In re the Marriage of Dean and Cook , 413 P.3d 246 ( 2017 )


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  • COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS                                         2017COA51
    Court of Appeals No. 15CA0878
    El Paso County District Court No. 06DR65
    Honorable Theresa M. Cisneros, Judge
    Honorable Evelyn H. Sullivan, Magistrate
    In re the Marriage of
    Sylvia Dean, f/k/a Sylvia Cook,
    Appellant,
    and
    Andre L. Cook,
    Appellee.
    JUDGMENT AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART,
    AND CASE REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS
    Division VII
    Opinion by JUDGE BOORAS
    Terry, J., concurs
    Berger, J., dissents
    Announced April 20, 2017
    Sylvia Dean, Pro Se
    Beltz & West, P.C., Daniel A. West, Colorado Springs, Colorado, for Appellee
    ¶1    In this post-decree dissolution of marriage proceeding, Sylvia
    Cook (mother), now known as Sylvia Dean, appeals the district
    court’s adoption of the magistrate’s finding of contempt and award
    of attorney fees in favor of Andre L. Cook (father). We affirm in part,
    reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.
    I. Background
    ¶2    Mother and father divorced in 2006. At that time, the court
    named mother the primary residential parent for the parties’ two
    children but allowed the parties to determine their own “liberal
    parenting time” schedule.
    ¶3    Six years later, mother moved to stop father’s parenting time,
    asserting that he had not seen the children in more than two years
    and had no interest in seeing them. Father responded that mother
    had denied him parenting time, and he requested a more formal
    parenting time schedule.
    ¶4    Eventually the parties stipulated to, and the court adopted, a
    parenting time arrangement. As now relevant, the parties agreed
    that father (1) would have parenting time every Wednesday from
    after school until 7:00 p.m. and (2) “shall be entitled to have
    Thanksgiving this year [2013] with the children from 10:00 a.m. on
    1
    Thursday until taking the children to school on the following
    Monday morning.”
    ¶5    Father later filed a verified motion and affidavit for contempt,
    requesting remedial contempt sanctions for mother’s
    noncompliance with the two above-mentioned portions of their
    stipulation.
    The following reflects how the contempt motion proceeded:
     The advisement hearing occurred on March 3, 2014.
     The parties appeared for the contempt hearing on May 19,
    2014, but agreed to set it over until September 22, 2014, so
    that they could participate in a settlement meeting. The
    parties also agreed that mother would contact a therapist,
    and the court ordered her to start therapy within thirty
    days.
     On September 22, the contempt hearing was set over to
    October 6, 2014.
     The magistrate began the contempt hearing on October 6
    and finished it on November 3, 2014, when she found
    mother in remedial contempt and ordered her to pay
    father’s attorney fees. The magistrate further ordered that
    2
    mother could purge the contempt by allowing father to have
    the children during their 2014 Thanksgiving break.
     Sentencing occurred on January 28, 2015, at which time
    the court ordered mother to pay father’s $4926.25 in
    attorney fees.
    ¶6    Mother timely filed a C.R.M. 7 petition challenging the
    magistrate’s orders. The district court adopted the magistrate’s
    orders on review.
    II. Applicable Legal Principles
    ¶7    C.R.C.P. 107 provides the authority under which courts are to
    conduct contempt proceedings. See In re Marriage of Nussbeck, 
    974 P.2d 493
    , 498 (Colo. 1999). Remedial sanctions for contempt must
    be supported by findings of fact establishing that the contemnor (1)
    did not comply with a lawful order of the court; (2) knew of the
    order; and (3) had the present ability to comply with the order. In re
    Marriage of Cyr, 
    186 P.3d 88
    , 92 (Colo. App. 2008).
    ¶8    Like the district court, we must accept the magistrate’s factual
    determinations as to contempt unless there is no support in the
    record for those findings or the findings are clearly erroneous. See
    C.R.M. 7(a); In re Marriage of Webb, 
    284 P.3d 107
    , 108-09 (Colo.
