Opinion ID: 1983706
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Katzenberger v. Katzenberger

Text: On February 2, 1978, the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County ordered that the defendant Bruce O. Katzenberger make weekly child support payments of $10.00 per child for each of his two children, or a total of $20.00 weekly, through the Domestic Relations Division of the court. The two children were in the custody of the defendant's former wife, the plaintiff Teresa Katzenberger. After an arrearage had accumulated because of the defendant's failure to make regular payments, the court on April 10, 1979, ordered that the defendant pay an additional $5.00 per week towards the arrearage. Subsequently, on seven different occasions, the Domestic Relations Division of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County filed petitions to cite the defendant for contempt for failure to comply with the 1978 and 1979 support orders, and each time the circuit court issued an order to show cause. Nevertheless the sheriff was unable to locate the defendant, and the petitions and orders were never served. Finally the plaintiff retained private counsel who, by using a private process server, was able to serve the defendant with a petition for contempt and an order to show cause. A hearing on the contempt petition was held on July 21, 1982, at which the plaintiff was represented by counsel. The defendant was not represented by counsel; he was not advised by anyone concerning a right to counsel, and nothing was said by the court or by the plaintiff's attorney concerning his lack of representation. [1] A support officer of the circuit court's Domestic Relations Division testified that the arrearage then due was $3,714.74, of which $2,219.44 was owed to the State of Maryland for social service payments made to the plaintiff and $1,495.30 was owed to the plaintiff. After the plaintiff herself testified, her counsel concluded the plaintiff's case by asking that the defendant be held in contempt and that attorney fees be awarded. The defendant was then given an opportunity to testify, and he began by referring to the plaintiff's request for attorney fees: Your honor, as far as paying legal fees for [the plaintiff], I feel that if I could pay a lawyer it would be for myself, rather than [the plaintiff]. I am currently unemployed, which Mr. Bustard [the Domestic Relations Division support officer] is aware of. Mr. Katzenberger went on to testify that he had been discharged from his last place of employment, that the pay due him from that employer had been attached, that he was receiving unemployment benefits which don't amount to much, and that his current wife works to support myself and our four year old child. And we are just barely making it. He further testified that he had been seeking employment by looking in newspapers, going to the unemployment office, and walk[ing] into a lot of places, but that he had no employment prospects at the time. On cross-examination, Mr. Katzenberger acknowledged that, when he had been employed, he had not made some support payments because he was saving his money to retain a lawyer in connection with my visitation rights which were denied for six years. After cross-examination, Mr. Katzenberger stated to the court that some payments were taken out of his salary when he was employed, that the majority of the payments made this year were voluntarily made from out of my unemployment benefits or money that I had borrowed from my wife or mother, that he was not evading or trying to avoid making these payments, and that the payments would be made if I had it in my means. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial judge stated: Well, I think certainly I will find you in contempt. You didn't pay when you could have paid, recognizing the fact that you are now unemployed the situation is somewhat different. But I think you have to make every effort to get yourself employed so you are back in the position not only to make the current payments but to start paying on the arrearage. On July 30, 1982, the court signed an order sentencing Katzenberger to serve six months in the Anne Arundel County Detention Center, with the sentence to begin on September 1, 1982. Under the court's order, the defendant could purge himself of the contempt by paying $300.00 toward his arrearage, plus $10.00 per week per child toward the arrearage, plus $10.00 per week per child for current child support. Thereafter, an attorney in the Public Defender's Office entered his appearance as Mr. Katzenberger's attorney, and, on August 30, 1982, an appeal was taken to the Court of Special Appeals. Prior to a hearing in the Court of Special Appeals, this Court granted Katzenberger's petition for a writ of certiorari. [2]