Kenneth and Kenya marry on February 14, 1987. During the marriage, they have two kids, Nathaniel and Joseph.

Kenya files a complaint for a divorce on February 12, 2012.

On June 4, 2014, the chancery court signs and Order divorcing them both.

As part of the divorce Order, Kenneth and Kenya agree to certain things and if you don’t do these things you will find yourself paying money for attorney fees contempt.

On May 23, 2019, Kenneth files a Petition For Emancipation.

Attorney Fees Contempt | Do You Want To Pay Attorney Fees To Your Ex After Your Divorce?

In other words, Kenneth claims that the kids are now emancipated so he should not have to pay child support.

Does Kenneth follow the original divorce Order from June 4, 2014?

I’ll give you one guess.

Here’s how you can pay attorney fees to your “ex” in a divorce.

Kenneth teaches you how to do exactly that.

Once Kenneth files his Petition for Emancipation, Kenya files a counter-claim.

Guess what the counter claim is for?

You guessed it, Kenneth fails to follow the original divorce Order.

If you choose to ignore a Court Order, consequences will follow.

Attorney Fees Contempt | Consequences For Failing To Follow The Judge’s Order: Pay Attorney Fees To Your Ex After Your Divorce

Kenneth discovers that one of these consequences means he may pay attorney fees.

So what does Kenneth do that causes him to get in trouble?

He fails to pay his portion of the medical bills for the kids.

He fails to pay his portion of the extracurricular activities for the kids.

He fails to pay his portion of the college expenses for the kids.

Kenneth also fails to pay for life insurance as the original divorce Order tells him that he must do.

This kind of thing will cause you to pay attorney fees contempt for your former spouse.

So let’s add all this up. . .Kenneth gets hit for $48,786.69 by the trial judge!

Kenneth appeals.

This is a contempt case.

Contempt: What Is The Law If You Have To Pay Attorney Fees To Your Ex After Your Divorce?

On Appeal, the Mississippi Court of Appeals says, “Contempt matters are committed to the substantial discretion of the trial court which, by institutional circumstance and both temporal and visual proximity, is infinitely more competent to decide the matter than are we. Contempt is to be determined upon the facts of an individual case and is a matter for the trier of fact. This Court will not reverse a contempt citation where the [trial court’s] findings are supported by substantial credible evidence.”

What this means in English is the trial judge has a lot of power. The Appeals Court will follow what the trial judge says unless he was really wrong about something.

I find most of the time trial judges try to get it right and usually are not wrong about things.

Kenneth wants to get rid of the life insurance requirement.

But, on Appeal, the Court notes that Kenneth does not say anything about getting rid of this obligation in his Petition for Emancipation.

Hint: if you want something from a Court, you better put it in the Complaint. If you fail to put it in the Complaint, the Court cannot rule in your favor.

So what does the Appeals Court say?

Here’s the legal mumbo jumbo: “A true and genuine property settlement agreement is no different from any other contract, and the mere fact that it is between a divorcing husband and wife, and incorporated in a divorce decree, does not change its character. These agreements are “fixed and final, and may not be modified absent fraud or [a] contractual provision allowing modification. . .or where, because of a scrivener’s error, the instrument does not reflect the actual agreement of the parties. When parties in a divorce proceeding have reached an agreement that a chancery court has approved, we will enforce it, absent fraud or overreaching, and we take a dim view of efforts to modify it just as we do when persons seek relief from improvident contracts.

What’s this mean?

A divorce settlement or property settlement agreement is just like a regular contract. You must know what you signed and even if you claim you did not read it or know what you signed, you are stuck with the contract terms.

So, Kenneth has to pay for the life insurance.

Now, is he going to be in contempt?

The Appeals Court says, “In contempt actions involving unpaid child support, a prima facie case of contempt has been established when the party entitled to receive support introduces evidence that the party required to pay the support has failed to do so. At this point, the burden shifts to the paying party to show an inability to pay or other defense; this proof must be clear and convincing and rise above a simple state of doubtfulness. Whether a party is in contempt is left to the chancellor’s substantial discretion. Moreover, the chancery court should be affirmed unless manifest error is present and apparent.