    
    3 App. 2011
    ); see also In re Parental Responsibilities Concerning
    G.E.R., 
    264 P.3d 637
    , 638-39 (Colo. App. 2011) (reviewing court
    engages in a second layer of appellate review of the magistrate’s
    order, and must accept the magistrate’s findings unless they are
    clearly erroneous). “A court’s factual findings are clearly erroneous
    only if there is no support for them in the record.” Van Gundy v.
    Van Gundy, 
    2012 COA 194
    , ¶ 12.
    III. Sua Sponte Reconsideration of Sanctions
    ¶9     Mother first contends that the magistrate improperly
    reconsidered the May 19 order when, on November 3, she changed
    the nature of the sanctions imposed. We reject this contention
    because no sanctions were imposed until November 3, when the
    magistrate found mother guilty of remedial contempt. See Wright v.
    Dist. Court, 
    192 Colo. 553
    , 555, 
    561 P.2d 15
    , 17 (1977) (finding of
    contempt must precede imposition of sanctions).
    ¶ 10   We acknowledge that the magistrate entered an order on May
    19 requiring mother to engage in therapy. However, the record
    reveals that the magistrate simply adopted the parties’ stipulation
    concerning the same; the order was not imposed to force mother’s
    4
    compliance with the parenting time stipulation. See C.R.C.P.
    107(a)(5) (defining remedial sanctions).
    IV. Evidence and Findings
    ¶ 11   Mother’s second, third, and fifth contentions challenge the
    evidence presented at the contempt and sentencing hearings, the
    weight placed on that evidence by the magistrate, and the findings
    and inferences the magistrate made in her orders. We do not
    disturb the orders.
    ¶ 12   A party seeking review of a magistrate’s order has the burden
    to provide the reviewing court with a record justifying the rejection
    or modification of that order. In re Marriage of Rivera, 
    91 P.3d 464
    ,
    466 (Colo. App. 2004); see also Yadon v. Southward, 
    64 P.3d 909
    ,
    912 (Colo. App. 2002) (pro se litigants must adhere to the same
    rules of procedure applicable to attorneys).
    ¶ 13   If an appellant argues “that a finding or conclusion is
    unsupported by the evidence or is contrary to the evidence, the
    appellant shall include in the record a transcript of all evidence
    relevant to such finding or conclusion.” C.A.R. 10(b). Where the
    appellant fails to provide such a transcript, the reviewing court
    5
    must presume that the record supports the judgment. See C.R.M.
    7(a)(9); In re Marriage of Beatty, 
    2012 COA 71
    , ¶ 10.
    ¶ 14   Here, the transcripts from the contempt and sentencing
    hearings are in the appellate record. However, mother did not
    provide them to the district court when she sought review of the
    magistrate’s orders under C.R.M. 7(a). Consequently, we confine
    our review of mother’s arguments to the record considered by the
    district court, which did not include any transcripts. See Rivera, 
    91 P.3d at 466
    .
    ¶ 15   Without reviewing the transcripts, we are unable to evaluate
    the evidence to determine whether it sufficiently supports the
    magistrate’s orders. See C.R.M. 7(a)(9); G.E.R., 
    264 P.3d at 639
    . To
    the contrary, we must presume that the record supports the
    magistrate’s orders that mother failed to comply with the parties’
    stipulation and was, therefore, in remedial contempt. See C.R.M.
    7(a)(9); Beatty, ¶ 10; see also People v. Wells, 
    776 P.2d 386
    , 390
    (Colo. 1989) (reviewing court cannot conclude that district court’s
    judgment is erroneous when the record is insufficient).
    ¶ 16   Mother’s related argument that she cannot be held in
    contempt because she did not “willfully” violate the order is
    6
    misplaced. Willfulness is not a requirement for finding remedial
    contempt. See Cyr, 
    186 P.3d at 91-92
    .
