In re Marriage of Rodriguez

529 N.E.2d 819, 175 Ill. App. 3d 241, 124 Ill. Dec. 838, 1988 Ill. App. LEXIS 1455
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 6, 1988
DocketNo. 2-87-1138
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 529 N.E.2d 819 (In re Marriage of Rodriguez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Marriage of Rodriguez, 529 N.E.2d 819, 175 Ill. App. 3d 241, 124 Ill. Dec. 838, 1988 Ill. App. LEXIS 1455 (Ill. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

JUSTICE UNVERZAGT

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case revolves around a child custody dispute in the circuit court of Kane County, between petitioner, Nadine Rodriguez (now Nadine G. Walter), and respondent, Rolando Rodriguez. As a result of bitter and continuing conflict between the parties concerning their minor child, Zachary, born April 26, 1985, the trial court eventually placed restrictions on the father’s visitation rights. In order to secure his visitation rights, the father agreed to post a bond in the penal sum of $10,000. The bond named the “People of the State of Illinois” as obligee. The father executed the bond as principal, and the grandmother, Petra Rodriguez, executed the bond as surety, creating a $10,000 lien on her real estate in Elgin, Illinois. On October 15, 1985, a circuit judge accepted the bond as a condition of the child visitation rights accorded to the father.

This is an appeal from an order entered October 30, 1987, by another circuit judge, allowing the forfeiture of the bond and permitting the mother to execute on the real estate provided as collateral by the surety. The central issue before this court is whether the trial court erred in ordering forfeiture of the bond and execution on the property provided as collateral therein. We reverse.

On May 6, 1985, on the same date that the mother filed her petition for dissolution of marriage, the trial court entered an ex parte domestic violence order of protection granting temporary custody of the minor child to the mother and requiring the father to surrender the minor to the mother. On May 13, 1985, the father appeared in court, at which time a preliminary injunction ordered the parties to refrain from harassing each other, enjoined both parties from removing the child from this State, ordered their strict compliance with the order granting temporary custody of the child to the mother, and provided temporary visitation rights to the father.

On June 27, 1985, the court entered a rule to show cause finding the father in contempt of court for failing to comply with a custody order dated June 25, 1985. The order provided that the father could purge himself of contempt by returning the minor child.

On June 28, 1985, the father appeared in court, purged himself of the civil contempt, and moved to quash the mittimus directed to him. The court stayed the mittimus and entered a second domestic violence order of protection. This order awarded temporary custody of the minor child to the mother and provided that the father was to have absolutely no contact and no visitation with the minor child.

On September 13, 1985, the court entered an order providing for restricted visitation of the minor child by the father upon certain terms and conditions. The order provided:

“Visitation [is] to be conditioned on Rolando Rodriguez posting a bond in a penal amount of not less than $10,000 to be acceptable by plaintiff’s attorney or approved by the court.”

On October 23, 1985, the husband presented a petition to approve bond. The bond provided that the father as principal, and Petra Rodriguez, the husband’s mother, as surety, “respectively and jointly and severally acknowledge themselves to owe and to be indebted to the PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS in the penal sum of $10,000, to be levied upon their property, of whatever kind and wherever situated.” In consideration of the restricted child visitation rights he was to receive, the respondent undertook six conditions of his surety bond:

“1. That said Defendant shall appear in the Circuit Court of the 16th Judicial Circuit, kane [sic] County, Illinois, Family court Division, Courtroom 213, on the 23rd day of October, 1985 at 9:00 a.m., and appear thereafter as ordered by said Court until discharged or until final Judgment for Dissolution of Marriage is entered by the Court;
2. That said Defendant shall submit himself to any and all said Orders and process of said Court;
3. That said Defendant shall not depart the area of the law offices of McNAMEE & MAHONEY, LTD. [counsel for the husband], at 519 North Route 31, Dundee, Illinois, during the times of his restricted visitation;
4. That said Defendant shall not violate penal statutes of any jurisdiction;
5. That said Defendant shall have two hours per week restricted visitation to take place at the law office of McNAMEE & MAHONEY, LTD., each and every week;
6. That the Defendant shall deposit his automobile keys with the law offices of McNAMEE & MAHONEY, LTD. during the time of his visitation with the minor child.”

The bond concluded as follows:

“If said Defendant shall comply with the conditions of this surety bond, it shall upon order of tis [sic] Court, be discharged and the undersigned released from the obligations thereof and the lien on the real estate discharged. If said Defendant shall fail to comply with the conditions of said bond, ti [sic] shall remain in full force and effect and the obligated sum fixed herein shall be collected and disbursed in accordance with further Orders of this Court.”

No expiration date was provided for in the bond. Attached to and made part of the bond was the “Sworn Schedule” of the husband’s mother. In the sworn schedule, the husband’s mother pledged certain real estate commonly known as 418 Mill Street in Elgin, Illinois, as security for the husband’s compliance with the bond.

On January 7, 1986, the court entered an order dissolving the parties’ marriage, and other remaining issues were reserved.

On April 29, 1986, the court entered an order joining the husband’s mother, Petra Rodriguez, as a party to the proceeding.

On May 15, 1986, the court modified the visitation schedule at the B-2 hearing on the parties’ dissolution of marriage proceeding. The visitation schedule was again modified on August 7, 1986; the father was then allowed to visit his son every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On August 20, 1986, the judgment for dissolution of marriage was entered, resolving all issues which had been reserved. The judgment provided that the mother was to have custody of the minor child and the father was allowed visitation with the minor child. The judgment stated: “Visitation shall be specific and restricted in light of prior circumstances where the defendant [father] exercised unauthorized physical control over the minor child.”

The judgment also provided as follows:

“All visitation is expressly conditioned upon PETRA RODRIGUEZ [the husband’s mother] actively supervising the visitation and PETRA RODRIGUEZ maintaining as a bond to insure defendant’s [husband’s] compliance with visitation the equity which she has in real estate described as follows:
* * *
and defendant and intervenor [husband’s mother] shall execute a bond in the form attached hereto and incorporated herein.”

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Related

Kessler v. Zekman
620 N.E.2d 1249 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1993)
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In re Marriage of Rodriguez
545 N.E.2d 731 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
529 N.E.2d 819, 175 Ill. App. 3d 241, 124 Ill. Dec. 838, 1988 Ill. App. LEXIS 1455, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-marriage-of-rodriguez-illappct-1988.