Corrado, M .v. Corrado, T.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided February 27, 2024·No. 1788 EDA 2023·Unpublished

Opinion

J-S44017-23

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

MARK CORRADO : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : TAMMY CORRADO : : Appellant : No. 1788 EDA 2023

Appeal from the Order Entered June 9, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Civil Division at No(s): 2021-01953

BEFORE: OLSON, J., NICHOLS, J., and COLINS, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY NICHOLS, J.: FILED FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Appellant Tammy Corrado (Mother) appeals from the order1 holding her

in civil contempt of the February 15, 2023 and March 10, 2023 temporary

custody orders. Mother argues that that the trial court erred in finding her in

contempt because the February 15, 2023 and March 10, 2023 orders were

improperly entered. We affirm.

The trial court summarized the facts and procedural history of this

matter as follows:

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

1 Mother filed a separate appeal from the trial court’s June 9, 2023 custody

order granting Mother and Appellee Mark Corrado (Father) shared legal custody, Mother primary physical custody, and Father partial physical custody of their minor children, E.C. and G.C. (collectively, Children). This Court docketed that appeal at 1789 EDA 2023, and we address that appeal in a separate memorandum. J-S44017-23

The parties were married on November 8, 2009. They separated in July 2020 when Mother removed E.C. and G.C. from the [marital] home and moved to a new residence.

* * *

[O]n July 28, 2020, Mother filed . . . [a Protection From Abuse (PFA)2 petition] against Father, . . . on behalf of herself and [Children], alleging that Father had physically abused the minor child, [E.C.] A temporary PFA order was entered on that same date. Thereafter, the final PFA hearing was continued numerous times due to a pending investigation of Father by the Office of Children and Youth (OCY) and pending criminal charges against Father for criminal harassment.

Ultimately, OCY made no finding of abuse by Father. Furthermore, the criminal harassment charges against Father were dropped. . . .

[On] February 22, 2021, . . . a six month agreed PFA order was entered with no finding of abuse against Father. This order expired on August 22, 2021 without issue. Mother then filed a petition to extend the PFA on August 25, 2021 which was denied.

[On] February 22, 2021, . . . an agreed order was entered in the parties’ custody case. This order provided Mother with a six month “civil stay away order” against Father. It directed the parties to use the “Our Family Wizard” (OFW) parenting application to communicate with each other. It further provided for three (3) weekly video calls between Father and [] Children. . ..

On October 11, 2022, Father filed a petition to modify custody. The basis for the modification was Father’s completion of the [court-]ordered anger management classes, his belief that the video calls with [Children] were not improving their relationship and that he wanted to play a more active part in their lives after not seeing them in person for over two years.

On December 9, 2022, the parties appeared before the court’s custody conciliator, Lenore Myers, Esquire [(the Conciliator)]. The

2 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 6101-6122.

-2- J-S44017-23

Conciliator issued a report that included the following recommendations:

1. That Mother obtain a letter report from [] Children’s therapist containing [] Children’s diagnosis, prognosis, and plan for treatment including a plan for reunification with Father.

2. [] Children would probably benefit from reunification counseling. Without therapeutic intervention, the relationship between [] Children and Father will never be healed and [] Children will continue to re-experience the past trauma from their previous interactions with Father.

3. Mother and Father should also have a mental health evaluation.

On February 13, 2023, the parties appeared before the undersigned to address the Conciliator’s recommendations. Despite the Conciliator’s strong recommendation for therapeutic intervention in the report, there had been no effort to move forward on this point in the six (6) weeks since the date of the conciliation [conference]. Additionally, Mother failed to produce a letter from [] Children’s therapist, despite the Conciliator’s recommendation.

As a result, a temporary order dated February 15, 2023 was entered providing for Father and [] Children to participate in reunification counseling. The goal being that, upon completion of several sessions of therapy with Father and [] Children, issues could be resolved and addressed, and Father and [] Children’s relationship could eventually commence to in-person supervised visitation.

The temporary order also provided Father with joint legal custody and directed Mother to provide Father with information about [] Children (i.e., school district, healthcare providers, home address, etc.), directed family counseling for the parents and included more specific provisions on the parents’ use of the previously ordered OFW communication application. . . .

On February 22, 2023, Father filed a petition for contempt based on Mother’s failure to comply with any provision of the February 15, 2023 order. . . .

-3- J-S44017-23

On March 9, 2023, the counsel and the parties appeared before the undersigned and an order was entered on March 10, 2023[,] directing Mother to comply with the order of February 15, 2023 or face the imposition of potential sanctions pursuant to 23 Pa.C.S. § 5232(g). The petition for contempt was scheduled for a proceeding on April 6, 2023 (which was later rescheduled for April 13, 2023).

Rather than comply with any item in the court’s temporary orders of February 15, 2023, and March 10, 2023, Mother instead filed a notice of appeal to the Superior Court.[fn24] [fn24] As both orders were temporary, and therefore interlocutory, the Superior Court ultimately quashed Mother’s appeal in an order dated April 17, 2023. [See Order, 747 EDA 2023, 4/17/23.]

On April 13, 2023, Mother then filed a motion for disqualification of the undersigned.

Trial Ct. Op., 8/31/23, at 1-7 (some footnotes omitted and some formatting

altered).

The trial court held a combined custody and contempt hearing on May

25, 2023. At the outset of the hearing, the trial court denied Mother’s motion

for disqualification. N.T., 5/25/23, at 12. The trial court heard testimony from

Father, Mother, and three other witnesses. At the conclusion of the hearing,

the trial court held its decision under advisement. Id. at 232. On June 9,

2023, the trial court issued an order in which it concluded that Mother was in

contempt of the February 15, 2023, and March 10, 2023 orders. Contempt

Order, 6/9/23, at 1. The trial court directed Mother to pay Father $500 in

counsel fees as sanctions and placed her on probation for six months with a

condition that she must strictly comply with the trial court’s orders. Id.

-4- J-S44017-23

On July 7, 2023, Mother filed timely notices of appeal and Pa.R.A.P.

1925(a)(2)(i) statements from the June 9, 2023 custody order and the June

9, 2023 contempt order. The trial court subsequently issued a Rule 1925(a)

opinion addressing Mother’s claims in both appeals.

In her appeal from the trial court’s contempt order,3 Mother raises three

issues for our review:

1.

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Corrado, M .v. Corrado, T., (Pa. Ct. App. 2024).

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