The VLW Blog

A divorce court’s interpretation of a PSA to figure the trigger for the father’s support obligation did not rewrite their agreement, the Court of Appeals of Virginia ruled today. The 2010 property settlement agreement between Brian and Gracie McPhail said he would pay support of $550 per month “upon the sale of the house or [...]

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A soldier from Fort Lee will get a U.S. Supreme Court hearing in his custody dispute with his ex-wife, who moved with their five-year-old daughter to her native Scotland In August, the high court granted a writ and scheduled oral argument for Dec. 5, 2012, in the case of Chafin v. Chafin, No. 11-1347. Sgt. [...]

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A trial court turned the tables on a mother who claimed a father violated a protective order, and jailed the mother for lying to the court. The father foiled the mother’s attempt to have him punished by secretly videotaping his pickup of their child for visitation. The mother landed in jail for contempt after an [...]

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It’s not just “heads on the beds” that count when a bankruptcy court is trying to determine “household” size for a Chapter 13 debtor who shares joint custody of two children with her ex-husband. A better count comes from an “economic unit” analysis, according to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court’s July [...]

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A couple’s arbitrated custody decision under their “Parenting Agreement” did not let a father immediately adjust support when their daughter moved in with him. The divorcing parties signed a “Parenting Agreement” that said they would equally share custody of their two children, and would resolve outstanding issues through arbitration. Under the terms of the resulting [...]

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A mother could attach a father’s federal retirement account to collect a child support arrearage, the Virginia Court of Appeals said today. It did not matter that the mother had waived any personal interest in the retirement account in a premarital agreement, the appellate panel said. In Nkopchieu v. Minlend, the panel reversed an Alexandria [...]

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A Front Royal lawyer is no longer facing misdemeanor charges of abduction by a parent, after a judge dropped two counts against him yesterday. David Downes sought to have the charges dismissed with prejudice, but the judge merely dropped them at the request of a prosecutor. The charges came as part of a custody fight Downes [...]

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If you beget a child beyond the borders of the commonwealth, you may not be able to get child support through a Virginia court. A Virginia woman whose love affair with a filmmaker living in France left her with a 12-year-old daughter to support cannot sue the film maker for child support in Virginia, the [...]

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Divorce courts deciding custody often look at travel time when they juggle visitation schedules. One Fairfax court got right down to the daily commute, deciding a child should change from a Virginia school to one in Annapolis in order to cut his windshield time. When William Atkins and Debra Piccirillo divorced in 2005, the parties [...]

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A mother can enforce a child support order from 1966, the Virginia Court of Appeals said today, making the father liable for $73,629 in support for a 42-year-old child. In 1966, an Alexandria divorce court ordered the dad to pay $30 per week for the couple’s three children. His support obligation ended in June, 1982, [...]

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