When you’re going through a divorce or other family law proceeding, there will inevitably be court orders that everyone must abide by. Not everyone does. These orders can relate to parenting plans, child support, restraining orders, and so on. Oftentimes you can file a ‘Motion to Enforce’ the order at issue, but an alternative is to file a ‘Motion for Contempt.’
A Motion for Contempt is not meant to be punitive. Rather, in a family law setting, finding one party in contempt of court is a means to “coerce compliance” with the order that has been violated. In other words, contempt is meant to get the contemnor to start behaving appropriately—not to punish him or her.
In Washington, different statutory provisions govern different types of family law contempt. Contempt for violating a parenting plan is governed by RCW 26.09.160(2)(b). Contempt for violating a support or maintenance order is governed by RCW 26.18.050, which cross references RCW 7.21.010. All other contempt actions fall under the general contempt statute, RCW 7.21.010. Of the foregoing statutes, only RCW 26.09.160(2)(b) (governing parenting plans) requires proof of bad faith. The other statutes require proof of intent.
Regardless of which statutory provision governs your particular issue, there are a few questions you should address in your Motion for Contempt:
- What order was violated? Seems obvious, but start with the foundation that there has to be an actual order entered by the court. Other things like an agreement between the parties over email, or maybe an arbitration decision that hasn’t been entered yet — those don’t count. The court first needs to have an order that has been violated, because ultimately, they are charged with coercing compliance with an order.
- What provision in the order was violated? You cannot just say that the child support order was violated. Specificity is key. It’s better to assert that “Section 8 of the order was violated,” or that “The second paragraph of Section 14.A was violated.” It also helps to quote the exact language at issue, that way the court doesn’t have to do any extra work to understand exactly what everyone is arguing over.
- How and when was the provision violated? You need to let the court know upfront the specifics for how the order was violated—e.g., “The violation occurred on December 16, 2025 when my ex-husband didn’t return the children until 10 hours after the kids were to be dropped off.” Dates are important to show when the violation occurred, but you don’t need to delve into an exhaustive background about how difficult the other party is and has been; contempt is a narrow inquiry, limited to only the alleged violation at issue.
