While it’s true that life happens when you least expect it, and things arise that prevent the other parent from meeting their obligations, that is not always the case. Unfortunately, sometimes people do not obey court orders simply because the don’t want to. If you experience one or more instances where you are deliberately denied your parenting time, you have the option to file a motion asking the court to hold the other parent in contempt. Some people refer to this as “filing contempt charges”.
To some extent, it may be an accurate description to describe contempt of court as a “charge” because one of the penalties available to the court is to put the other parent in jail for a period of time. If a parent is found to be in contempt of court, the court may also require make-up time, consider modifying parenting orders, fine the party found in contempt, and award attorney fees. In fact, ORC 3109.051(K) , requires that a court who finds a person in contempt of a parenting, companionship or visitation order must:
…in addition to any other penalty or remedy imposed, shall assess all court costs arising out of the contempt proceeding against the person and require the person to pay any reasonable attorney’s fees of any adverse party, as determined by the court, that arose in relation to the act of contempt, and may award reasonable compensatory parenting time or visitation to the person whose right of parenting time or visitation was affected by the failure or interference if such compensatory parenting time or visitation is in the best interest of the child.
Sometimes, when people do not want to comply with a court’s order, they mistakenly believe that if they file a motion to change the order, and their motion is granted, they may later be excused from their non-compliance while their motion is pending. The law is two steps ahead of this behavior. Ohio Revised Code 2705.031 provides that a court:
…shall have jurisdiction to make a finding of contempt for a failure to comply with, or an interference with, a parenting time or visitation order or decree and to impose the penalties set forth in section 2705.05 of the Revised Code in all cases in which the failure or interference is at issue even if the parenting time or visitation order or decree no longer is in effect.
This means that if the parent ultimately wins the motion they filed to change the parenting order, they court may still find them in contempt of court for their violations while their motion was pending.
To discuss your situation with one of our
contempt attorneys, call us now at 614-225-9316.
To read more about contempt, see these articles from our website.
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K says
Is there anything you can do if the father up’d and moved a hour and 40 minutes away from summit county ohio without any notification to his children or yourself?
J says
I have an issue where I am going through a divorce. Me and my wife have 1 child together. I was forced out of my own home we bought together, denied visits with my daughter then a false cpo put against me because I went around her and saw my daughter at the baby sitters. I was put under a supervised visitation schedule. The cpo was denied as she admitted in court I have never touched or threatened her in any way but the visitation restrictions remain in place. I have moved to another state now and she constantly defies the mags second revised order of 15 min call on wed and 2 hours visit at a mall. She refuses to be flexable with my time as my work schedule changes and ill go weeks without speaking to my daughter I raised as a stay at home dad. I have been denied every single holiday this entire year and I had the police called on me for dropping off a present on our porch for my daughter as well as it took 3 months for her to open and give it to my daughter. There is no restraining order, no cpo, no anything against me as all were denied and dismissed in court. I do not have the money for a lawyer as I can barely make ends meet, have been given 0 spousal support while my soon to be ex wife has our van our house and I am living out of my car. I need help as I cannot traverse this alone. Plus advise
CM says
I need information about how to proceed with contempt charges on my ex wife, who is not adhering to the custody agreement set forth by the courts in Fairfield County, Ohio. Can someone please contact me regarding this matter? I have much of the paperwork filled out, but I really need to make sure it’s filled out correctly please.
R says
So I’ve had a child custody order for 5yrs now, and so when we got divorced, they let my child go with him being that he had her for 6mo., and so I was supposed to get my child every other weekend, all summer long and every other holiday and that hasn’t happened in 5yrs. He has lied to my parents for the whole 5yrs, telling them that the only place she can go is to there house. Now my parents stay in a different city than I do. I moved to a different city for a better job opportunity, and has said to me that she cant come to my city or where I live at unless he comes with them, now mind you when I lived in the same city he has told my parents and myself that she is not allowed to stay the night because the only address that she can go to is my parents house. Now just to be clear, I am not a drug addict, I’m not a alcoholic, I don’t take pills or anything. All I have ever did was work, and I pay child support. When I was living in the same city I paid about $117.00 in child support and now I pay 475.00 in child support being to where I work at now. I have recently filed a motion to the court to where we got divorced at and where they made the decree of the child custody order. My daughter is now 13 and she was about 7 or 8 when this all happened. Now you might ask why am I just now deciding to do this, well honestly, I didn’t know how to actually go about this, but now I have someone helping me that has been going thru this for about 11yrs and so I’m feeling pretty confident about this right now. So can I get some feedback from some of you about this situation please.
