Contempt Sanctions In Estate Litigation

One common feature of trust and estate litigation are contempt sanctions.  These contempt sanctions often happen in the discovery context.  Often times a person can be held in contempt when they fail to obey a court ordered discovery mandate.  This article discusses the different categories of contempt that exist in the legal system. 

Contempt sanctions can be subdivided as being either civil or criminal.  Due process rights are usually curtailed in direct criminal contempt situations because the presiding Judge has personal knowledge of all the elements of the questionable conduct.  Willful conduct by the defendant is required to prove the elements of indirect contempt.  Friendly contempt involves a person intentionally incurring contempt to get a court to review a discovery order.  Since civil contempt proceedings involve financial sanctions there are various states that might have fewer procedural protections than what would exist in a criminal matter. 

See Beth Fox, Contemplating Contempt, Wealth Management, September 10, 2015.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.