Opinion ID: 1952904
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Requirements of Contempt Order

Text: [¶ 24] Because we vacate the court's modification and contempt order, we do not reach several of David's arguments regarding the modification and contempt relief ordered by the court. We do, however, address one aspect of the court's contempt order because of the likelihood that the court will revisit the issue on remand if David is again found in contempt. [¶ 25] David asserts that the court erred in concluding that he had a present ability to purge himself of contempt. The court sentenced David to forty-five days in jail, suspended, subject to David purging himself of contempt by paying $1375 in alimony each month beginning June 1, 2001, for three years as ordered in the Divorce Judgment, and child support each week, beginning June 1, 2001, as ordered in the attached Child Support Order. [5] David, therefore, had seventeen days from the date of the contempt order to avoid incarceration by paying $1375 in spousal support and $128 in child support. [¶ 26] An essential element of civil contempt is the defendant's ability to comply with the court's order. Zink, 687 A.2d at 232 (quoting Mitchell v. Flynn, 478 A.2d 1133, 1135 (Me.1984)). It must be demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that it is within the alleged contemnor's power to perform the act required or cease performance of the act prohibited. M.R. Civ. P. 66(d)(2)(D)(ii). [¶ 27] A separate question arises with respect to the remedial sanction ordered by the court as a result of its contempt finding. The imposition of coercive imprisonment as a remedy for contempt is expressly authorized by M.R. Civ. P. 66(d)(3)(A) (A person adjudged to be in contempt may be committed to the county jail until such person performs the affirmative act required by the court's order.). We have figuratively described the requirement that contemnors carry the keys of their prison in their own pockets as an essential predicate for the imposition of incarceration as a coercive remedy for civil contempt. Land Use Regulation Comm'n v. Tuck, 490 A.2d 649, 652 (Me. 1985) (quoting Wells v. State, 474 A.2d 846, 850 (Me.1984)) (internal quotation marks omitted). [¶ 28] Accordingly, a court may order the immediate incarceration of the contemnor pursuant to Rule 66(d)(3)(A), if it finds that the contemnor has the ability to immediately perform the act or acts required to earn release from prison. If the court orders incarceration, but postpones the onset of the incarceration to a future date to afford the contemnor an opportunity to perform and avoid incarceration, the contemnor must be found to have the ability to perform the acts required no later than the date established for the onset of incarceration. When a finding of contempt is based upon an imputation of income and it is expected that the contemnor will have to find new employment to generate the income needed to purge the contempt, the period of postponement established by the court should reflect the time reasonably required for this to be achieved. Measured by the standard of an ability to immediately perform, the seventeen-day period provided by the court's order for David to resume the payment of spousal support and child support by paying a total of $1503, or face forty-five days of incarceration, was not reasonable. [¶ 29] In addition, David cannot be deemed to have the ability to immediately perform his child support and spousal support obligations when those obligations are concurrent with an additional, but undetermined, obligation to pay support arrearages. The order provided that the court would impose an additional payment obligation on David once the amount of the arrearage was established. David's ability to pay the ongoing child support and spousal support and, therefore, avoid incarceration, would necessarily be affected by the separate relief the court eventually ordered with respect to the arrearages. Therefore, his separate obligation to pay a support arrearage should be established by the court before it determines the period within which he must perform the acts necessary to avoid incarceration. [¶ 30] We find without merit, and do not separately address, David's remaining assertions. The entry is: Judgment vacated. Remanded to the District Court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.