Billy Joe Dennis takes this appeal from the trial court’s grant of Laura Dennis’s motion to dismiss his April 2009 application for contempt concerning her alleged violation of his visitation rights. Because the trial court erred in refusing to consider Billy Joe’s allegations, and because his service on Laura’s attorney in other, still pending contempt proceedings was valid, we reverse. The record shows that Billy Joe and Laura were divorced by final judgment and decree on November 21, 2006. Laura was to have physical custody of the minor children with Billy Joe having regular visitation. On December 4, 2007, Laura filed a motion for contempt alleging that Billy Joe had failed to pay her $80,000 due under the divorce decree. On January 11, 2008, Billy Joe filed his own motion alleging Laura’s interference with his visitation. These matters were tried on January 18, 2008. The trial court announced its decision and instructed the parties to negotiate visitation and other issues and to submit a draft order within ten days. No order was filed in the course of 2008, however.
On April 14, 2009, Billy Joe filed a new motion for contempt, also styled as an “amended motion for contempt,” alleging that an order was never prepared because the parties could not agree on its content and that Laura had violated his visitation rights during the children’s spring break, “which occurred March 23rd through March 29th” in an unspecified year. Billy Joe served the new motion on Laura’s attorney of record.
