Custody contempt bill allows make-up time

Summary#

SB 1500 would amend Pennsylvania’s Title 23, which covers domestic relations. It would add a possible contempt penalty for a party who willfully disobeys a child custody order: a temporary change to the physical custody schedule so the child can make up missed time with the party who brought the contempt action. The bill’s apparent aim is to provide a way to make up that lost time; the remedy would not be automatic.

  • A court may use the new penalty only as part of contempt for willful failure to comply with a custody order.
  • The change would let the court temporarily adjust the physical custody schedule to provide compensatory parenting time.
  • The bill adds this option to a list of possible contempt penalties; it does not require a court to impose it.
  • If enacted, it would take effect 60 days later. It has been introduced and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, so it is not law.

What it means for you#

  • Parents with custody orders: If a court finds that a party willfully failed to comply with an order, the court could temporarily change the physical custody schedule so the child can make up time with the party who brought the contempt action. The bill does not guarantee that party make-up time.
  • Children: The proposed change would allow the court to provide time with a parent that the child missed because of the other party’s willful noncompliance.
  • Courts: The court could add this temporary schedule change to one or more other contempt penalties. The bill does not create a new process for applying for or deciding make-up time.
  • Everyone else: The bill does not directly change custody eligibility rules or automatically alter existing custody orders.

Money#

No cost information is in the available material.

  • The bill does not state an appropriation, fee, fine, staffing requirement, or cost estimate.

What is unclear#

  • The bill does not set criteria for deciding whether to order make-up time, or how much time to award.
  • It does not specify how the court should account for the child’s circumstances when changing the schedule.
  • The bill refers to procedures set by general rule for contempt, but those rules are not included in the supplied material.
  • The current full text of Title 23 was not supplied, so the existing list of contempt penalties and how this change would interact with other current provisions could not be independently verified.

Case for#

  • A child can miss time with a parent when another party willfully disobeys a custody order. The new option could let a court address that lost time directly.
  • The court would have discretion to use the remedy, rather than being required to change the schedule in every contempt case.
  • The change is limited to a temporary custody-schedule adjustment and applies in the context of willful noncompliance and a contempt action.

Case against#

  • The bill does not say how courts should decide whether make-up time is appropriate or how much to order, which could leave important decisions to case-by-case judgment.
  • Changing a child’s schedule to make up missed time could disrupt the child’s routine; the bill does not specify how that concern should be weighed.
  • Because the remedy is optional, the bill does not ensure that a child will receive make-up time after a finding of willful noncompliance.