there’s really three things that courts

are looking for if they’re going to find

someone in contempt for violating a

court order in a Massachusetts family

law case

first they’re going to see if there is a

clear and unambiguous order which really

means did the defendant have notice of

what they were expected to do or not do

the second thing they’ll look for is

whether there is a clear and unambiguous

violation of the order in other words

did someone clearly violate the order

through some intentional Act

the third thing that a court is going to

look at is whether or not the defendant

had the ability to comply with the order

so for example if someone loses their

job and is unable to pay child support

because they have no money

a court may find that that person had

the inability to comply with the order

even though the order itself is clear

and they didn’t follow it the

implications of being found in contempt

in Massachusetts are profound a person

found in contempt can be ordered to pay

the legal fees of the plaintiff and a

court can make orders to correct the

problematic behavior of a person found

in contempt so it is something that

needs to be avoided at all costs