TN Mom Jailed For Willfully Failing to Pay Child Support
Tennessee child support law case law summary on contempt, enforcement and collection from the Court of Appeals.
Daniel Anthony Norfleet v. Audra Ann Norfleet – Tennessee divorce child support contempt and enforcement.
Daniel and Audra Norfleet were divorced in 2007 after agreeing to a marital dissolution agreement. The father was named as the primary residential parent of their daughter, Amber, who was born in 2000. Under the plan, the father was to have the girl 195 days per year, with the mother enjoying the remaining 170 days. The mother was ordered to pay $185 per month in child support.
The father returned to court after he alleged that the mother was violating both the conditions and the spirit of the parenting plan. The trial court agreed, and modified the plan in 2011. Under the new plan, the father had 285 days with the child, reducing the mother’s time to 80 days per year. Her child support obligation was reduced to $174 per month.
Later that same year, the father was still experiencing troubles, and returned to court asking to have the mother held in contempt. Among other things, he informed the court that the mother had been convicted of three criminal offenses in April 2011. That arose out of an assault by the mother against the father’s girlfriend, and another assault against a process server who was serving the court’s restraining order on her. For those offenses, she received two concurrent six-month sentences in the Montgomery County jail.
He also alleged that she had made false accusations against him for beating the child. She had also entrusted the girl to her boyfriend, a convicted criminal, when she reported to jail. She had also failed to pay child support for about four months, despite having sold a piece of real property.
The contempt hearing on these charges was held in December 2012, and the mother had an appointed lawyer.
After listening to all of the testimony, Montgomery County Chancery Judge Ross H. Hicks made his ruling. He ruled that the mother was not credible. Even though he accepted her testimony that she was not currently employed, he believed that she was employable. And he didn’t believe her testimony with regard to the sale of the property. The trial court ruled that she had the ability to pay but had failed to do so. He found her guilty of criminal contempt, and sentenced her to ten days on each of the four counts. Part of the sentence was to be suspended, and the result was that she was required to serve her sentence over four weekends. He also made a further reduction in her parenting time.
Dissatisfied with this outcome, the mother took the case to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
She argued that the lower court had failed to hold a separate proceeding on the civil and criminal contempt charges, and the Court of Appeals outlined the differences between the two types of contempt.
But the Court of Appeals was not receptive to this argument. First, it noted that she hadn’t made the argument at trial. But more importantly, it saw nothing in the procedure used that rose to the level of reversible error. The pleadings in the case clearly put her on notice of the criminal nature of the proceeding, and she had been notified of all of her rights in a criminal contempt case.
After resolving this procedural issue, the appeals court went on to examine the underlying conduct. It agreed with the lower court that there was ample evidence of willfulness, and for that reason, affirmed the lower court’s ruling.
No. M2013-00652-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 9, 2014).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
For more information, see Child Support Enforcement & Collection in Tennessee Family Law FAQs. For legal updates, news, analysis, and commentary, visit our Tennessee Family Law Blog and its Child Support category. Also, check out Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring actual examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases.
