contempt questions

[raymi]

Hello again-

I have asked you several questions concerning this subject and here I go again:)

The case is in MN. I am the NCP. Dec. 5 there was a court appearance filed by myself, order to show cause-contmpt-denial of visitaion.

During court I settled on an agreement with the CP. Which was later drafted and sent to CP' lawyer. Now the CP is refusing to sibn the stip, really not in her favor as I can tell.

I called the court administrator and asked if I could write a letter to the judge asking him to enter the verbal agreement we made in front of him as a signed judgement. I was told previously that that is what would happen if one of us didn't sign the agreement. I wanted to get the judgement entered to have an enforceable order in place, (the location of the drop changed in our agreement and that is where we have been meeting). However, the administrator told me that I needed to start from scratch and ask for another order to show cause to be signed and bring the CP back into court for contempt again with the same evidence as was presented before. This due to "the agreement having fell apart". The court administrator stated that the visitation order we had previously would still be in effect and enforceable. This makes me feel that we need to start meeting again at the original location in order to have an enforceable order.

Does this sound right to you? In the past you advised that because we agreed in the courtroom that agreement would go into effect when the judge signed it. It doesn't sound like a judge will sign a new order.

How long should I wait for her to sign the agreement before I bring her back into court? She won't but I want to be sure before I bring her back into court.

Thanks for your help. As far as I can tell I just need to do a little preparation and get an order to show cause, serve her, and serve the courts.

[socrateaser]

>How long should I wait for her to sign the agreement before I
>bring her back into court?

File immediately. I would get a transcript of the previous court record and simply ask the court to enter the order on grounds that it was agreed to in open court. At the same time, you brief the court on the issues and ask the court to alternatively order the substance of the agreed order, on grounds that it is in the child(ren)'s best interests, The court will either enter the order, or set a hearing/trial on the merits.