Madison County Support Collection Unit v. Drennan

Per Curiam. Appeal from an order of the Family Court of Madison County (Humphreys, J.), entered May 26, 1988, which granted petitioner’s application, in a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 4, part 5, to enforce a support order, and committed respondent to jail. Petitioner commenced this proceeding by alleging that respondent failed to obey a lawful order of support pursuant to Family Court Act § 453. Following a hearing, respondent was found to have willfully failed to obey an order of support and he was committed to jail pursuant to Family Court Act § 454 (3) (a). Respondent filed a notice of appeal from the order of commitment but proceeded to serve his sentence so that he is no longer incarcerated. Since imprisonment pursuant to Family Court Act § 454 (3) (a) is in the nature of punishment for civil contempt (see, e.g., Hymowitz v Hymowitz, 149 AD2d 568) and completion of the jail term for a civil contempt renders the matter moot (see, Ward v Ward, 71 AD2d 854), we must dismiss the appeal. Appeal dismissed, as moot, without costs. Mahoney, P. J., Kane, Mikoll, Yesawich, Jr., and Levine, JJ., concur.