A husband facing a possible overdue support obligation of up to $238,000 can breathe a little easier with a judge’s ruling that his long-term reconciliation with his wife invalidated her claim for the support arrearage. The husband’s return to the ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Fairfax County Circuit Court Family Law Judge David Bernhard

As momentum grows to curtail the use of cash bonds for accused criminal defendants, some prosecutors and bail bond purveyors are pushing back. A national discussion is underway as lawyers, prosecutors and judges challenge the assumption that the best way ...

Tagged with: Judge David Bernhard

Despite a support order entered in 2004, a husband didn’t owe arrearages dating to 2006. He’d stopped paying when the couple reconciled, resumed living together as husband and wife, and had two more children supported solely by the husband’s income. ...

Tagged with: Contract Domestic Relations Fairfax County Circuit Court Family Law Judge David Bernhard Virginia Circuit Courts

Applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Collins v. Virginia, a warrantless arrest in an area of the suspect’s driveway beyond the walkway to the front door was within the home’s curtilage and, thus, improper under the Fourth Amendment. ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard Search & Seizure

As seasoned attorneys know, the lofty principles that attract aspiring lawyers can quickly be overshadowed by client emergencies, Sisyphean scheduling conundrums, unreasonable opposing counsel, billing targets, intrafirm politics, and understaffed courts. But from time to time, our esteemed judges take ...

Tagged with: Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen Judge David Bernhard Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon Judge Glen E. Conrad Judge Robert G. Doumar Judge Roger L. Gregory Justice D. Arthur Kelsey

Even though the owner of a servient estate had granted it to himself as trustee of a living trust, his subsequent easement – granted and recorded in his individual capacity – operated as a partial revocation of the prior transfer ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard Real Estate Real Property Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

A general district court’s grant of nolle prosequi was a final order that immediately divested it of jurisdiction. Thus, its subsequent actions of prompting the prosecutor to reconsider nolle prosequi, and then reversing its prior grant, were an abuse of ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Constitutional Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard Virginia Circuit Courts

In a judicial proceeding to sell tax-delinquent realty, the Commissioner of Accounts cannot enter a decree of confirmation of sale until the value of liens against the property being sold are determined. Background This court appointed a Special Commissioner to ...

Tagged with: Judge David Bernhard Municipal Real Property Virginia Circuit Courts

A habeas petitioner, wanted in California on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, was subject to extradition based on proper authorization and identification contained in California’s documents requesting such extradition from Virginia. The petitioner will remain detained pending appeal. Background ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard

A county board of supervisors challenging the procedural validity of actions by its board of zoning appeals can do so in a declaratory judgment action, separate from an administrative appeal of the particular BZA decision containing the procedural defects. Background ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard Municipal Virginia Circuit Courts