In re the Marriage of Dean and Cook

Citations

• 2017 COA 51
• 413 P.3d 246

Syllabus

Parenting Time—Contempt—Evidence—Transcripts—Magistrate—Exceeding Authority—Hearing—Attorney Fees—Reasonableness. Dean (mother) and Cook (father) divorced in 2006. Father filed a contempt motion on the basis that mother denied his parenting time. On May 19, 2014, the court set the contempt hearing over and ordered mother to engage in therapy. On November 3, 2014, the court found mother in contempt of court, ordered that she could purge the contempt by allowing father to have the children during their 2014 Thanksgiving break, and ordered her to pay father's attorney fees. Sentencing occurred on January 8, 2015, at which time the court ordered mother to pay father's attorney fees. On appeal, mother first contended that the magistrate improperly reconsidered the May 19 order when, on November 3, she changed the nature of the sanctions imposed. On May 19, the magistrate simply adopted the parties' stipulation for mother to engage in therapy the order was not imposed to force mother to comply with the parenting time stipulation. No sanctions were imposed until November 3, when the magistrate found mother guilty of remedial contempt. Mother also challenged the evidence presented at the contempt and sentencing hearings, the weight the magistrate placed on that evidence, and the findings and inferences the magistrate made in her orders. Mother failed to provide a copy of the transcripts from the contempt and sentencing hearings to the district court when she sought review of the magistrate's orders under CRM 7(a). Therefore, it is presumed that the record supports the magistrate's orders that mother failed to comply with the parties' stipulation and was thus in remedial contempt. Mother also contended that the magistrate exceeded her authority when she ordered mother to restrict the children's privileges if they did not comply with her instructions to go to father's home for parenting time. By specifying the methods mother must employ to obtain the children's compliance, th