Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Family Law Procedure
When a party in a Florida divorce proceeding takes action to disrupt the proceedings, consequences may include contempt proceedings. Contempt proceedings can lead to incarcerations, fines or other punishments. Careful steps must be followed depending on the type of contempt sought. This was an issue in the case Malek v. Malek, 3D22-1371 (Fla. 3d DCA February 9, 2024).
In an ongoing divorce case, a domestic violence injunction was entered against the husband. He was alleged to have threatened harm to the wife’s pets, and the injunction prohibited him from doing so. After the wife’s cat was shot with a pellet gun and maimed, the wife filed a motion for indirect criminal or civil contempt accusing the husband of shooting her cat. The wife withdrew her motion for indirect criminal contempt and instead proceeded on the civil contempt claim. After a hearing, the trial court imposed a sanction of community service upon the husband for violation of the injunction based on the court’s “inherent powers”. The husband appealed.
The appellate court reversed, noting “While a trial court has “considerable latitude” to impose a sanction to address a party’s abuse of the judicial process, [internal citation omitted], the trial court’s inherent power to sanction a litigant is confined to punishments that are not penal in nature. For a trial court to impose a penal sanction for conduct that is neither seen nor heard by the trial court, compliance with rule 3.840 – the rule governing indirect criminal contempt proceedings – is mandatory.” The court held “Here, the fifty hours of community service imposed by the trial court constituted an alternative to incarceration; hence, Husband was entitled to the same constitutional protections embodied in rule 3.840 that are afforded to any criminal defendant in a criminal proceeding.”
Schedule your meeting with a Miami family law attorney to understand how the law may apply to the facts of your case.