In Re Marcus
Opinion
Opinion
Premo, J.
The trial court found petitioner Stacy Lynn Marcus (Mother) guilty of contempt for interfering with a court-ordered visit between Mother’s former husband, Ittai Haim Bareket (Father) and their daughter Sydney (Daughter). The court fined Mother $1,000, sentenced her to five days in jail and 120 hours of community service, and ordered her to pay $7,500 in attorney fees. Mother has petitioned this court for a writ of habeas corpus to prevent the superior court from executing the sentence. Mother does not deny that she committed the acts underlying the contempt. Rather, she maintains that the order she allegedly disobeyed was not a written order and, therefore, cannot be the basis for contempt. We agree and grant relief.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Mother and Father were married in 1992. Daughter was bom in 1999. She is the only child of the marriage. The family was residing in California when Father petitioned for dissolution of the marriage in May 2000. Mother and Daughter moved to New York while the dissolution was pending—around September 2001. A status-only judgment of dissolution has since been entered and Father has remarried.