Can You Ignore A Court Order

[littleblu]

I'm asking this for someone who is mentally ill. He lives in Virginia.

There are two issues.

1) If a judge orders someone to do something but it's not written in the court order, does the person still have to do it? Can they be arrested if they don't do it? What is official, what the judge says in court or what's actually in the court order? Or does it depend on the situation?

2) If the county is ordered to cleanup someone's outside property (for violating zoning laws) do they have the right to take things out of closed sheds? What if part of the items in violation that's to be cleaned up is behind an enclosed fenced area, do they have the right to go in the fenced area and cleanup there? There is no search warrant in effect. There is only an order to cleanup the items in violation on the outside property.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Generally, although court procedures vary by state, in a civil case a court's order must be reduced to writing before it is binding on the parties. But that doesn't mean the court must turn a blind eye to a party's failure to obey an order (or deliberate refusal to obey an order) between the time the party is instructed from the bench as to what the court is ordering and the time a written order is actually entered. The circumstances can also change if it is a criminal as opposed to a civil proceeding.

If the county is ordered by a court to clean up a property, they would be expected to follow the court's order. If the owner of the property believes the order has been violated, the owner can go back to the court and complain (for example, that the county is cleaning up items in enclosed structures, not just those in the open) and let the court determine if the county overstepped its bounds.

If the property owner believes the court erred in instructing the county to enter and clean up the property, or that a search warrant should have been required, the property owner should bring those issues to the court's attention in a timely manner and/or pursue an appeal, in accord with the state's laws and court procedures.