STATE EX REL FRANKLIN C. COODY, PETITIONER,
v.
THE HONORABLE BERNARD MUSZYNSKI, AS JUDGE OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE NINTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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The court held that a civil contempt order for failure to pay child support must always permit the contemnor to purge the contempt by complying with the order, and a provision allowing purge only after a period of incarceration is improper.
Petitioner-father was found in civil contempt for failing to pay child support and sentenced to confinement, with a provision that he could purge the …
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COWART, Judge.
The petition for writ of prohibition, or alternatively petition for writ of habeas corpus, is treated as a petition for certiorari, Fla.R.App.P. 9.040(c), and is granted. The words “7 days after incarceration” are stricken from that portion of the trial court’s order finding the petitioner-father in contempt for failure to pay ordered child support, sentencing him to confinement for 60 days and providing that “7 days after incarceration” he could purge himself of contempt by paying the amount of adjudicated arrearages.
Contempt for failure to pay child support is civil contempt for which the contemnor must always be permitted to purge himself by compliance with the court order he has disobeyed. Petitioner could have been found guilty of a criminal contempt and confined without provision for purging if, after he had been personally served with an unqualified order to appear at the proceedings to determine his compliance with a final judgment providing for child support, he had failed to appear and a separate criminal contempt proceeding had been prosecuted in the manner provided in Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.840.
We reject petitioner’s claim of inadequate time to retain counsel and prepare a defense prior to the civil contempt hearing. Failure to pay child support as ordered is a matter of great importance and urgency. Although given short notice, petitioner had time to attend the hearing, but did not attend. If additional time to prepare was necessary, petitioner should have appeared at the hearing and then and there requested a continuance for such time as would make preparation possible.
The trial court order dated August 13, 1981, herein committing petitioner for civil contempt is affirmed except for the provision permitting purge only “7 days after incarceration,” which qualifying provision is hereby quashed.
CERTIORARI GRANTED; ORDER QUASHED IN PART.
COBB and FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Broyles v. Broyles, 573 So. 2d 357 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)…tting the contemnor to purge himself of his contempt by compliance with the court order he has disobeyed. See, e.g., Contella v. Contella, 557 So. 2d 880 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990); Allman v. Johnson, 488 So. 2d 884 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Coody v. Muszynski, 402 So. 2d 81 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). Moreover, the agreement of the parties incorporated into the 1982 final judgment dissolving the parties’ marriage is a property settlement, and, as such, the provisions thereof are not enforceable via use of the trial court’s c…
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Thurman v. Thurman, 637 So. 2d 64 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…ver, contain a provision allowing Mr. Thurman to purge himself of the contempt at any time, including after incarceration. A civil contem-nor must be permitted to purge himself by complying with the disobeyed order. State ex rel. Coody v. Muszynski, 402 So. 2d 81 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). Thus, we amend the order of contempt to provide that Mr. Thurman may purge at any time by payment of the purge amount assigned by the trial court. On Mrs. Thurman’s cross appeal we find the trial court abused its discretion by…
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Allman v. Johnson, 488 So. 2d 884 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986)…. Davis, 83 Fla. 422, 91 So. 267 (1922) (prohibition is available to restrain a contempt proceeding where petitioner is shown not to have violated any valid order of the trial court at the time it issued an order of contempt). . Coody v. Muszynski, 402 So. 2d 81 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). [*886] proceedings relating to the alleged arrearages.…
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