The wife of former Gov. Charlie Crist was in a New York courtroom Wednesday. She stood before a judge in a battle with her ex-husband over allegations of her failure to pay child support.

The New York Post reported Thursday that the legal drama was emotional. Todd Rome is accusing his ex-wife, Carole, of abandoning her children, Jessica, 15, and Skylar, 13, the Post reported.

The judge acknowledged a written agreement that states Carole does not have to pay child support if her daughters live with their father in New York.

Said Todd Rome’s attorney Mark Heller: “It was most apparent today that Mrs. Crist’s purported heartless disconnect from both her devastated teenage daughters and her alleged severance of the maternal bond shocked the good conscience of all courtroom observers, and drew genuine tears of pain from my client . . . who begged the court for help.”

Said the judge: “I can’t make her visit her children.”

A representative for Carole Rome did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.

The hearing was rescheduled for next year.

The former Florida governor was at Wednesday’s hearing, according to the Post. A witness said Todd Rome called him a vulgar name on the courthouse steps.