Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

By repeatedly violating a no-contact order to guilt his partner into refusing to testify against him, a domestic-abuse defendant forfeited his Sixth Amendment right to exclude her testimonial hearsay statements to law enforcement. Background Appellant Kevin Cody and Rebekka Weingarten ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Evidence Hearsay Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals

The circuit court did not err in denying a mother’s request to continue a hearing to terminate her residual parental rights. She claimed she was unable to get the time off work, though her counsel appeared at the hearing without ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Family Law Per Curiam Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

Although a retirement account partially containing marital property had a balance of zero by the time of the equitable distribution hearing, the circuit court properly applied the relevant statute in considering the account balance at the time the parties separated. ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Family Law Per Curiam Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

Denying an incarcerated father’s request for transportation to his child’s adoption hearing, without offering him an alternative means to participate, was an abuse of the trial court’s discretion. Background On June 20, 2016, Appellee Shawn B. Foster, joined by his ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Domestic Relations Due Process Family Law Judge Teresa M. Chafin Parental Rights Prisons & Jails Virginia Court of Appeals

A mother successfully petitioned for the return of her eight-year-old son. The parents had joint custody in Canada, but the child’s father unilaterally brought him to Roanoke to protect him from the effects of his mother’s extreme drug abuse. Background ...

Tagged with: Custody Domestic Relations Family Law International Law Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District

The divorcing couple’s property settlement agreement required the parties to split any uncovered medical costs incurred by their children while on their father’s health insurance policy, even if the children were no longer minors. Background Appellant Brian Green and Appellee ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Family Law Judge Randolph A. Beales Virginia Court of Appeals

A young child’s great aunt successfully petitioned to adopt the child, showing that the biological mother’s past violence, drug abuse, and mental health problems demonstrated that she withheld consent against the child’s best interests. Background Appellant Tina Tolley’s child was ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Parental Rights Virginia Court of Appeals

The court of appeals could review a divorce decree that the circuit court had bifurcated from ongoing litigation of spousal support, equitable distribution, and attorneys’ fees due to the 90-year-old husband’s failing health. Background After 54 years of marriage, Husband ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Fees Civil Practice Civil Procedure Domestic Relations Family Law Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals

A former Secret Service agent must maintain the same support obligation as before he voluntarily retired. Although he had been depleting his savings and relying on his current wife to make payments, his ex-wife’s relative financial situation justified the status ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Family Law Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

The court found sufficient evidence to support the termination of Appellant Tasheika Deshae Davis’s parental rights as to D., Davis’s minor daughter. Code § 16.1-283(C)(2) provides that, in addition to being in the best interests of the child, termination of ...

Tagged with: Family Law Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. Parental Rights Virginia Court of Appeals