Domestic Relations – Contempt Order – Purge

The trial court did not have authority to hold Defendant in contempt because he had purged the contempt prior to entry of the written order.

We vacated the Contempt Order.

Defendant appealed from an Order holding him in civil contempt for failure to pay child support and uninsured medical expenses. Defendant and Plaintiff separated in 2019. They had three minor children during the course of their marriage. Plaintiff filed a Complaint seeking child custody, child support, and equitable distribution in November 2019. The trial court entered an Order Regarding Temporary Child Custody and Child Support providing: the parties had joint legal custody of the children, Plaintiff had primary physical custody of the children, and Defendant was responsible for child support of $1,071.28 per month and 38.44% of the children’s uninsured medical expenses after Plaintiff paid the first $250. Plaintiff filed a Motion for Civil Contempt and Motion for Attorneys’ Fees in April 2021.

The trial court entered an Order Regarding Permanent Child Custody, Child Support, Civil Contempt and Attorneys’ Fees (Permanent Order) in February 2022. Based on evidence presented during the hearing, the trial court found Defendant’s child support obligation should be $725.01 per month, but in the decretal portion, the trial court ordered Defendant to pay $881.62 per month in child support. The trial court ordered the new obligation to be effective as of October 1, 2021. The trial court also found Plaintiff had incurred $8,030 in attorneys’ fees and ordered Defendant to pay $150.00 per month until he had paid that sum in full. Plaintiff filed a Motion for Civil Contempt in June 2023, alleging Defendant owed $3,176.48 in unpaid child support, $171.58 in unpaid uninsured medical expenses, and $1,350.00 in attorneys’ fees.

The trial court found Defendant in contempt of the Permanent Order and required Defendant pay the total amount of child support and medical expenses he owed—$3,348.06—to purge himself of contempt. Defendant executed a cash bond for the purge amount. In the Contempt Order, the trial court found Defendant in willful contempt of the Permanent Order and that Defendant had already purged himself of that contempt. In the decretal portion of the Contempt Order, the trial court stated: “Defendant/Father is in civil contempt of this Court’s Order entered on February 14, 2022.”

The dispositive issue on appeal was whether the trial court erred by holding Defendant in contempt after he had paid the entirety of the purge amount.

The trial court heard arguments on Plaintiff’s Motion for Civil Contempt on September 5, 2023. The same day, the trial court orally found Defendant was in contempt of its Order. Defendant was incarcerated and ordered to pay the total amount of child support and medical expenses he owed—$3,348.06—to purge himself of contempt. Defendant executed a cash bond for the purge amount on September 10, 2023. On September 29, 2023, the trial court filed its written order finding Defendant in contempt and that Defendant had purged himself of that contempt. The trial court did not have authority to hold Defendant in contempt because he had purged the contempt prior to entry of the written order. Thus, the trial court erred by holding Defendant in contempt. Therefore, we vacated the Contempt Order.

Vacated.

Bridges v. Bridges (Lawyers’ Weekly No. 011-124-25, 5 pp.) (Tobias Hampson, J.) Appealed from Union County District Court (Erin S. Hucks, J.) Parent Defender Wendy C. Sotolongo, by Assistant Parent Defender Jacky L. Brammer, for Defendant-Appellant; Becky Minter Bridges, pro se Plaintiff-Appellee. North Carolina Court of Appeals