Domestic Relations « Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Appeal Dismissed Without Transcript

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge William G. Petty, Virginia Court of Appeals

A wife’s claim she should have been awarded damages and attorney’s fees for husband’s alleged breach of their property settlement agreement is dismissed by the Court of Appeals because wife failed to provide the court with transcripts or an agreed statement of facts detailing the incidents of trial.
We cannot determine what evidence the trial court [...]

Second Child’s Best Interests Support Termination

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Per Curiam Opinion, Virginia Court of Appeals

Three years after termination of her parental rights to her son, the Court of Appeals affirms termination of an incarcerated mother’s rights to her daughter age 20 months; Va. Code § 16.1-283(E)(i) provides an independent ground for termination in cases involving siblings making it unnecessary to consider § 16.1-283(C)(2) as an alternate ground.
Mother’s parental rights [...]

Potential Caregivers Not ‘Relatives’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 7, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Virginia Court of Appeals

A woman whose child was removed from her custody cannot proffer as “relatives” a couple whose daughter was the girlfriend of the woman’s brother; the Court of Appeals says such a tenuous connection does not make the couple “relatives” of the child.
On appeal, the mother argues the trial court erred by terminating her parental rights [...]

Mom Must Pay Dad’s Attorney’s Fees

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Stephen R. McCullough, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms a denial of a protective order to mother but remands for a determination of her ability to pay $14,000 in attorney’s fees awarded by the trial court; the trial court’s evidentiary rulings were not an abuse of discretion.
Parents divorced when daughter was an infant. In March 2010, mother petitioned the [...]

No Change for Dad’s Move

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Robert P. Frank, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms the trial court’s denial of father’s motion to modify spousal support and custody/visitation for changed circumstances; neither father’s move nor mother’s alleged underemployment support making a change
Husband and wife separated after 14 years of marriage and three children, only one a minor at the time of the divorce. Father, in [...]

Dad’s Meritless Appeal Nets Attorney’s Fees

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Per Curiam Opinion, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms a trial court’s divorce decree awarding wife spousal support, equitable distribution of $19,927.50 and the former marital residence; each award is supported by the law and evidence and husband must pay wife’s attorney’s fees for presenting numerous unsupported questions.
Husband and wife separated after seven years of marriage and no children. [...]

Uncooperative Mother’s Rights Terminated

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Per Curiam Opinion, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms termination of mother’s parental rights to her two children, ages seven and one-half and six, who are thriving after more than three years in foster care; clear and convincing evidence supports the trial court determination that the children’s best interests are served by terminating mother’s rights.
Mother and her husband have [...]

Stock Was Gift to Husband

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge James W. Haley Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

A divorce court erred in failing to recognize that husband’s acquisition of half the stock of a family pesticide business owned by husband, his brother and their mother, was a gift from the corporation, and the Court of Appeals reverses in part and remands the case for further proceedings.
A gift, used here in its ordinary [...]

No Credit for Post-Separation House Payments

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Salem Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Salem Circuit Court says husband is not entitled to credit for making post-separation mortgage payments on the marital home occupied by wife, because the parties agreed he would continue such payments in lieu of a pendente lite hearing for determination of temporary spousal support and debt payments; also, the court declines to credit against [...]

Dad Must Pay Half for College

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 26, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Stephen R. McCullough, Virginia Court of Appeals

In mother’s show cause proceeding, the Court of Appeals affirms a trial court order requiring father to pay one-half of his son’s college attendance under a 1996 agreement incorporated in the final divorce decree; the trial court properly excluded evidence of mother’s alleged breaches and interpreted the agreement to obligate father on college costs without [...]

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