Are you currently serving as the personal representative in West Palm Beach? The probate judgemay issue orders you disagree with. That is part of life as a personal representative. What are your rights as far as refusing them? A recent case out of Florida shows the predicament you could be in if you knowingly and willfully disobey a court order in West Palm Beach. Learn how to avoid contempt charges through proper motion practice.
What is Contempt of Court?
- Contempt of Court is something you hear about a lot in movies and bad sitcoms.
- In reality contempt of court is what happens when you fail to follow a court order and you willfully disobey.
- There are a lot of court orders in a complicated probate lawsuit and you may have issues with some of them.
- Are there any options besides lining up for contempt proceedings?
Motions for Reconsideration
- Before you just ignore what the judge ordered, consider filing a Motion for Reconsideration.
- This is allowed within a reasonable time after almost any ruling from a Palm Beach probate court.
- How is this different than an appeal?
- An appeal takes the issue to a new court a long with new judges and new filing fees.
- Reconsideration is you just asking the judge to review his Order.
- No new filing costs needed, although the review will be by the same judge.
- Check out this recent case out of Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal to learn firsthand what happens when you ignore an express Court Order.
Santiago v. Sunset Cove
- This was a lawsuit that arose over a real estate transaction.
- The one side had gotten a specific order from a judge saying that the property was to be sold to them.
- The owner of the property simply waited until the 90 day contract period ended and sold the property to a third party.
- Guess what happened?
- Contempt charges and sanctions!
- On appeal the man argued that since he had not willfully disobeyed, and merely side stepped the order, contempt charges were improper.
- Do you think the appeals court saw much merit in that argument?
- Considering that the trial court had disagreed with him, the argument was not going to go to far in the appeals court.
- Especially after he lost his motion for reconsideration!
Want to learn more about filing a motion for reconsideration in lieu of a full out appeal?
Check out the entire case by clicking here.
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