouraging the child to refuse to spend time with the former husband. The court also imposed a “punishment schedule” and ordered the former wife to impose it on the child for refusing to exercise timesharing. Such a schedule was never requested by either party. The court ordered the parties to immediately comply with the current timesharing plan and reserved ruling on the former husband’s request for modification, attorneys’ fees and make-up timesharing.

The former wife petitioned for a writ of certiorari or in the alternative argued this was an appealable non-final order. The appellate court treated it as a writ of certiorari because it found it did not qualify as an appealable non-final order. The court found that because the trial court reserved ruling on many of the issues appealed by the former wife, the issues were not yet ripe for appeal. As to contempt, the appellate court found that the trial court did not depart from the essential requirements of the law in finding her in contempt. However, it agreed with the former wife that the ordering of the punishment schedule was error where neither party requested this. So only that part of the order was reversed.

Florida child custody cases can be difficult when the parents do not get along. Hiring a Florida child custody lawyer is a good start to protecting your parental rights and pursuing the best interest of your child. Schedule a consultation to go over your case.