Contempt of Court

[Oceansnaps]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

During the litigation of my divorce (which went on for some five years), there came a point where the Judge ordered me to pay her $40,000.00, or, spend 120 days in jail for contempt. I didn't have $40,000.00 at hand, so I did the 120 days. This was almost 20 years ago. I recently filled out some forms that asked:
Have I ever been arrested? (I wasn't arrested)
Have I ever been convicted of a crime (No?)
Would the above ( ) answers be correct?

Is there any possibility that spending 120 days in jail for Contempt would have been considered a Felony?

These are questions that have been nagging at me for years.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

During the litigation of my divorce (which went on for some five years), there came a point where the Judge ordered me to pay her $40,000.00, or, spend 120 days in jail for contempt. I didn't have $40,000.00 at hand, so I did the 120 days. This was almost 20 years ago. I recently filled out some forms that asked:
Have I ever been arrested? (I wasn't arrested)
Have I ever been convicted of a crime (No?)
Would the above ( ) answers be correct?

Is there any possibility that spending 120 days in jail for Contempt would have been considered a Felony?

These are questions that have been nagging at me for years.

No, that was not an arrest.
No, you were not convicted of a crime.
No, that was definitely NOT a felony.

 

[latigo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

During the litigation of my divorce (which went on for some five years), there came a point where the Judge ordered me to pay her $40,000.00, or, spend 120 days in jail for contempt. I didn't have $40,000.00 at hand, so I did the 120 days. This was almost 20 years ago. I recently filled out some forms that asked:
Have I ever been arrested? (I wasn't arrested)
Have I ever been convicted of a crime (No?)
Would the above ( ) answers be correct?

Is there any possibility that spending 120 days in jail for Contempt would have been considered a Felony?

These are questions that have been nagging at me for years.

Your fears were wasted.

Also the only way the judge could rightly cite you in contempt (which is an exercise of a courts inherent power to enforce its own orders and is known as quasi-criminal, not a prosecutorial offense) is if it found that you willfully disobeyed the order. Meaning that you had the ability to pay the $40K. Either you did have the means or you were poorly represented.

 

[tranquility]

I am not as certain as the others if a 120 days of confinement is criminal or civil. The facts are always important. For one, why did the court think you owe the money and why did you not pay?

Notwithstanding latigo's theory of contempt that does not contemplate a violation of criminal law, I posit a judge CAN find a violation that rises to a criminal issue. Contempt is not contempt is not contempt. It all depends on the facts and what the court determined. When we get to confinement for three months? I don't think that is a Constitutional issue. It is an issue. Certainly, the amount of time confined does not require a conviction. Yet, it is a long time and is something that could be looked into. A hungry attorney? Good times.

As to if you were "arrested" is a legal problem not easily solved. If one advises you were not under these facts, I would love some sort of proof. To me, you were "arrested". I would love to argue the legal import to others as I could argue the opposite. But, at the end of the day, I suspect someone who spent months in jail has been arrested. I agree it depends on definitions. But, arrested.

 

[LdiJ]

I am not as certain as the others if a 120 days of confinement is criminal or civil. The facts are always important. For one, why did the court think you owe the money and why did you not pay?

Notwithstanding latigo's theory of contempt that does not contemplate a violation of criminal law, I posit a judge CAN find a violation that rises to a criminal issue. Contempt is not contempt is not contempt. It all depends on the facts and what the court determined. When we get to confinement for three months? I don't think that is a Constitutional issue. It is an issue. Certainly, the amount of time confined does not require a conviction. Yet, it is a long time and is something that could be looked into. A hungry attorney? Good times.

As to if you were "arrested" is a legal problem not easily solved. If one advises you were not under these facts, I would love some sort of proof. To me, you were "arrested". I would love to argue the legal import to others as I could argue the opposite. But, at the end of the day, I suspect someone who spent months in jail has been arrested. I agree it depends on definitions. But, arrested.

So, are you positing that he has a criminal record and therefore should have answered those questions on that form as yes rather than no?

 

[latigo]

I am not as certain as the others if a 120 days of confinement is criminal or civil. The facts are always important. For one, why did the court think you owe the money and why did you not pay?

Notwithstanding latigo's theory of contempt that does not contemplate a violation of criminal law, I posit a judge CAN find a violation that rises to a criminal issue. Contempt is not contempt is not contempt. It all depends on the facts and what the court determined. When we get to confinement for three months? I don't think that is a Constitutional issue. It is an issue. Certainly, the amount of time confined does not require a conviction. Yet, it is a long time and is something that could be looked into. A hungry attorney? Good times.

