Glossary
Contempt of Court
A proceeding to enforce a court order against a party who has failed to comply with it.
Where an obligation appears in a court order, including a parenting plan or an incorporated marital dissolution agreement, contempt is often the mechanism for enforcing it.
Tennessee distinguishes civil contempt, which aims to compel compliance and typically ends when the party complies, from criminal contempt, which punishes past disobedience and carries procedural protections including a higher standard of proof.
Proving contempt generally requires showing a lawful order, clear notice of what it required, non-compliance, and that the non-compliance was wilful. Inability to comply, genuinely established, is a defence; choosing not to comply is not.
General information about Tennessee law, not legal advice. How this applies depends on the facts of your matter.
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