Rule 65.3.Directions and restrictions on conduct

In writing, and in hand. Whenever the court intends to impose restrictions on a party's conduct, the conditions or restrictions must be set out in writing — by the court, or by whatever person or agency the court has delegated that authority to by order — and a copy furnished to the person at the earliest possible time.

When they bite. The conditions take effect when the person affected is notified, orally or in writing, by the court or someone the court designates. So notice, not paperwork, starts the obligation; the writing is what makes it provable and precise.

Where the family relationship or the care of a child is imperiled, an order directing a party to perform or refrain from acts of conduct must clearly set those acts out. A person can be punished for breaching such an order, and nobody should face contempt for misremembering what they were told from the bench.

Only what was raised. No party shall be ordered without consent to perform or refrain from any act concerning which no complaint was made or evidence presented. That is a due-process rule stated as plainly as it can be. A family court learns a great deal about a family, and the temptation to fix something nobody asked about is real. The rule forecloses it: an order must answer a complaint someone actually made, on evidence someone actually presented.