Stephen William Baralt v. Melissa Mitchell Baralt
Stephen William Baralt v. Melissa Mitchell Baralt
Opinion
RENDERED: JANUARY 20, 2023; 10:00 A.M.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals NO. 2021-CA-0365-MR
STEPHEN WILLIAM BARALT APPELLANT
APPEAL FROM SPENCER CIRCUIT COURT v. HONORABLE S. MARIE HELLARD, JUDGE ACTION NO. 13-CI-00201
MELISSA MITCHELL BARALT APPELLEE
OPINION AFFIRMING ** ** ** ** ** BEFORE: DIXON, LAMBERT, AND MCNEILL, JUDGES.
MCNEILL, JUDGE: The parties in the present case were divorced by decree of the Spencer Circuit Court, Family Division, in 2015. They had minor children at the time. According to Appellant’s brief, he alleged over 1,000 individual instances of contempt of the underlying litigation. He suggested to the trial court in various orders that he be awarded over $100,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs, and that Appellee rectify her alleged parental alienation by submitting herself to counseling and written apologies to the children.
In a handwritten order entered on January 26, 2021, the family court stated that all issues relating to attorneys’ fees, contempt, etc., were previously determined pursuant to the court’s December 7, 2020 docket order. However, the order further states that the motions for contempt and attorneys’ fees were not preserved and that the court had previously determined all issues relating to the parties’ children were moot. It is undisputed that the children are now adults. In another handwritten docket order entered on March 2, 2021 the court stated that the January 26, 2021 order is final and appealable. Appellant appeals from that order as a matter of right. For the following reasons, we affirm.
ANALYSIS When a court exercises its contempt powers, it has nearly unlimited discretion. Consequently, we will not disturb a court’s decision regarding contempt absent an abuse of its discretion. The test for abuse of discretion is whether the trial [court’s] decision was arbitrary, unreasonable, unfair, or unsupported by sound legal principles.
Meyers v. Petrie, 233 S.W.3d 212, 215 (Ky. App. 2007) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Appellant cites to numerous portions of the record where he filed motions for contempt. However, he has not raised any specific instance of alleged contempt or cited to any substantive ruling for this Court to review. It
-2- appears that his general argument is that the family court did not adequately address his various motions, and that it also failed to do so in a timely manner. In any event, considering the immense discretion afforded the circuit court and the record presented, we cannot conclude that the court abused its discretion here.
Therefore, we affirm the Spencer Circuit Court.
ALL CONCUR.
BRIEFS FOR APPELLANT: BRIEF FOR APPELLEE: W. Steven Middleton Kevin P. Fox Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort, Kentucky
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Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.