RENE CONTRERAS, APPELLANT,
v.
MARTHA CONTRERAS AND DONALD MANNING, DIRECTOR OF DADE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, APPELLEES
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Florida appellate court affirmed habeas corpus relief for mother jailed for civil contempt of violating custody orders, holding that the act of state doctrine and the father's absence from Florida rendered compliance with the purge condition impossible.
A mother jailed for civil contempt for removing children from Florida in violation of custody orders must be released where a Honduran government decree forbids her compliance and the father's absence from Florida makes the purge condition purposeless.
[1] A parent held in civil contempt for violating a purge condition to produce children may be released where a foreign government decree forbids compliance with the conditio…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe mother was jailed for civil contempt after taking the parties' children from Florida in violation of matrimonial orders. The children now reside i…
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PER CURIAM.
The appellee is jailed for civil contempt because she took their children from Florida in violation of various orders in the matrimonial proceedings between her and the appellant. Contreras v. Contreras, 689 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997); Contreras v. Contreras, 645 So. 2d 564 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994); Contreras v. Contreras, 624 So. 2d 270 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993). The purge provision is that she produce the children. In this appeal, the father seeks reversal of a final order granting her habeas corpus relief on the ground that a decree of the government of Honduras, where the children now live, forbids her compliance with that condition. We agree that the appellee must be released both under the act of state doctrine, O.N.E. Shipping, Ltd. v. Flota Mercante Grancolombiana, S.A., 830 F. 2d 449 (2d Cir.1987), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 923, 109 S.Ct. 303, 102 L.Ed.2d 322 (1988), as the trial court held, and because the absence of the husband from Florida renders the surrender of the children here an entirely purposeless act. See 11 Fla. Jur.2d Contempt § 52 (1997).
Accordingly, the judgment in habeas corpus is affirmed. The stay of that order pending appeal is vacated and the appellee is ordered released from confinement forthwith, without regard to the filing or disposition of any motion for rehearing.
Affirmed, stay vacated.
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Citator
Cited By
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Abuchaibe v. Paola Andrea Abuchaibe, 751 So. 2d 1257 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000)…ain within Colombia’s jurisdiction until the custody claim filed there is resolved. Accordingly, because the father does not have the ability to comply with the lower court’s order, the contempt adjudication is reversed. See Contreras v. Contreras, 696 So. 2d 506 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997). Reversed. . Florida adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act ("UCCJA”) effective October 1, 1977. It governs subject matter jurisdiction over child custody matters and is designed to give only one state jurisdiction t…
Authorities Cited
- In re Balawajder, 488 U.S. 923 (U.S. 1988)
- O. N. E. Shipping, Ltd. v. Flota Mercante Grancolombiana, 488 U.S. 923 (U.S. 1988)
- O.N.E. Shipping Ltd. v. Flota Mercante Grancolombiana, S.A., 830 F.2d 449 (2d Cir. 1987)
- Contreras v. Contreras, 645 So. 2d 564 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994)
- Panis v. State, 689 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)
- Contreras v. Contreras, 689 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)