Title 15, Title 15: Domestic Relations

§ 594a. Temporary relief Either party or both parties to a civil marriage may apply for temporary relief at any time following the separation of the parties to the marriage coincidental with, or subsequent to the filing of complaint for absolute divorce or legal separation. The c…

§ 603. Contempt (a) Nonfinancial obligations. If a person disobeys a lawful order of the Family Division made under the provisions of this chapter and the order does not relate to payment of a financial obligation, the person may be subject to proceedings for civil contempt as pr…

§ 604. Costs on motion to revise Upon a motion to revise and alter a decree made by force of this chapter and sections 291-294 of this title, the court may award costs to either party as equity requires.

§ 606. Action to recover maintenance, child support, and suit money; sanction for noncompliance (a) When a judgment or order for the payment of either temporary or permanent maintenance, child support, or suit money has been made by the Family Division of the Superior Court, and …

§ 607. Action by attorney to recover suit money When a final order has been made providing for the payment by either party of suit money to the attorney for the opposite party or for a minor child of the parties, and service of the order has been made or accepted, the attorney ma…

§ 631. Generally A divorce may be granted forthwith when either spouse has become permanently incapacitated due to a mental condition or psychiatric disability. A divorce shall not be granted under these provisions unless such person who is permanently incapacitated due to a ment…

§ 632. Jurisdiction; guardian ad litem for libelee with a mental incapacity The Superior Courts of the several counties of this State shall have jurisdiction of such an action. Upon the filing by the plaintiff of a complaint, duly verified, showing that such cause of action exist…

§ 633. Duty of State’s Attorney The State’s Attorney upon whom the complaint and summons in such action shall be served shall appear for such defendant and defend the same. No divorce shall be granted unless the provisions of this section have been complied with.

§ 634. Alimony; distribution of property; care and custody of children (a) In actions brought for the cause of mental incapacity, the courts and the judges thereof shall possess all the powers relative to the payment of alimony, the distribution of property, and the care and cust…

§ 635. Support of defendant (a) At the time of granting a divorce on the grounds of a permanent mental condition or psychiatric disability or any time thereafter, on motion of either party, or of the guardian of the spouse with a mental condition or psychiatric disability, or of …

§ 636. Filing certified copies of orders with court which committed party with a mental condition or psychiatric disability If the party with a mental condition or psychiatric disability was committed by a court of competent jurisdiction, the clerk of the court shall file a certi…

§ 637. Costs and expenses All the costs in such action, as well as the actual expenses of the state’s attorney therein, together with the expenses and fees of the guardian therein, shall be paid by the plaintiff. Such expenses of the state’s attorney and expenses and fees of the …

§ 650. Legislative findings and purpose The legislature finds and declares as public policy that after parents have separated or dissolved their civil marriage, it is in the best interests of their minor child to have the opportunity for maximum continuing physical and emotional …

§ 653. Definitions As used in this subchapter: (1) “Available income” means gross income, less: (A) the amount of spousal support or preexisting child support obligations, including any court-ordered periodic repayment toward arrearages, actually paid; [Subdivision (1)(B) shall a…

§ 654. Support guideline The Secretary of Human Services shall prescribe by rule a guideline for child support that reflects the percent of combined available income that parents living in the same household in Vermont ordinarily spend on their children. The rule shall be based o…

§ 655. Total child support obligation In any proceeding to establish or modify child support, the total support obligation shall be presumed to be the amount of child support needed, from which a parental support obligation shall be calculated and ordered to be paid unless suppor…

§ 656. Computation of parental support obligation (a) Except in situations where there is shared or split physical custody, the total child support obligation shall be divided between the parents in proportion to their respective available incomes and the noncustodial parent shal…

§ 656a. Adjustment for additional dependents (a) As used in this section, “additional dependents” means any natural and adopted children and stepchildren for whom the parent has a duty of support. (b) In any proceeding to establish or modify child support, the total child support…

§ 657. Shared or split physical custody (a) When each parent exercises physical custody for 30 percent or more of a calendar year, the total child support obligation shall be increased by 50 percent to reflect the additional costs of maintaining two households. Each parental supp…

§ 658. Support (a) In an action under this chapter or under chapter 21 of this title, the court shall order either or both parents owing a duty of support to a child to pay an amount for the support of the child in accordance with the support guidelines as set forth in this subch…

§ 659. Child support order (a) The total support obligation shall be presumed to be the amount of child support needed. Upon request of a party, the court shall consider the following factors in respect to both parents. If, after consideration of these factors, the court finds th…

§ 660. Modification (a)(1) On motion of either parent, the Office of Child Support, any other person to whom support has previously been granted, or any person previously charged with support, and upon a showing of a real, substantial and unanticipated change of circumstances, th…

§ 661. Child support maintenance supplement (a) A party may request a child support maintenance supplement to be paid while a child support obligation arising out of an action for support exists. After considering the respective financial circumstances of the parties, including g…

