Brown v. Brown

The appellant here challenges the use of incarceration for contempt to enforce a provision of a separation agreement, incorporated into a divorce and child custody decree, that obligated the husband to pay a specific amount of support for his stepdaughter, as violating the prohibition against imprisonment for debt contained in Article III, section 38 of the Maryland Constitution.

The parties to this dispute, Ronald K. Brown, appellant, and Joyce A. Brown, appellee, were divorced on October 22, 1976, by decree of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County. The decree incorporated a previously…