Purge provision invalid over mortgage demand in marital settlement action

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted December 16, 2021 11:00 AM

A judge in Williamson County used an indirect civil contempt order to motivate James Menckowski II to comply with a marital settlement agreement that called for him to have his ex-wife, Theresa Menckowski, released from a mortgage loan.But there was a problem with the purge provision. James “did not have the sole ability to purge his own contempt,” and “a civil contempt order that fails to provide the contemnor with the ‘keys to his cell’ is void.” In re Marriage of Menckowski, 2021 IL App 170260-U (Nov. 1, 2021).The …

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