Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

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

The trial court correctly determined that the term “shareholder distributions” in the parties’ property settlement agreement was ambiguous. The court permissibly considered parol evidence to conclude that the term meant distributions from corporate income to wife rather than what the ...

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

Where plaintiff alleges that a woman pregnant with his child committed fraud by representing she would carry to full term and co-parent with plaintiff and instead obtained an abortion, the claim is dismissed. None of her statements were false or ...

Tagged with: Family Law Judge William E. Glover Spotsylvania County Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Where the parties’ settlement agreement provided that wife would no longer get a portion of husband’s retirement benefits if she remarried, her relationship with her boyfriend was not a “marriage” as defined by the settlement agreement.  ‘Marriage’ defined “Agreements between ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Marla Graff Decker Virginia Court of Appeals

The trial court correctly classified stock in a family real estate business as a gift from husband’s uncle and therefore as husband’s separate property, which was not subject to equitable distribution. Further, there was no error when the court awarded ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

A clause in a property settlement agreement requiring “great care” before either party introduces a romantic partner to the child is vague and cannot be enforced. Further, where the court has ruled that the parties will pay their child’s unreimbursed ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Fairfax Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard Virginia Circuit Courts

Where the child’s mother, father and grandmother had legal custody, and the grandmother had primary physical custody, mother’s physical custody petition is denied. Although there has been a material change in circumstances, the child’s best interest is served by continuing ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk City Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Where the circuit court denied father’s motion to modify his child support obligations and custody arrangements, none of father’s assignments of error warrant reversal. Statement of case Father is proceeding pro se on appeal. “In his ten assignments of error, ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Mary Grace O'Brien Virginia Court of Appeals