Pryor v. Bostwick
Decision Date | 26 October 2004 |
Docket Number | No. 49A02-0402-JV-127.,49A02-0402-JV-127. |
Citation | 818 N.E.2d 6 |
Parties | Kristin Lynn PRYOR, Appellant-Petitioner, v. David Eric BOSTWICK, Appellee-Respondent. |
Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Lilaberdia Batties, Batties & Associates, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.
Jerald L. Miller, Bowman, Ksenak & Miller, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellee.
Kristin Lynn Pryor ("Mother") appeals from two of the trial court's orders finding her in contempt of court and calculating David Eric Bostwick's ("Father") child support obligation with respect to their child, A.B. She presents the following issues for our review:
We reverse and remand with instructions.
Father had an affair with Mother in early 2002, and Mother gave birth to the parties' child, A.B., on December 3, 2002. On July 9, 2003, Mother filed with the trial court a petition to establish Father's paternity and a motion requesting temporary custody, child support, and attorney's fees. On October 27, 2003, the parties submitted an agreed entry, and the court approved that entry the same day. The terms of the agreed entry provided in part that once paternity was established by a pending DNA test, the parties would submit an agreed paternity order establishing custody, visitation, and child support.1 The results of the DNA test establishing Father's paternity were sent to the parties on November 5, 2003. But, contrary to the terms of their agreed entry, the parties did not submit an agreed paternity order to the trial court thereafter.
On November 21, 2003, Father filed a verified motion for rule to show cause, which stated in relevant part as follows:
Following a hearing on Father's motion on January 12, 2004, the trial court entered an order which provided in relevant part as follows:
On January 21, 2004, Father filed a second motion for rule to show cause alleging that Mother was in contempt of the court's order that she change their child's last name to Bostwick. Attached to that motion was a letter Mother had written to Father, wherein Mother stated that she did not intend to change the child's last name to Bostwick and that her attorney told her that "our Dyke chop judge was a stand in because the real judge was gone on maternity leave, what is it they go to a temp service when real judges are gone." Id. at 462. Following a hearing on that motion, the trial court entered an order as follows:
Id. at 9-11. This appeal ensued.
Mother first contends that the trial court erred when it found her in indirect contempt "for refusing to allow Father's visitation" with A.B. prior to January 12, 2004. Appellant's App. at 6. Mother maintains that because paternity had not been established prior to January 12, there could not have been any visitation order in effect. We must agree.
Contempt of court involves disobedience of a court which undermines the court's authority, justice, and dignity. Carter v. Johnson, 745 N.E.2d 237, 240 (Ind.Ct.App.2001) (quoting Hopping v. State, 637 N.E.2d 1294, 1297 (Ind.1994)). There are two types of contempt, direct and indirect. Acts of indirect contempt are those which undermine the activities of the court but fail to satisfy the requirements to be direct contempt. Id. at 241. To be punished for contempt of a court's order, there must be an order commanding the accused to do or refrain from doing something. Malicoat v. Wolf, 792 N.E.2d 89, 92 (Ind.Ct.App.2003). Uncontradicted evidence that a party is aware of a court order and willfully disobeys it is sufficient to support a finding of contempt. Id.
The parties' agreed entry, which was approved by the court in October 2003, specified that after Father's paternity was established by the DNA test, the parties would submit an agreed entry setting out paternity, custody, child support, and visitation. But the parties did not submit an agreed entry after they received the test result, and the trial...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Jones v. State
...on the one hand, involve actions in the presence of the court, such that the court has personal knowledge of them. Pryor v. Bostwick, 818 N.E.2d 6, 12 (Ind.Ct.App.2004). Indirect contempts, on the other hand, undermine the orders or activities of the court but involve actions outside the tr......
-
In re Contempt of Wabash Valley Hosp., Inc.
...Direct contempts involve actions in the presence of the court, so that the court has personal knowledge of them. Pryor v. Bostwick, 818 N.E.2d 6, 12 (Ind.Ct.App.2004). Indirect contempts, in contrast, undermine the orders or activities of the court but involve actions outside the trial cour......
-
Dickson v. Ford
...Under the circumstances of this case, we conclude that the trial court's support order is clearly erroneous. See Pryor v. Bostwick , 818 N.E.2d 6, 12 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004) (reversing support order where neither party submitted a child support worksheet to the trial court and the trial court ......
-
In re Direct Criminal Contempt Proceedings
...Direct contempt involves actions in the presence of the court, such that the court has personal knowledge of them. Pryor v. Bostwick, 818 N.E.2d 6, 12 (Ind.Ct.App.2004). However, direct contempt includes any act committed in the presence of, and with knowledge of, the court that manifests a......