Generally, in the US contempt is considered what is called u201cquasi-criminal.u201d This means that you can get jail out of civil court and without violating an actual criminal statute. So, mostly being found in contempt is usually not on your criminal record as a misdemeanor.If the statue says something like u201cfailure to pay alimony is considered a class X misdemeanoru201d then the result would be different. However, mostly that is not how itu2019s done in the US.