§ 662. Income statements (a) A party to a proceeding under this subchapter shall file an affidavit of income and assets which shall be in a form prescribed by the court administrator. A party shall provide the affidavit of income and assets to the court and the opposing party on …

§ 663. Support orders; required contents (a) Every order for child support made or modified under this chapter shall be issued in a standardized format and sent to the Registry in the Office of Child Support. The order shall include: (1) The name, address, email address, Social S…

§ 664. Definitions As used in this subchapter: (1) “Parental rights and responsibilities” means the rights and responsibilities related to a child’s physical living arrangements, education, medical and dental care, religion, travel, and any other matter involving a child’s welfar…

§ 665. Rights and responsibilities order; best interests of the child (a) In an action under this chapter, the court shall make an order concerning parental rights and responsibilities of any minor child of the parties. The court may order parental rights and responsibilities to …

§ 665a. Conditions of parent-child contact in cases involving domestic violence (a) If within the prior ten years, one of the parents has been convicted of domestic assault or aggravated domestic assault against the other parent, or has been found to have committed abuse against …

§ 666. Agreements between parents (a) Any agreement between the parents that divides or shares parental rights and responsibilities shall be presumed to be in the best interests of the child. (b) An agreement between the parties which is a complete agreement on parental rights an…

§ 667. Evidence (a) Evidence of conduct of a parent not related to the factors in section 665 of this title shall only be admissible for the purposes of determining parental rights and responsibilities if it is shown that the conduct affects the parent’s relationship with the chi…

§ 668. Modification of order (a) On motion of either parent or any other person to whom custody or parental rights and responsibilities have previously been granted, and upon a showing of real, substantial, and unanticipated change of circumstances, the court may annul, vary, or …

§ 668a. Enforcement of visitation (a) When a noncustodial parent who is ordered to pay child support or alimony and who is awarded visitation rights fails to pay child support or alimony, the custodial parent shall not refuse to honor the noncustodial parent’s visitation rights. …

§ 669. Guardian ad litem In all cases involving parental rights and responsibilities the court may appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the best interests of the child. (Added 1985, No. 181 (Adj. Sess.), § 7.)

§ 670. Access to records Access to records and information pertaining to a minor child, including but not limited to medical, dental, law enforcement, and school records shall not be denied to a parent solely because that parent has not been awarded parental rights and responsibi…

§ 681. Definitions As used in this subchapter: (1) “Deploy” and “deployment” mean military service in compliance with military orders received by a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, including any reserve component thereof to report for combat operations, contingency operations, pe…

§ 682. Final order; modification (a) If a deploying parent is required to be separated from a child as a result of deployment, a court shall not enter a final order modifying parental rights and responsibilities and parent-child contact in an existing order until 90 days after th…

§ 683. Temporary modification (a) Upon motion of a deploying or nondeploying parent, the court shall enter a temporary order modifying parental rights and responsibilities or parent-child contact during the period of deployment or mobilization when: (1) a military parent who has …

§ 684. Emergency motion to modify; permanent modification (a) Upon the return of the deploying parent, either parent may file a motion to modify the temporary order on the grounds that compliance with the order will result in immediate danger of irreparable harm to the child, and…

§ 685. Testimony and evidence Upon motion of a deploying parent, provided reasonable advance notice is given and good cause shown, the court shall allow such parent to present testimony and evidence by electronic means with respect to parental rights and responsibilities or paren…

§ 686. No existing final order (a) If there is no existing order establishing the terms of parental rights and responsibilities or parent-child contact and it appears that deployment or mobilization is imminent, upon an action filed under this chapter by either parent, the court …

§ 687. Duty to cooperate and disclose information (a) Because military necessity may preclude court adjudication before deployment, the parties shall cooperate with each other in an effort to reach a mutually agreeable resolution of parental rights and responsibilities, parent-ch…

§ 688. Failure to exercise parent-child contact rights In determining whether a parent has failed to exercise parent-child contact, the court shall not count any time periods during which the parent did not exercise such contact due to the material effect of that parent’s militar…

§ 689. Attorney’s fees In making determinations pursuant to this subchapter, the court may award attorney’s fees and costs based on the court’s consideration of: (1) Unreasonable failure of either party to accommodate the other party in parental rights and responsibilities or par…

§ 711. Sale of property If a party in a cause instituted under the provisions of this chapter and sections 291-294 of this title shall be in default for the period of thirty days upon an order for the payment of money, made according to the provisions thereof, which shall have be…

§ 712. Whole of real estate may be sold If, in the opinion of the court or of such judge, the real estate upon which such lien exists is so constituted as to render it impracticable to divide the same, the whole of such real estate may be ordered to be sold.

§ 713. Execution Execution signed by the clerk of such court shall issue to carry the order of sale mentioned in sections 711 and 712 of this title into effect and shall be governed by all the provisions and limitations touching executions issued on judgments so far as shall be c…