In the first New York appellate decision to rule on the issue, the Appellate Division, Second Department held in its February 28, 2018 opinion in Spencer v. Spencer, that violations of matrimonial action “Automatic Orders” can be grounds for a finding of civil contempt, but an application for that relief must be made before the entry of the judgment of divorce.

The facts are straightforward. Following the entry of her November, 2015 divorce judgment, the wife discovered that while the divorce action was pending, her husband sold a warehouse in Brooklyn, without the knowledge or consent of the wife or the court. He netted $300,000.00.

Under Court Rule 22 N.Y.C.R.R. §202.16-a, the listed orders are binding upon a plaintiff upon commencement of the matrimonial action and upon a defendant upon service of the summons or summons and complaint (see Domestic Relations Law § 236[B][2][b]). Automatic Orders seek to preserve the status quo while the action is pending, by prohibiting the transfer or encumbrance of real and personal property and retirement funds, the accumulation of unreasonable debt, and changes in beneficiaries on existing health and life insurance policies.

The wife, then, sought to hold the husband in civil contempt (Judiciary Law §753). After a hearing, Richmond County Supreme Court Justice Catherine M. DiDomenico granted that motion. Justice DiDomenico directed that, unless the defendant purged the contempt by immediately paying $150,000 to the wife, the husband would be incarcerated every weekend for a period of six months. The husband appealed.Continue Reading Contempt Available for Violators of “Automatic Orders”

Contested litigation is remarkably unsuited for healing a divorced family. One gets a sense of the feelings of frustration, if not helplessness a Family Court Judge may feel as she tries to figure out “what do we do next?” What remedy should be ordered that will actually strengthen the bonds between parent and children?

Consider the July 1, 2016 decision of Erie County Family Court Judge Mary G. Carney in Matter of Gregory S. v. Dana K. Judge Carney was charged with resolving the claims of a father, rejected by his four children in substantial part due to the mother’s willful violations of visitation orders.

Judge Carney noted that the family’s history was branded by protracted, caustic litigation, toxic interpersonal conflict and all categories of broken hearts.Continue Reading Mother Ordered to Write Book Report for Disobeying Father’s Visitation Rights

Check censoredFinding statements made by a father on the memo portion of three child support checks offensive, the Appellate Division, Second Department, found that such violated the mother’s order of protection.

Doing so in its February 3, 2016 decision in Clovis v. Clovis, the Second Department reversed the order of Orange County Family Court Judge

Unemployment, alone, is not sufficient to avoid incarceration for the willful failure to pay child support. So held the First Department when on April 8, 2014 it affirmed the determination of Bronx County Family Court Judge Sidney Gribetz in Gina C. v. Augusto C.

Based upon the fact-finding determination of the Support Magistrate, Judge Gribetz

No retroactive fine or suspension of maintenance is to be  imposed against a wife who violated her so-ordered stipulation not to allow her paramour into the marital residence. Instead, suspension of maintenance and a fine would only be imposed prospectively and only until the wife complied with that stipulation. Civil contempt fines are not intended