Dostanko v. Dostanko
Annotate this CasePlaintiff and Defendant were divorced in 2005. In 2008, the parties stipulated to a modification of the divorce judgment. The modified divorce judgment required Defendant to pay Plaintiff weekly spousal and child support and to file a motion to modify his child support obligation within thirty days of becoming employed. Plaintiff later filed a motion for contempt. The district court concluded that Defendant had violated the divorce judgment as modified because he owed past-due child support and because he had failed to move the court to modify his child support obligation after becoming employed. The court then found Defendant in contempt, ordered Defendant to pay Plaintiff's attorney fees and ordered Defendant be incarcerated for sixty days, allowing Defendant to purge himself of contempt by paying the $46,272 he owed within sixty days. The Supreme Court (1) vacated the court's order of coercive imprisonment, holding that Defendant's coercive imprisonment could not be made conditional upon his payment of a sum that included amounts Defendant owed for a compensatory fine and newly imposed attorney fees; and (2) affirmed the judgment in all other respects.
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