Stancill v. Stancill

This dispute lies at the interface of both the interests of children and the duties and rights of their parents, pursuant to agreement, decree and statute. Specifically, the issue presented is, when both alimony and visitation are provided for in the divorce decree, may an ex-husband interpose his former wife’s interference with his right to visit his child as a defense to a contempt citation for nonpayment of alimony?

The parties to this appeal were divorced a vinculo matrimonii by the Circuit Court for Harford County on December 23, 1976, twenty years after their marriage. The decree, which…