    V. Order as to Compliance with Parenting Time
    ¶ 17   We agree with mother’s fourth contention that the magistrate
    exceeded her authority when she ordered mother
    to remove all privileges for up to a month for
    the children if they do not comply with her
    instruction to go to [father]’s home. This
    means no TV, no cable, no music, no friends,
    no cell phone, no I-pads, no computers, unless
    the parenting time is exercised with the
    [father]. Each violation of failure to attend
    parenting time will result in a one month
    restriction of these items for the children by
    [m]other.
    We therefore strike these three sentences from paragraph 9 of the
    magistrate’s order.
    ¶ 18   Contrary to father’s assertion, mother properly preserved this
    claim in her petition for district court review. Hence, we may
    consider the issue on appeal. See People in Interest of K.L-P., 
    148 P.3d 402
    , 403 (Colo. App. 2006).
    ¶ 19   To resolve disputes concerning parenting time, courts have
    broad authority to make or modify parenting time orders that are in
    the best interests of the children. See §§ 14-10-129(1)(a),
    7
    -129.5(2)(h), C.R.S. 2016. But there is a presumption that fit
    parents act in the best interests of their children. Troxel v.
    Granville, 
    530 U.S. 57
    , 58 (2000); In Interest of Baby A, 
    2015 CO 72
    , ¶ 23.
    ¶ 20   However, the magistrate’s order disregards that presumption
    by concluding that mother should be disciplining her children if
    they choose not to visit with father and specifying the disciplinary
    actions that mother must take.1 See Troxel, 
    530 U.S. at 73-74
    (noting that a court cannot interfere with a fit parent’s decisions
    simply because it believes a “better” decision could be made). We
    do not suggest that mother may violate the parenting time order by
    allowing her children to refuse to visit with father. We simply
    conclude that by specifying the methods that she must employ in
    1 Similarly, in Violette v. Violette, 
    120 A.3d 667
     (Me. 2015), the
    Supreme Judicial Court of Maine disapproved of a trial court order
    requiring the parties to enforce visitation by requiring the refusing
    child to stay in his or her bedroom without access to the Internet, a
    telephone, text messaging, a television, or video games during such
    time. Although the court did not reach the constitutional issue
    under Troxel v. Granville, 
    530 U.S. 57
     (2000), the court concluded
    that requiring the parents to discipline their children in “such a
    very specific and inflexible fashion” with “no discretion left to the
    parents” was an abuse of discretion. Violette, 
    120 A.3d at 676
    .
    8
    order to obtain the children’s compliance, the order improperly
    ignores the fit parent presumption. Accordingly, we conclude that
    the magistrate exceeded her authority in entering paragraph 9 of
    her order, and we therefore strike it. Insofar as the district court
    adopted that portion of the magistrate’s order, we reverse the
    district court’s order.
    ¶ 21   The dissent contends that the district court was precluded
    from requiring mother to take even unspecified measures to require
    the children to submit to the parenting time order, and that it had
    no authority to impose contempt sanctions absent mother taking
    actions that would “thwart” enforcement of the parenting time
    order. However, a district court has inherent authority to enforce
    obedience to its orders through contempt sanctions. People v.
    McGlotten, 
    134 P.3d 487
    , 489-90 (Colo. App. 2005). Additionally,
    under section 14-10-129.5(2)(e), a court may hold a parent in
    contempt of court and impose a fine or jail sentence where the
    parent does not comply with a parenting time schedule.
    ¶ 22   Although it might be difficult to compel a child, particularly a
    teenager, to comply with a court-ordered parenting plan, this does
    not excuse a parent from making reasonable good faith efforts to
    9
    secure the child’s compliance. See In re Marriage of Marez, 
    340 P.3d 520
    , 527 (Mont. 2014) (“[W]here a parent fails to make
    reasonable efforts to require a recalcitrant child to attend visitation
    as provided for in a parenting plan, the parent has not made a good
    faith effort to comply with the parenting plan, and a contempt order
    may be appropriate.”). As the Supreme Court of Montana noted in
    Marez, “[a] parent is not a ‘powerless bystander’ in the decisions
    and actions of a child, and has ‘an obligation to attempt to
    overcome the child’s resistance’ to visitation.” 
