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443 So. 2d 482

M.P. v. State

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided January 13, 1984

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1984-01-13

Relies on 339 So. 2d 650 - Faircloth v. Faircloth

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1984-01-13

How this case has been cited

Cited by 10 later decisions — most recently May 2012

10 state decisions

601984199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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BOARDMAN, Judge.

¶1We reverse the circuit court’s order adjudging M.P., a seventeen-year-old female, in contempt of court for failing to pay restitution to the victim of her delinquent act. Our decision is based upon the trial court’s failure to include in its order of contempt either of the affirmative findings mandated under the supreme court’s holding in Faircloth v. Faircloth, 339 So.2d 650 (Fla.1976).

¶2We remand this cause to the circuit court for entry of an appropriate finding consistent with the holding of Faircloth. If, however, the trial court is unable under the facts presented in the record to make a finding as set forth in Faircloth, then appellant cannot be held in contempt for noncompliance with the court’s previous restitution order. Payments received by appellant under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program for the care of her infant should not be considered by the court in assessing M.P.’s present financial ability to comply with the court’s restitution order. Diversion of such public-assistance payments to satisfy appellant’s pre-ex-isting restitution obligation would, of course, frustrate the legislative intent and purpose underlying the need for such financial assistance. See §§ 409.235, .185, Florida Statutes (1981).

¶3REVERSED and REMANDED for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

OTT, C.J., and LEHAN, J., concur.
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