The 2019 General Assembly was good for kids, to hear reports from child advocates and family law attorneys. Legislators approved and funded a plan to boost oversight of largely autonomous local welfare offices that run Virginia’s foster care system. The ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Family Law General Assembly

The plaintiff in this divorce case must respond to an interrogatory and a request for admission concerning misdemeanor acts of adultery despite invoking his right against self-incrimination. Facts The parties were married in 1996. Plaintiff sued for divorce in January ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Michael F. Devine Virginia Circuit Courts

Although the wife was in an exclusive, continuous, monogamous relationship with another man following her separation from husband, because they maintained separate residences, the trial court did not err by holding that husband failed to prove the threshold “common residence” ...

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

By remaining with the couple’s children in South Korea and refusing to return to the United States, the mother denied the father access to the children, a fact that was properly considered by the trial court in granting the father ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals

By remaining with the couple’s children in South Korea and refusing to return to the United States, the mother denied the father access to the children, a fact that was properly considered by the trial court in granting the father ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals

Reunification with their mother was not shown to be in the best interests of the children where the children were thriving in their new placements with close relatives and the mother had not demonstrated that she understood the seriousness of ...

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

A Shenandoah County couple says they were encouraged to adopt a child by social services employees who suppressed a report that the child had committed sexual battery of another child. The couple is suing employees of the Shenandoah County Department ...

Tagged with: Adoption Domestic Relations General Assembly

The trial court did not err in terminating a father’s parental rights where the record showed he was incarcerated during most of his daughter’s time in foster care, he only made contact once when he was out of jail, he ...

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

The JDR court’s order terminating the parents’ responsibility for child support while their son was in foster care did not eliminate their responsibility to pay for the costs incurred while their son was in the legal custody of the Department ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Glen A. Huff Virginia Court of Appeals

The trial court was not required to “equalize” the distribution of the assets or division of debts between the parties. Background Husband and wife were married on May 29, 1993, and separated on Sept. 1, 2014. On June 8, 2016, ...

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