An Indiana appeals court ruled on Wednesday, October 28, that a trial judge cannot stop a custody case from moving forward simply because a parent has not paid legal fees. In a memorandum decision, the appeals court upheld the fee orders against the mother but struck down the condition that barred all further hearings until she paid the $21,020 in attorney fees.
A custody battle that began more than five years ago
The custody battle began in 2021, when the father filed a paternity action concerning his two young children. The children were born out of wedlock in July 2017 and November 2018. The parents lived together until February 2020. That August, the father faced a criminal case over alleged domestic violence against the mother, and a criminal court barred him from contacting her and the children.The father filed for paternity in February 2021. About five months later, on July 26, the court confirmed that he was the children’s father. It granted the mother sole legal and primary physical custody while the proceedings continued. It also granted the father supervised parenting time and ordered him to pay child support. In April 2022, the parties agreed to increase the father’s unsupervised parenting time in stages. However, in November or December 2022, the mother took the children and left the court’s jurisdiction, and their whereabouts became unknown. The father filed a contempt petition, and the children’s guardian ad litem recommended that he be granted emergency custody. In January 2023, the judge ruled that the mother’s behaviour had endangered the children and constituted a material change in circumstances. The father was granted temporary custody, while the mother was found in indirect contempt and allowed supervised visits.The court also found that the mother was a flight risk and posed a danger to the children’s emotional well-being. She was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation and anger-management assessments, and to complete the recommended treatment before she could progress towards unsupervised visits with her children. The mother was ordered to repay $1,448.34 in child support overpayments and pay $208 a week. The father was granted sole custody in February 2024.
Attorney fees piled up
About four months later, the father filed a contempt petition. He said the mother had not paid child support as ordered by the court and requested sanctions, including attorney fees. The court ordered the mother to pay the father $10,000 as a sanction. Later that year, she was also ordered to pay another $1,500 for contempt of court orders. Her child support arrears reached $11,708.34.The mother later approached the court seeking to change custody and child support arrangements. The trial court said her July 2024 request to change custody, parenting time and child support was “bordering on the frivolous”, as she had only recently started transitioning to supervised, in-person visits. In March 2026, the court ordered her to pay $15,000 in preliminary fees. She also owed $6,020 in sanctions for unpaid child support, a deposition she had cancelled at the last minute and a motion she had withdrawn just before a hearing.The court was not convinced by the mother’s financial claims. She could not provide an exact figure for her income, but the court estimated it at $30,000 to $40,000 a year. It also pointed to a $70,000 settlement she had received, financial assistance from family members and the fact that her landlord was her own mother. The court said it found her income and expenses difficult to reconcile and concluded that she had the ability to pay both her fees and her child support.The trial court also ruled that it would not schedule any further hearings until the mother paid the attorney fees. Following this decision, the mother appealed the fee awards and the suspension of further hearings. The appeals court ruled that the trial court could not make further hearings conditional on the mother paying the attorney fees. It said such awards are money judgments and must be enforced through ordinary collection procedures under Indiana Trial Rule 69, rather than through contempt powers or by blocking access to further hearings. The appeals court reversed the part of the trial court’s order that halted hearings until the mother paid the attorney fees. However, it did not overturn the $21,020 fee award. The father can still seek a money judgment and pursue appropriate collection proceedings to recover the amount.
