In a March 3, 2017, opinion to-be-published issued by the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the Court held that the standard of review when addressing appeals involving the interpretation of trial court orders, the reviewing court is to give deference to the trial court’s interpretation of its own orders. The case involved the ex-wife returning to divorce court seeking to hold her ex-husband in contempt for failing to comply with an order entered during the divorce proceedings entered some 15 years earlier. She argued that the former husband had failed to comply with the order during the divorce that required him to hand over ownership of significant real estate in a certain condition. After she sold the property for $3.3 million dollars, she argued that the husband’s failure to have the property in a certain condition some 15 years earlier cost her $250,000 of the purchase price. She filed a motion to have her ex-husband in contempt of that order and conveyance from about 15 years earlier. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied her requested relief. She appealed and the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s denial of her requested relief. Read the court’s Opinion.