    Id.
     (quoting In re
    Marriage of Rideout, 
    77 P.3d 1174
    , 1182 (Wash. 2003)).2 In other
    words, a parent is expected to do more than refrain from
    discouraging visitation; a parent is expected to take affirmative
    action to encourage visitation. Although the dissent views a
    “reasonable good faith efforts” standard as vague, good faith efforts
    may be considered in contempt proceedings to determine
    compliance with a court order. See Arevalo v. Colo. Dep’t of Human
    2 In our view, reasonable good faith efforts would not require that
    the parent take actions that would harm a child. The magistrate
    specifically stated that the required discipline of the children would
    not include physical punishment. And although the magistrate
    used the term “discipline,” a parent might, in his or her discretion,
    elect to employ a reward as an incentive to obtain compliance with
    the court’s visitation order.
    10
    Servs., 
    72 P.3d 436
    , 440 (Colo. App. 2003) (holding that
    department’s failure to make good faith efforts supported trial
    court’s conclusion that department intentionally failed to comply
    with court’s order); In re Marriage of Hartt, 
    43 Colo. App. 335
    , 336,
    
    603 P.2d 970
    , 971 (1979) (considering case wherein trial court
    deferred contempt sentence for two months to consider contemnor’s
    good faith efforts to pay support and arrears payments).
    ¶ 23   Because a parent should make reasonable good faith efforts to
    comply with a court’s visitation order, and the magistrate found
    with record support that the mother had not made such efforts, the
    contempt finding was not an abuse of discretion.
    VI. Bias
    ¶ 24   We disagree with mother’s sixth contention that the magistrate
    demonstrated a bias against her and should have been disqualified.
    Mother’s allegations are based only on the magistrate’s legal rulings
    and the resolution of conflicting evidence, which are not bases for
    disqualification. See Smith v. Dist. Court, 
    629 P.2d 1055
    , 1057
    (Colo. 1981) (holding that it is proper for a judge to use what has
    been learned in his or her judicial capacity in making observations
    about a matter); see also People in Interest of S.G., 
    91 P.3d 443
    , 447
    11
    (Colo. App. 2004) (noting that a judge’s ruling on a legal issue or the
    opinions formed against a party are not bases for disqualification);
    In re Marriage of Nussbeck, 
    899 P.2d 347
    , 350 (Colo. App. 1995)
    (adverse rulings do not constitute grounds for claiming bias or
    prejudice).
    ¶ 25    Further, the record reveals that mother did not seek the
    magistrate’s disqualification under C.R.C.P. 97. See In re Marriage
    of Zebedee, 
    778 P.2d 694
    , 699 (Colo. App. 1988) (declining to
    consider bias argument when the matter was not raised in a
    C.R.C.P. 97 motion for disqualification). While mother argues in
    her reply brief that she previously requested the magistrate’s
    recusal, we note that her prior request was legally insufficient
    because it was unsupported by an affidavit. See C.R.C.P. 97
    (requiring that motion for disqualification be supported by an
    affidavit).
    VII. Rules of Professional Conduct
    ¶ 26    We decline to consider mother’s seventh and final contention
    that father’s attorney violated the rules of professional conduct.
    This court has no jurisdiction over allegations that an attorney has
    violated the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct. That
    12
    jurisdiction lies in the supreme court and with the presiding
    disciplinary judge. See C.R.C.P. 251.1(b).
    VIII. Attorney Fees
    ¶ 27   Mother argues that the magistrate should have held a hearing
    on the reasonableness of father’s attorney fee affidavit. We agree.
    ¶ 28   Mother objected to father’s fee affidavit on the basis that it was
    ambiguous and lacked clarity, and she requested a hearing on the
    issue of reasonableness. Once she raised these assertions, the
    magistrate should have held a hearing on this issue.
