Dad Still Faces Contempt Charges, Despite Claim of Double Jeopardy
Tennessee child custody modification and contempt case summary.
Abigail Lynn Sevigny v. Warren Maxwell Sevigny
The husband and wife in this Davidson County, Tennessee, case were married in 2014 and divorced in 2021 with one minor child. They entered into a marital dissolution agreement (MDA) which included a 529 educational account for the child. In 2022, the mother filed for criminal contempt against the father. She alleged that the father had failed to provide the required quarterly notices, that he had failed to apply funds from the account to the child’s private kindergarten tuition, and that he had interfered with her educational decision-making authority. The wife ultimately dismissed the counts relating to applying funds, but the remaining charges went to hearing in 2022.
The court asked the parties to try to resolve their disputes, and it appeared that they had. The wife’s attorney announced that they “were non-suiting with prejudice the pending charges of criminal contempt.” The parties were not, however, able to come up with a written order memorializing their settlement. The next month, the husband filed a proposed order for the court’s approval. The trial court held that the contempt charges should be dismissed based upon a finding of double jeopardy. The wife then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The appeals court first outlined the history of criminal contempt in Tennessee, and noted that criminal contempt cases are “not entirely criminal or civil in nature.” However, it noted that double jeopardy provisions do apply to criminal contempt cases. The husband argued that once the parties announced their settlement agreement and court adjourned, jeopardy attached and precluded further proceedings.
The appeals court agreed that jeopardy had attached, since at least one witness had testified. But it pointed out that there was no “threatened second prosecution.” It looked at some earlier criminal cases cited by the husband, but pointed out that, unlike in those cases, there was no second attempt to prosecute.
In this case, the wife’s attorney announced that they were nonsuiting. But that was in the context of the settlement agreement. The full terms of the agreement were not announced, and the decision to dismiss was a mere part of that settlement.
For these reasons, the Court of Appeals reversed the case and remanded it for a ruling on the remaining contempt allegations.
No. M2022-00953-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 14, 2023).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see Modifying Custody & Parenting Plans and our video, How is child custody determined in Tennessee?
See also Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.
