Contempt and order enforcement for Milton families.
In Milton, parents tend to do things by the book, so a co-parent who flouts a court order is especially galling. Enforcement is the answer: a contempt action puts the court’s weight behind the order again, and we handle the filing and the hearing for you.
Daniels & Taylor serves Milton families from our office in Lawrenceville.
What most people pay for a consultation to learn
Contempt is how you enforce an order that already exists, not how you change it. If the other person is ignoring your custody, support, or divorce order, you ask the court to enforce it; to change the order you file a separate modification (O.C.G.A. 19-9-23(b)).
The violation has to be willful. An honest inability to pay is a defense to a support contempt; the question is whether the other person could comply and chose not to
(O.C.G.A. 19-6-28).
How a Georgia contempt case works
Contempt is how you enforce an existing order when the other person refuses to follow it. The court can compel compliance, and for a willful refusal it can order jail until the person complies, a purgeable and coercive remedy, so no one can promise that the other side will be jailed (O.C.G.A. 19-6-28).
Contempt is filed in the same court that entered the order you are enforcing, the court that issued your order, not necessarily where either of you lives now (O.C.G.A. 19-9-23(b)). If your order came from the Superior Court of Gwinnett
County, that is where your contempt case belongs; if it came from another county, that is where it belongs.
If circumstances have genuinely changed, the proper step in Georgia is generally a modification, not contempt, because contempt enforces an existing order rather than changing it (O.C.G.A. 19-9-23(b), 19-9-3), so a parent in Milton whose situation has changed typically files for modification.
A contempt action in Georgia enforces an existing custody order rather than creating new terms (O.C.G.A. 19-9-23(b)), so a parent in Milton uses contempt to hold the other parent to the current custody arrangement.
Contempt also enforces the terms of a Georgia divorce decree, such as support, property, and parenting obligations (O.C.G.A. 19-6-28), so a party in Milton can use contempt to enforce what the divorce ordered.
Common questions about contempt in Milton
Where is a contempt case filed?
A contempt action belongs in the court that entered your original order: if your order came from a particular county’s Superior Court, that is where the contempt is filed, even if you have since moved to another county. We confirm which court that is for you.
Do you serve families throughout the Milton area?
Yes, all across Milton and north Fulton from our Lawrenceville office.
Where do I begin?
With a free case evaluation, where we map out the enforcement options.
Put the court’s weight behind your order again. Call (770) 285-1673 for a free case evaluation.
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