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Appeal of a contempt order???

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My ex was found in indirect civil contempt of a court order, namely to list the marital property and maintain it in a clean and sellable condition. His attorney filed a motion to Void the order, the motion was denied, ex was found guilty and sentenced to 30 days. The judge also allowed for an opportunity to purge the conviction by paying X amount by X date directly to the realtor to pay for the professional cleaning, painting and landscaping of the property.

A previous court order stated the ex was prohibited from painting, tearing down, or 'fixing' anything in the house or on the property. He had already torn down some garden structures, stated he was going to tear down more, and had already torn out or destroyed many bushes, shrubs and plants, as well as poorly repainting several rooms. Not because there was anything wrong with any of this, but because he didnt like them because I had done these things. His whole goal all along has been to reduce the value of the property so that he could afford to refinance and buy me out. Goofy and illogical, but, hey, one of the many reasons I'm divorcing him.

Since the contempt conviction was entered, he has decided he is going to save himself some money and do the painting himself. He has yet to pay the money to the realtor, and his attorney is now arguing that because this work has been done, there is no reason to pay professionals to do this.

His attorney also states that there will be a settlement offer on my attorney's desk by today (didnt happen) and this offer would include either him or his family buying the house (for $15k less than the listed price). His attorney is also threatening that if we dont allow him to paint, in effect getting out of paying this sum, he will file for the contempt order to be....?overturned?...I'm not sure of the legal maneuver here.

In short, he states that the house was listed (for $12k below market value, with the provisio that these things would be recified immediately). He also states that there was never a hearing on whether or not these repairs and improvements actually needed to be done nor what would be a fair price for these services. These repairs and improvements were stated as necessary by the realtors to make the house listable. The work was to be done by licensed and bonded contractors from the realtor's list of approved vendors. Just to be sure, I also had quotes from a couple others who all came in higher than those on the realtor's list. All of which was given to his attorney 2 months before the contempt hearing.

His client was found guilty because he didnt show up for the original contempt hearing, had not kept the house in a neat and clean condition (it was actually worse, I had 'before and after' pictures that the judge accepted). My confusion is this...yes, a long way to go for a real, legal question...

Is there such a motion that his attorney could file that would reverse the contempt finding? How likely is it to be successful? Do we legally have a leg to stand on with him doing the painting, after he was told specifically not to? And what, if any, bearing does this whole b.s. about a settlement offer that never materialized (but probably will the day of the next hearing) have on any of this? For the record, neither he nor his family are capable of buying the house, even at $15k less than the listed price, so any settlement offer will be a joke and aimed at simply stalling...keeping him in the house.
 



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