What’s this mean in English?

It means if you fail to pay, you are going to be held in contempt of Court UNLESS you can prove that you are unable to pay or you have some other REALLY good defense.

What should you do if you are in this situation?

Get a lawyer quickly before you find yourself paying attorney fees or worse.

Kenneth tries to get out of some of this by arguing that some of the medical expenses happen before the divorce.

But, the problem was Kenneth never tells the trial court his.

So, the Appeals Court says, “In Southern v. Mississippi State Hosp., 853 So. 2d 1212, 1214-15 (Miss. 2003), we reiterated the important procedural tenet that ‘[a] trial judge cannot be put in error on a matter not presented to him.”

In other words, Kenneth fails to tell the trial court about this so he loses on appeal.

Hint: Again, if you want something from a trial judge, you better put it in the complaint or a motion. If you don’t, you will lose on appeal.

On the college expenses, that Kenneth does not pay, the Appeals Court says, “In Wray v. Langston, 380 So. 2d 1262, 1264 (Miss. 1980), the Mississippi Supreme Court held that the duty of a parent to provide a college education for his or her child contemplates support in addition to tuition and college costs, without which, provision for the college education would be in vain. In the case at hand, the parties’ divorce Agreement specifically provided for “all tuition, room, board, books and other college expenses. Kenya testified that each of the expenses listed in Exhibit 9 were reasonable and contemplated in paragraph V of the parties’ divorce Agreement. Given the proof and testimony presented at trial, we find no error in the chancery court’s holding Kenneth in contempt for unpaid college expenses in the amount of $29,229.29.”

Paragraph VI of the parties’ divorce Agreement stated:

Each party shall pay one-half of the cost of extracurricular activities for the parties’ minor child until such time as the minor child reaches twenty-one (21) years of age. Husband shall have sixty (60) days to reimburse Wife for said expenses once he receives notice of same.

Does Kenneth do this?

Nope.

Yet, he wants the Court to let him out of what he agrees to do in the first place.

Hint: once you agree to something and you sign it, the trial court will likely enforce it.

What’s the Appeals Court say? “Similar to Kenneth’s arguments regarding all the other issues of contempt, he claims that the evidence was insufficient to support the chancellor’s finding that he was in willful contempt for failing to pay for Joseph’s extracurricular expenses. He claims that the divorce Agreement was ambiguous as to what expenses were covered in paragraph VI of the Agreement, and therefore he should not be held in contempt. He again claimed that he was not provided with receipts for the payments that Kenya is now seeking reimbursement. Kenneth admitted that he did not pay for all the expenses incurred for Joseph’s extracurricular activities. Given the documented proof and testimony presented at trial, we cannot conclude that the chancery court erred by finding Kenneth in willful contempt of the parties’ divorce Agreement.”

Now, when you keep violating the Judge’s Order, what do you think the Judge is going to do on attorney fees?

I’ll give you one guess.

Before I give you the answer though, let’s look at the law on attorney fees for a contempt case.

It says, “An award of attorney’s fees in a contempt case is proper . . . [and] is largely entrusted to the sound discretion of the chancellor. The chancery court must first consider whether a party willfully violated the court’s order.

Does Kenneth willfully violate the Court Order?

I don’t think there is any doubt.

So what does the Appeals Court do?

The Appeals Court says: “Because the chancery court did not err in finding Kenneth in willful contempt for failing to pay expenses on behalf of the minor children pursuant to the parties’ divorce Agreement, the chancery court did not err in awarding Kenya attorney’s fees.”

So what’s the bottom line?

The bottom line is you must follow a Judge’s Order.

If you don’t like the Order, then get a lawyer to help you change it.

If you fail to get a lawyer to help you change it, then you are going to end up paying attorney fees or worse.