PENALTIES FOR CONTEMPT
When a Judge or Magistrate holds a person in contempt of court for failure to comply with or interference with a parenting time or visitation order, there are numerous penalties that can be imposed, such as jail time, fines, awards of court costs and /or attorney fees to the aggrieved party, and an order for make-up parenting time.
In addition, ORC 3109.04 and ORC 3109.051 specifically state that denial of time and willingness to obey the orders are relevant factors the Judge or Magistrate must consider when determining what is in the best interest of the child. Continuous and willful denial of the ordered time is a factor which may be found to be a change of circumstances, and the Judge may find that it is in the best interest of the child to change the residential parent or school placement parent.
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FINES
Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 2705.05, the court can impose the following fines:
- 1st Offense: Up to $250
- 2nd Offense: Up to $500
- 3rd Offense: Up to $1,000
JAIL TIME
In addition to all the other penalties, if a person is found in violation of or to have interfered with parenting time or visitation, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 2705.05, the Judge can sentence the person who is in contempt of court to jail time as follows:
- 1st Offense: Up to 30 days in jail
- 2nd Offense: Up to 60 days in jail
- 3rd Offense: Up to 90 days in jail
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COURT COSTS
If a court finds that a person is in contempt of a custody or visitation order, Ohio Revised Code 3109.051(K) REQUIRES the Judge or Magistrate to charge all court costs arising out of the contempt proceeding against the person in contempt.
ATTORNEY FEES
If a court finds that a person is in contempt of the orders regarding time with the child, Ohio Revised Code 3109.051(K) REQUIRES the Judge or Magistrate to order the person in contempt 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”.
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MAKE-UP TIME
Pursuant to a court has the authority to, but is not required to, order make-up time for the parenting time missed as a result of the acts of contempt. Generally, if holiday parenting time was missed, then similar or identical holiday parenting time is what the court will require to be made up. For example, if you plan to keep the child for Christmas this year, in violation of the Judge or Magistrate’s order, then chances are good you will not see your child on Christmas next year, and possibly for the next two years.
CHANGING THE CUSTODY OR VISITATION ORDER
If a person is found to be in contempt of an existing order, the Judge or Magistrate may find the parent’s willful disregard of the orders to be a change in circumstance, and may find that it is in the best interest of the child to change which parent is the residential parent or school placement parent. The Judge or Magistrate does not do this on it’s own, but if the other parent filed a motion to change custody, or school placement parent along with his or her Motion for Contempt, the court may find that the benefit of the change outweighs the harm and give custody, to the other parent.
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Ohio Revised Code 3109.04 requires the Judge or Magistrate to consider, among other factors, the following matters when determining what is in the best interest of the child:
- The parent more likely to honor and facilitate court-approved parenting time rights or visitation and companionship rights;
- Whether the residential parent or one of the parents subject to a shared parenting decree has continuously and willfully denied the other parent’s right to parenting time in accordance with an order of the court;
Ohio Revised Code 3109.051 requires the court to consider, among other factors, the following matters when determining what is in the best interest of the child:
- Each parent’s willingness to reschedule missed parenting time and to facilitate the other parent’s parenting time rights, and with respect to a person who requested companionship or visitation, the willingness of that person to reschedule missed visitation;
- Whether the residential parent or one of the parents subject to a shared parenting decree has continuously and willfully denied the other parent’s right to parenting time in accordance with an order of the court.
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This is the 2nd installment in a series about enforcing visitation with Contempt written by Virginia Cornwell. Virginia is a Franklin CountyOhio Custody Lawyer and Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist. Virginia is one of approximate 100 attorneys in Ohio to have received this honor.
The other articles in the contempt series can be seen below:
The information provided in this web site is applicable in the state of Ohio and is provided as a public service. While Virginia Cornwell is a Columbus Ohio Contempt Lawyerand a Columbus Ohio ContemptAttorney, viewing the information in this web site does not constitute an attorney-client communication, and acting upon information obtained from this web site does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you would like to discuss the application of the law to your fact situation, you can make an appointment with the attorney or law firm of your choice.
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.