Ward v. Ward

Hunt, Justice.

We granted this discretionary application to determine whether the trial court erred by holding the former wife in criminal contempt for failing to pay a sum which had been discharged in bankruptcy. We also asked the parties to address the propriety of the trial court’s reduction of the former husband’s child support obligations.

The parties’ divorce decree required each to make half the payments due on a bank loan. Mrs. Ward was adjudicated in civil contempt after she failed to make any payments. Despite her statement at the civil contempt hearing that she was unable to do so,…