    ¶ 29   While C.R.C.P. 107 does not impose an express requirement of
    a hearing on the amount of an attorney fee award, we nevertheless
    conclude that, upon request of a party, an evidentiary hearing must
    be held to determine the issue of reasonableness. See Pedlow v.
    Stamp, 
    776 P.2d 382
    , 386 (Colo. 1989) (construing sections
    13-17-101 to -203, C.R.S. 2016, as requiring an evidentiary
    hearing).
    ¶ 30   We thus remand for the district court to hold an evidentiary
    hearing on the issue of reasonableness of the award imposed as a
    contempt sanction.
    13
    IX. Issues Raised in Reply Brief
    ¶ 31   We do not consider the arguments mother makes for the first
    time in her reply brief or those that seek to expand upon the
    contentions she raised in her opening brief. See In re Marriage of
    Drexler, 
    2013 COA 43
    , ¶ 24.
    X. Appellate Attorney Fees
    ¶ 32   We decline to award mother her requested “[a]ttorney’s fees,
    fines and damages.” Not only is mother not entitled to attorney fees
    as a pro se party, see Smith v. Furlong, 
    976 P.2d 889
    , 890 (Colo.
    App. 1999) (holding that there is no basis to award “attorney fees”
    to a pro se litigant, because no “attorney fees” exist in such
    situations), but she has failed to cite any legal basis for her request.
    See C.A.R. 39.1 (requiring that party requesting attorney fees
    explain the legal and factual basis therefor).
    ¶ 33   Father requests an award of his appellate attorney fees under
    C.R.C.P. 107(d)(2). Because father has incurred attorney fees “in
    connection with the contempt proceeding,” 
    id.,
     we remand the case
    for the district court to determine his entitlement to and the
    amount of attorney fees, if any, incurred on appeal. See C.A.R.
    14
    39.1; Madison Capital Co. v. Star Acquisition VIII, 
    214 P.3d 557
    , 562
    (Colo. App. 2009).
    XI. Conclusion
    ¶ 34   We reverse that portion of paragraph 9 of the magistrate’s
    order that mandates mother to discipline her children. The district
    court’s order is reversed to the extent it adopts that portion of the
    magistrate’s order.
    ¶ 35   In all other respects the orders are affirmed, and the case is
    remanded for the court to consider the reasonableness of the
    attorney fee award to father and father’s request for appellate
    attorney fees under C.R.C.P. 107(d)(2).
    JUDGE TERRY concurs.
    JUDGE BERGER dissents.
    15
    JUDGE BERGER, dissenting.
    ¶ 36   This case presents an important issue of first impression:
    what must a custodial parent do to ensure that her teenaged
    children visit with their non-custodial parent, as prescribed by a
    parenting time order?
    ¶ 37   We all agree that the custodial parent may not do anything,
    expressly or impliedly, to thwart the court’s parenting order.
    § 14-10-129.5, C.R.S. 2016; In re Marriage of Cyr, 
    186 P.3d 88
    , 91
    (Colo. App. 2008). Any express or implied suggestion or
    encouragement to the child (who, by the terms of a parenting order,
    is not compelled to do anything) by the custodial parent that the
    child not engage in the court-ordered parenting time violates the
    order and subjects the custodial parent to the court’s coercive and
    punitive contempt powers. Cyr, 
    186 P.3d at 91
    .
    ¶ 38   But the majority goes much further: it adopts a vague,
    undefined standard, the violation of which subjects the custodial
    parent to sanctions, including imprisonment. It holds that the
    custodial parent must make “reasonable good faith efforts to secure
    [a] child’s compliance” with the parenting order.
