Counter Claim on Motion for Contempt

by Anonymous from Florida

I was sent a Motion for Contempt by my ex wife's attorney for non payment of child support which is completely inaccurate. I pay the State of Florida and have records of all payments that show I'm in compliance.

I'm pro se and plan to file an answer to the motion for contempt. I also want to file a counter claim since I feel that I'm being harassed.

This is the third time I've been taken to court on false pretenses. All previous hearings have been dismissed due to lack of evidence.

My question is: Do I include the counter claim of harrassment in my answer to the motion for contempt or do I just file the answer to the motion and file the counter claim separately? Thanks in advanced for any information on this.

Answer to Florida Court Forms Question

Dear Anonymous,

I think that either including a counter claim in the same pleading as your answer; or as a separate document is proper.

Paraphrasing from an article I found while researching your question:

The defendant's written response to the complaint is known as the Answer.

The answer admits or denies allegations in the complaint and also states any defenses to the complaint, such as if there is a lack of subject matter jurisdiction or the statute of limitations has already expired.

The answer can also contain any counterclaims that the defendant would like to make against the plaintiff.

The counterclaims, however, have to relate to the plaintiff's complaint. The defendant cannot counterclaim about entirely unrelated issues -- that would be a different lawsuit.

However, since a counterclaim often requests damages, it may be simpler to prepare your counterclaim as a separate document.

And, you are not restricted to filing this in family court, you may also want to research the possibility of filing suit in regular civil court for harassment, or possibly for abuse of process.

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