Ex parte Chacon, 7055
| Decision Date | 29 October 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 7055,7055 |
| Citation | 607 S.W.2d 317 |
| Parties | Ex parte Jesus CHACON, Relator. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
This is an original habeas corpus proceeding under Article 1824a, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. (Supp.1980). It arises from an order of the District Court committing Jesus Chacon to the El Paso County jail for contempt of court for failing to comply with a divorce decree ordering him to pay child support, awarding certain personal property to Mrs. Chacon, and ordering him to pay federal income tax arrearages. The trial court in the contempt order also directed that he pay all costs, including attorney's fees. We released the Relator on a bond pending a hearing. The writ of habeas corpus is denied, and he is now remanded to the custody of the sheriff.
The contempt order found that the Relator disobeyed the June, 1978, divorce decree which ordered him to make periodic payments for the support of his two children, and the order found that he is now in arrears in the amount of $4,550.00. The Court set $400.00 as a reasonable fee for claimant's attorney, and found the court costs to be $70.00.
The order then adjudged Jesus Chacon to be in contempt of court, assessed a fine of $500.00, set a sentence of thirty days in jail and ordered he be further confined until he purged himself by paying $4,550.00 for child support, $400.00 for attorney's fees and $70.00 for court costs.
We overrule the attack upon this part of the contempt order. There is sufficient specificity to establish the exact conduct which constituted the contempt. The divorce decree ordered Jesus Chacon to pay support for his two minor children "in the sum of $162.50 per month per child until each of such children reaches the age of eighteen (18) years of age * * *." The motion for contempt quoted the exact language of the divorce decree as to support payments, and it further stated specific months for which payments had not been made.
The contempt order sets forth the Court's finding on this issue as follows:
1) On the 8th day of June, 1978, Respondent was ordered to make periodical payments for the support of two children, which order appears of record in volume 1, page 604, of the minutes of this Court.
2) Respondent has contemptuously disobeyed the order by failing to make periodical payments as ordered and is now in arrears in the amount of $4,550.00, and that Respondent was and is able to comply with the order and should be held in contempt of court.
By such finding, the Court noted its judgment providing for child support payments; it found a contemptuous disobeyance of the judgment, and found the amount of arrearage due and that Relator was able to pay. The contempt order directed his confinement beyond the criminal sentence until that amount and the attorney's fees and costs are paid. Such order meets the requirements set forth in Ex parte Proctor, 398 S.W.2d 917 (Tex.1966), where the Court concluded its opinion by saying:
In the instant case, if the court had found that the relator was delinquent in the amount of $550 in support payments ordered to be paid in its judgment of December 22, 1964, and if the court had further found him in contempt and had committed him to jail for three days and until he had paid the $550 and court costs, the relator could have been held until he made such payments.
The provision for attorney's fees and court costs does not make the order void and does not result in imprisonment for a debt. Ex parte Helms, 152 Tex. 480, 259 S.W.2d 184...
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Ex parte McIntyre
...for failing to surrender this property to the movant. In re Hill, 611 S.W.2d 457, 458 (Tex.Civ.App.--Dallas 1980, no writ); Ex parte Chacon, 607 S.W.2d 317, 319 (Tex.Civ.App.--El Paso 1980, no Although we find that we must reverse the finding of contempt for relator's refusal to surrender t......
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...1991, writ dism'd w.o.j.). This case does not involve imprisonment for the mere failure to pay taxes owed as a taxpayer. Cf. Ex parte Chacon, 607 S.W.2d 317, 318 (Tex.Civ.App.--El Paso 1980, no writ). The alleged offense in this case is the failure of a person, charged with a duty to collec......
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...belong to Dawn. Consequently, Paul's obligation to pay past-due property taxes is a debt owed to the taxing entity. See Ex parte Chacon, 607 S.W.2d 317, 319 (Tex.Civ.App.-El Paso 1980, orig. proceeding) (holding that a judgment providing for payment of federal taxes is a debt owed to the fe......
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...Appellee's obligation to make credit card payments is merely a debt owed to the credit card companies. See generally Ex parte Chacon, 607 S.W.2d 317, 319 (Tex.Civ.App.-El Paso 1980, orig. proceeding) (noting that payment of federal taxes is in the nature of a debt owed the government). The ......