L says
I have shared parenting with my ex because my daughter didn’t want to move schools when I moved. We have had a family vacation planned for 6mos and he is now telling me she isn’t going because she is grounded. He took her phone away and I have had no contact with her at all and we are supposed to leave tomorrow. Is there anything I can even do to enforce her going?
C says
We have a visitation order in place in Juvenile court that gives us, the grandparents, visitation with our granddaughter.
Since that was put into place, her guardians have petitioned for adoption in Probate Court. It has been in limbo for over a year. Six months ago, the guardians decided to not let us see our granddaughter anymore. They have been in contempt now for six months. We have filed 6 contempt charges, one for each month we have not gotten our visitation time. The Juvenile Court judge is refusing to hear the contempt petitions because she says she has no authority over Probate Court. The adoption petition could drag on another year without us being able to see our granddaughter. Do we have any recourse to force the Juvenile Court judge to hear the contempt petitions?
B says
What are my child’s rights if a father ask for visitation but after 2 years of cancelling at least 1 of 2 visits a month he turns into a no call no show for visits! Then decides to text me 4 months later saying why haven’t I seen my son as if I had kept him away! Do we have any rights when a man is not a stable and constant figure in a child’s life?
T says
I have 5 children their father filed for visitation 6 yrs ago. He never did all of his visits and hasn’t did any in 4 years. What can I do about this? The children don’t refer to him as their father and he only ever wants to see the oldest when it fits in his time. Also he filed emergency custody of just the oldest and they gave him temporary custody until the court date which he signed away 4 days later. He used the expired paper work to change her school records and insurance into his name. What do I need to file against him for this or what can I do?
K says
My husband is wanting to file contempt of court against his ex. She doesn’t communicate things going on with the kids such as Dr visits, medication changes, school work, etc. She is using the kids as weapons against him & we constantly have to explain ourselves because of the jabs she throws to them. She will not act as an adult & basically calls him stupid for wanting to know what is going on with his kids. Does he has any kind of case? What does it cost to file? & does he have to have a lawyer?
L says
What can I do about a dead beat who’s never done anything Financially or Supportive in 9yrs he is over $16,000 behind in Child Support his sister took me to court for visitation cause he lived with her. I agreed to visits it’s now been three years!!! No ones came after that can I file something against them!? Plus my son wants his name changed he’s a jr. Unfortunately =(
L says
Do you have to hire an attorney to ask the courts to file a contempt charge? If you can’t, how much does it cost to file etc?
K says
My son is a dis abled young sdult he is on ssi and has mild cp but also a slow lesrner but his babies momma had ran off with his friend ern she was newly pregnant he loved her and petpoded to her yet she was seeing this. other guy, my son never hsd dex before untill she pushed him into it knowing his diability due to her being. step relation i say she tapped my son and got awsy with it. yet en she finally told my son she never loved him and was inlove with his friend she was newly pregnant . but told my son it was the orher guys so he said he knrw different so i took him up to get his dna annd we will see my son wanted to step up at 17. But she would keep picking on him and tell him it wasn’t his well she married thst friend of his and had the baby up on which the dna esdnt back on anyof us yet then she had to degrade my son and thhey called him stupid and the r word they gave baby his griends last name as the presumed father dna prooved my son was the fatheer. wr have been fighting for this baby girl after the baby turned 4 mo old the mom starved her and the docter had her removed from moms cudtody to cps . She got. off on neglect as well as the courts said the drs testimony was watered down. and they couldn’t use it so mom got dependanncy unsyead of neglect charges cps made us feel stupid and they fought till she got her back and mom rubs it in dads face yet we would give anything to care fpr her properly . mom has been in contept . and we know they live in a one bedroom apt with mom step dad her two adult brothers onr whom moolezt kids and the new baby she just had we live in a 5 bedroom house she has her own room and her own bed she is three. but mom got her bsck where she sleeps in her play pen behind the couch . she hsd to see a lung specialist for astma and pnnemonia and he is supposed to keep seeing her momma removed her from him but dr said this little girl is not to be around cig smoke period not on clorhing and the mom and step dad were told to quit or she would die. but they didn’t and pulled her from him . wr don’t smoke. even the dr wrote a statement to cps saying the same thing and wen we found our thet were filling that apt with smoke and told thhem they told us to quit causing troubble and neveer used the statement . they have been for the mom all along and i don’t understand why she starved her. and now killing her with cig smoke, took her off wic fpr a yr and we got her on in our county and mom is mad . I’m not saying that we are perfect but u had kids of my own sand grand kids yet i have no rights and wTch my grandaughter be sbused and her dad can’t do a thi.g or we are told we are just causinng trouble . since dad gets her every other weekend and mim other times under the shared parenting plan she has came to us with symptoms of astma attacks we have had her to er a few times in one month andd hsd to get a machine for her wat good does it do wen she goes back into that . thhe er dr was going. to call ccps then he didn’t . we had suspition of her being molested by john she says the uncle who lives in that apt with her. so we took her to our dr where they found a sever vaginal infection but wasn’t. sure if she had been. they called cps and don’t look like anything will come of it . now she is leaving this new dr cause she said the kids were underweight . We can’t do a thing about how she is treated cuz we are causing trouble . i thought the courys looik at the best intrest of the child but i guess not . We feel so sorry for her but cannnot do a thing . she has been in contempt a lot of times but she allows her hubbby to bully us too and yet nothing can be done. this is putnam county ohio . and the judge doest seem concerned . why is it this way?
