Termination of parental rights was not plainly wrong, despite the mother’s contention that the Department should have further investigated potential placement of her children with extended family members. Background Following an evidentiary hearing, the circuit court terminated the residual parental ...

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

A circuit court’s decision was not grounds for res judicata in a separate action, when the earlier matter remained pending on the court’s docket and contained no other language indicating it was a final decision on the merits. Background In ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Contract Domestic Relations Family Law Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Supreme Court of Virginia

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

The court of appeals upheld a decision to terminate the parental rights of Appellants Bettina and Daniel Dorr as to their autistic young son. The Dorrs are biological parents to D., born in 2012. Responding to a complaint in 2013, ...

Tagged with: Family Law Parental Rights Per Curiam Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

R.H., a 9-year-old girl, had lived her entire life with her mother and maternal grandmother, in her grandmother’s spacious home. R.H. was in good health and well-adjusted, with no developmental delays. R.H.’s father, who currently lives in a one-bedroom home ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Due Process Family Law Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Parental Rights Virginia Circuit Courts

By Erik Baines Statutes and the common law govern the court’s authority to seal (or sequester) its re­cord. See generally Shenandoah Pub. House, Inc. v. Fanning, 235 Va. 25 (1988). The common law has long-recognized a public right to access ...

Tagged with: Common Law Domestic Relations Erik D. Baines Fairfax County Circuit Court Family Law Family Law in Virginia Sponsored Content

By Melissa VanZile Third-party custody and visita­tion are among the more chal­lenging custody issues for family law practitioners and courts, as they involve people who may not be a child’s parent but a per­son who has usually played an ac­tive role ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Family Law Family Law in Virginia Melissa VanZile Sponsored Content Supreme Court of Virginia

By Irene C. Delcamp When seeking a modifica­tion of spousal support, one goal for payor former spouses may be proving that the other party is cohabiting in a rela­tionship analogous to a marriage for over one year. For the practi­tioner, this ...

Tagged with: Family Law Family Law in Virginia Irene Delcamp Sponsored Content Supreme Court of Virginia

More Family Law in Virginia SPONSORED CONTENT By A. Brakke Campfield and Christopher Macturk There you sit with your client, Jane. Her husband, Bob, re­cently told her he wants a di­vorce. Bob claimed the long hours working in his family’s ...

Tagged with: ADR Family Law Family Law in Virginia Sponsored Content