In determining whether husband, a financial advisor, had used marital property or personal efforts to increase the value of his separately owned investment account by $316,000, the Court of Appeals erred in interpreting Va. Code § 20-107.3(A) to require wife ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Virginia Court of Appeals

A divorce court did not err in holding that husband commingled his separate property with wife’s when they purchased a six-acre tract with a main house, cottage and outbuilding, prior to their marriage, but the Court of Appeals says husband ...

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

Despite a 1986 Florida divorce decree, a couple has a valid common law marriage under Georgia law where they lived together after a 1990 “renewal” of their marriage vows in a religious ceremony, and the Chesapeake Circuit Court says husband’s ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Randall D. Smith Virginia Circuit Courts

Divorce courts may have been getting it wrong when it comes to allowing one spouse to claim a share of the other spouse’s separate property. In rejecting a wife’s claim to half of a $316,000 increase in the value of ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Supreme Court of Virginia News Virginia Court of Appeals News

A couple’s long and winding matrimonial road led to a Chesapeake court’s decision to hear a suit to dissolve their common law marriage. The facts in the case of Richardson v. Richardson (VLW 014-8-019) “are somewhat out of the ordinary,” ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

The Court of Appeals reverses in part and remands the circuit court $21,000 award to wife under a prenuptial agreement and $10,000 in attorney’s fees; wife failed as a matter to law to present a prima facie case valuing husband’s ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge D. Arthur Kelsey Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms the circuit court modifying a qualifying domestic relations order (QDRO) to provide a formula for calculating wife’s 40 percent share of husband’s military retirement pay; husband must pay wife’s appellate attorney’s fees and costs for ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

Editor’s Note: “Marriage is an institution. Divorce is big business.” That’s the tag line for “Divorce Corp.,” a new documentary on why troubled spouses should avoid divorce lawyers. If you’re a Virginia family law practitioner, you may not have seen ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

The Court of Appeals says a trial court did not err in denying husband a modification of spousal support after finding husband had money to travel extensively and had made a $400,000 down payment on a house. The circuit court ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

A father diagnosed with a psychotic disorder failed to remedy the situation that led to placement of his infant child in foster care and the Court of Appeals affirms termination of the father’s parental rights. The department made numerous referrals ...

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