Contempt

A 2007 case out of Fort Worth had the following set of circumstances:Under a 2002 New York family court order, the mother was given custody of her child and her mother was given four annual periods of visitation.These periods were specifically detailed with 3 to occur in Dallas and 1 in New York and then further providing the length of each visit in each location.

Under the NY order the maternal grandmother had a minimum of 19 days of visitation each year, some of which could occur during the Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays with notice to the mother.

In 2005 the grandma registered the NY order in Denton County, Texas and moved for enforcement, or alternatively clarification.After a hearing, the Texas court ruled that the NY order was not sufficiently specific to be enforced by contempt and entered a clarification order.That order reduced the grandmother’s visitation from 19 days per year to 12 and precluded her from exercising any of these days during Christmas and Thanksgiving.