Walter v. Walter, Court of Appeals of North Carolina, August 17, 2021 (Contempt)

The parties’ custody order provided, inter alia, that father would have “at least two non-consecutive weeks during each summer (school) vacation period of the minor children,” that father would give mother notice of his proposed summer time within five days of the time he made plans, that if father traveled out of town with the children he may need two consecutive weeks, and that mother would have summer vacation with the children “for at least one week during each summer (school) vacation period of the minor children.” In the summer of 2019, father exercised visitation with the children for two consecutive weeks to take them to Europe and then exercised another, separate week of visitation to take the children to Nebraska. Mother filed a contempt motion, alleging that father had violated the custody order by taking a third vacation week with the children. The trial court held father in contempt and father appealed.

On appeal, father argued that his interpretation of the order is that the words “at least” mean “no less than” – that he is guaranteed no less than two non-consecutive weeks but may have more so long as they are not consecutive or do not interfere with mother’s designated week. Mother argued that the only reasonable interpretation of the words “at least” is “no more than” and that father is limited to two weeks of visitation. Further, mother argued that if “at least” really meant “no more than,” then father could designate the entire summer as his time and that would run contrary to the intent of the parties regarding shared custody.

The Court of Appeals reversed the contempt order. In reaching this decision, the court noted that the provisions of the custody order could be interpreted different ways but that father’s interpretation was reasonable, especially considering that historically, father had vacationed with the children each summer for two weeks in Europe and one week in Nebraska. Because the provision of the custody order is ambiguous, the trial court erred in holding father in contempt.

November 3, 2021/by FamilyLaw