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Chris says
How about some tips for if your being falsely accoused? My sons mother and I have had a shared parenting agreement for 2 years now. I have him during the week she has him weekends and holidays. In the shared parenting agreement its stated that she is responsable for picking him up and dropping him off. For the last 2 years she has rarely ever seen him. Maybe 1 time a month if that. Currently she has not seen him for 4 months. She also moves every 6 months and moved out of state for a few months. She is now taking me to court saying that I refuse her visitation. When in reality she has never made an effort. This is just a jab at me because a month ago I told her that the way she has abandoned the child is horrible. So what does an innocent person do to defend himself against a false report?
K says
I live in Ohio. For the last six years of my son’s divorce his ex has refused to follow all court ordered documents. We have piles of contempt charges and have spent quite a bit in lawyers fees. Court dates keep getting changed and she moves when she’s not suppose to which causes courts to them argue over which county should hear the case so it has lingered on and on. Here we are in our 6th year. She’s moving again against court orders. Its been 6 years and now she is worse than ever. Soccer has been her excuse to keep her from us when she herself doesn’t attend the games. She sends our granddaughter off to others homes while she runs around doing her own thing. Just uses the child as a pawn. The ex’s own family contacted us and said they were sorry to hide the child from us when we came to pick her up. Nothing in the custody court system has been done to help this child only aids in assisting the mother to take our her revenge on all family members that don’t give her what she demands. Which is how this whole ordeal began. The courts are allowing her to throw her tantrums. We paid for a guardian in hopes to end all her games and with all the evidence against her you would think its a open and shut case but they make excuses for her. No one is thinking of what she is doing to this child! Clearly, some changes need to be made. This should not have been allowed to go on this long. Its clear as day who is following court orders and who isn’t.
ANONYMOUS says
After a long divorce and almost 2 years of not seeing my kids. I was finally given visitation. We agreed in a parenting plan that only has been in effect since May 2011. As ordered I provided dates for my 4 weeks visitaion 45 days in advance. immediately I was told that I would have to have my son in day care. even thou I have the time off to spend with my son. After spending 10 days finding a daycare that would accept my son on a week by week basis and one that I felt was suitable. I provided her the information and then refused to pay the daycare. and quickly dropped the requirement. there is no provisions in the parenting plan for that. So a week before the visitation was to take place she sent me a text that her vacation was rescheduled to one of the weeks i have requested well in advance. So once again I scrabbled around and change my plans and reservations. I offered to take my son a week eirier than planned. Finally the day before the visitaion she decided to tell me the dates I requested would take from her weekend. She called her attorney and stated she was not going to allow the visitation as scheduled. So once again I have cancelled my visitaion. I contacted my attorney and asked what can be done. She has continued to use visitations as a weapon and opportunity to verbally abuse me. She refuses to leave the two older kids out of the issues between us. there really is not one part of the parenting plan she has followed. I am tired of being denied acsess to my kids. I hate not being part of there lives. But I refuse to make a scene if front of my kids. Any advise
E says
Can shared parenting plans be revised if the non-residential parents traveling (for work) schedule has changed significantly and isn’t even addressed in the plan. He worked out of town a lot and there is not exception to make up time so he lost a lot! Is there anyway we can get an amendment?
D says
what are the cost to file a comtempt of court