When Can Spouse be Sanctioned in Divorce
In Alabama, the court may sanction a party to an online divorce for numerous actions, including a failure to attend their deposition or a failure to make a financial or other type of disclosure through the discovery process. Penalties can include payment of reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by the failure. The exception is if the court finds the failure was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
The court may hold a party in civil contempt if the party does not comply with its order. The court may commit the party in contempt to the custody of the sheriff until that person complies with the court’s subpoena or order in your Jefferson County divorce. A criminal prosecutor may charge a party with perjury if the party swears falsely. Penalties for perjury may include incarceration and a fine paid to the court.
The court typically sanctions a person proposing a change of principal residence of the child or objecting to a proposed change of principal residence of a child if the court determines the proposal was made or the objection was filed:
- to harass a person or cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in litigation costs
- without being warranted by existing law or based on frivolous argument
- based on allegations and other factual contentions which had no evidentiary support nor could not have been reasonably believed to be likely to have evidentiary support after further investigation or
- was designed to elicit, discover, or lead to the discovery of information protected by Alabama Code Section 30-3-167, which relates to disclosure exceptions. An example is information that would protect a person at risk of domestic violence.
The court may sanction a party’s attorney for numerous actions, including engaging in professional misconduct. Such behavior covers the commission of acts involving dishonesty or misrepresentation. The court typically requires that a Prattville divorce attorney pay a fine to avoid further concerns.
Attorney Steven A. Harris regularly blogs in the areas of family law, bankruptcy, probate, and real estate closings on this website. Mr. Harris tries to provide informative information to the public in easily digestible formats. Hopefully you enjoyed this article and feel free to supply feedback. We appreciate our readers & love to hear from you!
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