    16
    ¶ 39   There is a multitude of problems with this standard. I begin
    with due process requirements. Just as vague laws offend the Due
    Process Clause because they fail to “give the person of ordinary
    intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited,”
    People v. Holmes, 
    959 P.2d 406
    , 414 (Colo. 1998) (quoting High
    Gear & Toke Shop v. Beacom, 
    689 P.2d 624
    , 630 (Colo. 1984)), so
    too do vague court orders that may subject a custodial parent to
    incarceration for violation of its terms. See Colo. Springs Bd. of
    Realtors, Inc. v. State, 
    780 P.2d 494
    , 499 (Colo. 1989) (“[A]n
    injunction prohibiting conduct must be sufficiently precise to
    enable the party subject to the equitable decree to conform its
    conduct to the requirements thereof.”); Z.J. Gifts D-2, L.L.C. v. City
    of Aurora, 
    93 P.3d 633
    , 639 (Colo. App. 2004) (same).
    ¶ 40   I do not understand how a custodial parent, acting entirely in
    good faith, can know with any level of confidence what are
    “reasonable good faith efforts to secure [a] child’s compliance” with
    a parenting order.
    ¶ 41   The majority tells us that the district court may not specify
    what disciplinary action mother must take to meet the court-
    imposed standard, but gives neither mother nor any other custodial
    17
    parent any guidance as to what is actually required to conform her
    conduct to the law. Notably, the majority affirms paragraph seven
    of the contempt order, which orders mother to “prove that she is
    actually supporting [father’s] parenting time by doing things like
    withholding electronics and other privileges to make clear to these
    children that they are expected to spend Thanksgiving Break with
    Father.”
    ¶ 42   I take it that the majority is holding that some level of
    discipline is required to compel the child to spend time with the
    non-custodial parent, no matter what the child thinks. But what
    are the limits of that discipline? Must mother prohibit her children
    from participating in school athletics or other extracurricular
    activities? Or, visiting with their friends? How is the custodial
    parent supposed to determine what those limits are in any
    particular situation?1
    1 In re Marriage of Marez, 
    340 P.3d 520
     (Mont. 2014), relied on by
    the majority, is factually distinguishable. There, the trial court
    found that the wife “likely influenced [the child] in her purported
    decision not to visit her father.” 
    Id. at 526
    . Such a finding would
    support a contempt finding under the standard I advocate. The
    balance of the opinion ― the parts that the majority specifically
    relies upon ― is dictum because it is unnecessary to the court’s
    18
    ¶ 43   Because parents’ views on discipline of children vary
    enormously, and may depend on a particular parent’s upbringing,
    culture, religion, and numerous other factors, this standard is, in
    reality, nothing less than an invitation for judges to impose their
    own beliefs on parents.
    ¶ 44   That is precisely what Troxel v. Granville, 
    530 U.S. 57
     (2000),
    prohibits. “[T]he Due Process Clause does not permit a State to
    infringe on the fundamental right of parents to make child rearing
    decisions simply because a state judge believes a ‘better’ decision
    could be made.” 
    Id. at 72-73
    . “[T]his fundamental right of parents
    encompasses the presumption that a fit parent will act in the best
    interests of his or her child.” In Interest of C.T.G., 
    179 P.3d 213
    ,
    223 (Colo. App. 2007).
    ¶ 45   There is no evidence here that the mother’s failure to punish
    her teenaged children for apparently refusing to spend time with
    their father is against the children’s best interests.
    ¶ 46   Aside from due process notice problems and Troxel, there is
    another fundamental problem with the majority’s standard: the lack
    decision. And, for the reasons that I discuss, the dictum is
    unsound and should not be followed.
    19
    of any statutory authorization. In Colorado, parenting orders are
    comprehensively governed by the Colorado Uniform Dissolution of
    Marriage Act, sections 14-10-101 to -133, C.R.S. 2016, but the
    majority does not cite and I am unaware of any statutory authority
    supporting the proposition that a custodial parent has a legal
    obligation to discipline her child in order to ensure that the child
    complies with a parenting order in favor of the non-custodial
    parent.
