Tennessee Father Jailed 55 Days for Child Support Enforcement
Tennessee child support law case law summary on collection and enforcement from the Court of Appeals.
Leslie Dwight Coffey v. Paula Sue Coffey – Tennessee divorce criminal contempt for child support.
The husband and wife were married in 1998 and divorced in 2004. At the time of the divorce, the trial court held the husband in contempt for failing to comply with court orders relating to delivery of the children to day care, delivery of the wife’s property, having contact with the wife, and breaking the wife’s camera. He was sentenced to thirty days in jail, but the sentence was suspended. About a year later, the court again found him in contempt for failure to pay child support. The additional twenty day sentence was again suspended.
In 2009, the wife brought another contempt motion, alleging that the husband was in arrears for over $11,000 of the child support and that he had failed to provide health insurance. At this time, the court found that the wife’s annual income was $33,000, and that the husband’s income was $15,100 per month. The trial court found the husband in contempt, but did not order any additional sentence.
In 2010, the wife filed another petition to have the husband found in criminal contempt. A special master found that the husband had the ability to pay. The trial court ordered that the prior suspended sentences should be implemented, and also ordered an additional sentence of five days. The trial court also ordered the husband to pay attorney’s fees in the amount of $10,000. The husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The husband first argued that the sentences for conduct prior to the final decree could not be implemented. However, the Court of Appeals ruled that this would only be the case for interim or temporary orders, and that a finding of contempt is not a temporary order.
The husband next argued that the wife had consented to the prior suspensions of the sentences. However, the Court agreed that it would still be proper to “unsuspend” them at a later date.
The husband also argued that Tennessee law does not permit the “unsuspension” of a sentence after an amount of time had passed equal to the maximum possible sentence. The Court noted, however, that this provision applied only to a violation of a criminal statute for which the defendant was on probation. This provision did not apply to a case of criminal contempt.
The husband also argued that the trial court had used the words “clear and convincing evidence” in an order, and had therefore not applied the correct burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The Court of Appeals examined the record and concluded that the proof was adequate beyond a reasonable doubt, even though the trial court might have used the incorrect language.
Finally, the husband argued that there was not a specific finding as to the amount owed, which the husband could pay to purge himself of the contempt. The Court of Appeals pointed to numerous orders which specified the amount due.
The Court of Appeals did agree with the husband that he should be able to offer evidence to counter the amount of attorney’s fees claimed by the wife. Therefore, it remanded for that purpose. However, it affirmed the 55 day jail sentence.
No. E2012-00143-COA-R3-CV (Tenn.Ct. App. Mar. 28, 2013).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
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