A Georgia court generally cannot hold you in contempt of an order that does not direct you to do anything, but a nonparty who knows about an order and helps defeat it can be held in contempt.
An Order Binds the People It Directs
In Estate of Suddeth v. Williams, 366 Ga. App. 223 (2022), an ex-wife claimed her late former husband had left alimony and real estate proceeds unpaid, and the trial court held the administrator of his estate in contempt. The Court of Appeals reversed. The administrator was not a party to the divorce decree and took no part in the alleged violations, all of which happened before the death, so a contempt action against him “was not the proper vehicle for seeking payment.”
Similarly, in Gibson v. Wood, 209 Ga. 535 (1953), a custody award to a father said the child was to be kept at the grandparents’ home, and a court later jailed the grandfather until he produced the child. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed, holding that the custody judgment “imposed no obligation upon the grandfather.”
Likewise, in Salter v. Greene, 226 Ga. App. 384 (1997), a wife was held in criminal contempt for taking a trip with her husband, whose bond on family violence charges barred him from contacting her. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that she “cannot be found in contempt for violating a condition of another person’s bond.”
When a Nonparty Can Be Held in Contempt
In Wilkerson v. Tolbert, 239 Ga. 702 (1977), however, a grandmother who knew a court had given the father custody helped send the child out of state under a false name. Even though she was not a party, the Supreme Court affirmed her 20-day contempt sentence, explaining that the contempt power reaches “those who, while not a party to a decree, seek to subvert the effectuation of a court’s decree.”
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!