Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where wife claimed she was not receiving the correct amount from husband’s retirement, the trial court’s order directing that husband reimburse wife for the shortage is affirmed. Background When the parties divorced, husband was vested in the Civil Service Retirement ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Rosemarie Annunziata Virginia Court of Appeals

The trial court properly interpreted the parties’ premarital agreement to provide that husband’s savings certificates, which were his separate property before the marriage, became joint property when he titled them in both parties’ names after the marriage, and did not ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Frank K. Friedman Virginia Court of Appeals

Where the parties’ premarital agreement recited there had been full disclosure of their assets, when, in fact, the disclosure documents were left blank, husband cannot enforce the agreement because it is unconscionable. Husband’s undisclosed assets were more than $10 million ...

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

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in the equitable distribution of the parties’ assets or by awarding wife support for a limited duration. Background The parties were married in 1991 and separated in 2004. The Loudoun Circuit Court ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Christopher Clemens Virginia Court of Appeals

Where a father alleged his two minor children were residing in Anguilla at the time their mother removed them to the United States, that the removal violated the father’s custody rights under Anguilla law and that the father had been ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

The JDR court had jurisdiction to determine the amount of spousal support husband must pay wife. Further, the circuit court properly awarded wife attorneys’ fees and correctly awarded support for a term longer than half of the marriage. Overview The ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Dominique A. Callins Virginia Court of Appeals

Where the decedent’s will ambiguously identified the beneficiaries, the circuit court erred by concluding that the decedent’s executor was the sole beneficiary. Overview Mark Gabi apparently drafted his own will using a template found on the internet. The will named ...

Tagged with: Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

Although the circuit court correctly admitted a will to probate and appointed an estate administrator, the court incorrectly granted summary judgment to a German charity that was making a claim against the decedent’s brokerage account. Background Towsey, the decedent, had ...

Tagged with: Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia Wills & Trusts

Where defendant husband’s military pension does not include disability pay, Howell v. Howell, 137 S. Ct. 1400 (2017), is inapplicable, and the parties’ property settlement controls the pension division. Howell held that under federal law, a military retiree who opts ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Gary A. Mills Newport News City Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Where the parties agreed on a division of husband’s military pension, including indemnification provisions if husband breached his agreement not to do anything to defeat wife’s share, the court’s approval of the agreement does not run afoul of Howell v. ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Hampton City Circuit Court Judge Bonnie L. Jones Virginia Circuit Courts