As to if you were "arrested" is a legal problem not easily solved. If one advises you were not under these facts, I would love some sort of proof. To me, you were "arrested". I would love to argue the legal import to others as I could argue the opposite. But, at the end of the day, I suspect someone who spent months in jail has been arrested. I agree it depends on definitions. But, arrested.

????????????????????

 

[Oceansnaps]

Your fears were wasted.

Also the only way the judge could rightly cite you in contempt (which is an exercise of a courts inherent power to enforce its own orders and is known as quasi-criminal, not a prosecutorial offense) is if it found that you willfully disobeyed the order. Meaning that you had the ability to pay the $40K. Either you did have the means or you were poorly represented.

This all came about from a pendente lite order my ex got very early in the case. It was way beyond my means, I didn't even know what it meant at the time, had never heard of it before. I was dead meat from the day the judge signed that temporary order. As far as being poorly represented, you hit it exactly, the judge felt that I was hiding the money and gave me a choice, pay up or do 120 days. It was grotesque, to the point while I was on the witness stand getting beaten to death over stupid stuff like buying my grandmother flowers, and not using the business credit line to borrow money to pay her, my attorney spent the entire morning transferring all his phone contacts from his old phone to his new phone. No kidding. Later, when the court was pissed at him over other issues, the court wanted copies of all his invoices, he claimed they were destroyed in a flood (when in fact there were no invoices, I was paying him cash as best I could).

This was all in 1997. The case was finally settled in 2003. So yes, the judge felt I willfully disobeyed the order.

 

[tranquility]

????????????????????

https://www.nysba.org/40622CrimCivContempt/

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ny-family-court/1251023.html

 

[Bali Hai]

This all came about from a pendente lite order my ex got very early in the case. It was way beyond my means, I didn't even know what it meant at the time, had never heard of it before. I was dead meat from the day the judge signed that temporary order. As far as being poorly represented, you hit it exactly, the judge felt that I was hiding the money and gave me a choice, pay up or do 120 days. It was grotesque, to the point while I was on the witness stand getting beaten to death over stupid stuff like buying my grandmother flowers, and not using the business credit line to borrow money to pay her, my attorney spent the entire morning transferring all his phone contacts from his old phone to his new phone. No kidding. Later, when the court was pissed at him over other issues, the court wanted copies of all his invoices, he claimed they were destroyed in a flood (when in fact there were no invoices, I was paying him cash as best I could).

This was all in 1997. The case was finally settled in 2003. So yes, the judge felt I willfully disobeyed the order.

This eerily sounds like the nightmare that I went through in NY. Sounds like your ex and her lawyer (probably buddies with the judge) fed the judge a line of BS saying you had the 40k hidden and the judge jumped to the conclusion that you did. You're lucky it was only three months in jail and not 14 years in prison.

 

[Oceansnaps]

I am not as certain as the others if a 120 days of confinement is criminal or civil. The facts are always important. For one, why did the court think you owe the money and why did you not pay?

Notwithstanding latigo's theory of contempt that does not contemplate a violation of criminal law, I posit a judge CAN find a violation that rises to a criminal issue. Contempt is not contempt is not contempt. It all depends on the facts and what the court determined. When we get to confinement for three months? I don't think that is a Constitutional issue. It is an issue. Certainly, the amount of time confined does not require a conviction. Yet, it is a long time and is something that could be looked into. A hungry attorney? Good times.

As to if you were "arrested" is a legal problem not easily solved. If one advises you were not under these facts, I would love some sort of proof. To me, you were "arrested". I would love to argue the legal import to others as I could argue the opposite. But, at the end of the day, I suspect someone who spent months in jail has been arrested. I agree it depends on definitions. But, arrested.

What I read was that if I "hold the keys" to getting out of jail, it is definitely civil contempt. If I am in jail for a fixed period of time, it is criminal contempt.

 

[tranquility]

What I read was that if I "hold the keys" to getting out of jail, it is definitely civil contempt. If I am in jail for a fixed period of time, it is criminal contempt.

That is a better shorthand way of saying it than I could have done. Yet, that is only a shorthand way. What are the forms you are filling out? What is their purpose?

 

[Oceansnaps]

That is a better shorthand way of saying it than I could have done. Yet, that is only a shorthand way. What are the forms you are filling out? What is their purpose?

For a HazMat endorsement on my CDL Drivers License.

 

[tranquility]

For a HazMat endorsement on my CDL Drivers License.

Disclose it. It really shouldn't make a difference either way. They will look to if it is disqualifying--and it seems not.