    ¶ 47   Recognizing that enforcement of parenting time orders may
    require a variety of tools, the General Assembly enacted section 14-
    10-129.5. After finding that a parent has violated a parenting time
    order, the statute authorizes the court to do any of the following:
     modify the existing order concerning the allocation of
    parental responsibilities, § 14-10-129.5(2)(b);
     require either or both parents to attend a parental
    education program at the expense of the non-complying
    parent, § 14-10-129.5(2)(b.3);
     require the parties to participate in family counseling at
    the expense of the non-complying parent, § 14-10-
    129.5(2)(b.7);
    20
     require the violator to post bond or security to ensure
    future compliance, § 14-10-129.5(2)(c);
     require make-up time, § 14-10-129.5(2)(d);
     impose a fine or jail sentence, § 14-10-129.5(2)(e); or
     enter “[a]ny other order that may promote the best
    interests of the child or children involved,” § 14-10-
    129.5(2)(h).
    ¶ 48   But nowhere does the statute expressly (or in my view,
    implicitly) authorize a court to order a parent to impose specific
    discipline on her child to force the child to engage in unwanted
    parenting time with the non-custodial parent. Nor does allowing
    the parent, rather than the court, to choose the specific discipline
    solve the problems, for the reasons I discussed above.
    ¶ 49   To the extent that the majority relies on the “catch-all”
    provision of section 14-10-129.5(2)(h) to support its assumption
    that mother may be required to impose discipline, that reliance
    runs squarely into, and in my view violates, Troxel. Despite any
    attendant inconvenience, courts must abide by Troxel’s
    fundamental principle that parents, not judges, make child rearing
    decisions. Troxel, 
    530 U.S. at 72-73
    .
    21
    ¶ 50   The magistrate and the district court did not abide by this
    principle, and the majority’s judgment allows this constitutional
    violation to continue.
    ¶ 51   The problems I identify are particularly acute in this case
    because the children are teenagers. If the children were young
    children, who presumably always do what their parents tell them to
    do, the analysis and result might be different. But not with
    teenaged children who, unlike young children, are of an age and
    maturity to have a will of their own.
    ¶ 52   Though no Colorado appellate court has addressed this
    precise question, the North Dakota Supreme Court has. In Votava
    v. Votava, 
    865 N.W.2d 821
    , 824 (N.D. 2015), the court affirmed a
    district court’s decision declining to hold the mother in contempt
    when her twelve- and fourteen-year-old children refused to visit
    their father. The trial court found, with record support, that “[i]t is
    almost impossible, at their age, to force them to make the visit.
    That’s possible with younger children but with older children it’s
    22
    not without some kind of physical altercation.” Id. at 823.2 The
    North Dakota Supreme Court agreed with that analysis.3
    ¶ 53   For these reasons, I would vacate the contempt order and I
    respectfully dissent from the majority’s affirmance (with
    modifications) of the contempt order. If any similar contempt
    motions are brought by father, I would instruct the magistrate and
    the district court that mother may only be held in contempt for
    violation of the parenting order if the court finds that mother has
    thwarted the order by suggesting or encouraging, directly or
    indirectly, the children not to spend the court-ordered time with
    their father. I recognize this is a delicate inquiry, but it is not much
    2 I recognize that the appellate court in Votava v. Votava, 
    865 N.W.2d 821
    , 824 (N.D. 2015), was reviewing a lower court order
    that declined to find that the parent was in contempt for not forcing
    the teenaged and pre-teen children to have visitation with their
    father, while here, the magistrate made a finding that the mother
    had substantial control over her children. But Votava nevertheless
    recognizes the obvious ― that the ages of the children matter in this
    context.
    3 At a bare minimum, if I am wrong and the standard adopted by
    the majority passes muster, the parenting order should advise the
    custodial parent of this legal obligation. Otherwise, not only does
    the custodial parent have to guess what coercive measures must be
    employed against a recalcitrant child, but the custodial parent must
    also guess whether there is such an obligation to discipline in the
    first instance.
    23
    different than other difficult factual determinations that a domestic
    relations court often is required to make.
    24