Title 20, Title 20. Domestic Relations

When the suit is for divorce from the bond of matrimony for willful desertion or abandonment, it shall be no defense that the guilty party has, since the commencement of such desertion, and within one year thereafter, become and has been adjudged insane, but at the expiration of …

When the suit is for divorce for adultery, sodomy, or buggery, the divorce shall not be granted, if it appear that the parties voluntarily cohabited after the knowledge of the fact of adultery, sodomy or buggery, or that it occurred more than five years before the institution of …

A divorce from bed and board may be decreed for cruelty, reasonable apprehension of bodily hurt, willful desertion, abandonment, or on the application of either party upon the parties living separate and apart with the intent of at least one of the parties to remain separate and …

The circuit court shall have jurisdiction of suits for annulling or affirming marriage and for divorces, and claims for separate maintenance, and such suits shall be heard by the judge as equitable claims.

No suit for annulling a marriage or for divorce shall be maintainable, unless one of the parties was at the time of the filing of the suit and had been for at least six months preceding the filing of the suit an actual bona fide resident and domiciliary of the Commonwealth, nor s…

Such suit shall be instituted and conducted as other suits in equity, except as otherwise provided in this section: 1. Except for a divorce granted on the grounds set forth in subdivision A (9) of § 20-91, no divorce, annulment, or affirmation of a marriage shall be granted on th…

A. A defendant in such suits may accept service of process by signing the proof of service before any officer authorized to administer oaths. This proof of service shall, when filed with the papers in the suit, have the same effect as if it had been served upon the defendant by a…

A. In any suit for divorce or annulment or affirmation of a marriage, process may be served in any manner authorized under § 8.01-296 or 8.01-320. B. Any such process served prior to July 1, 1984, shall not be invalidated solely because service was made as prescribed under § 8.01…

In this act: "Child" means an individual who has not attained eighteen years of age. "Child custody determination" means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for the legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child. The term includes a per…

A. In addition to other procedures available to a party, a party to a child custody proceeding may offer testimony of witnesses who are located in another state, including testimony of the parties and the child, by deposition or other means allowable in this Commonwealth for test…

A. A court of this Commonwealth may request the appropriate court of another state to: 1. Hold an evidentiary hearing; 2. Order a person to produce or give evidence pursuant to procedures of that state; 3. Order that an evaluation be made with respect to the custody of a child in…

This act does not govern an adoption proceeding or a proceeding pertaining to the authorization of emergency medical care for a child.

A. A child custody proceeding that pertains to an Indian child as defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq., is not subject to this act to the extent that it is governed by the Indian Child Welfare Act. B. A court of this Commonwealth shall treat a tribe a…

A. A court of this Commonwealth shall treat a foreign country as if it were a state of the United States for purposes of applying this article and Article 2 (§ 20-146.12 et seq.) of this chapter. B. Except as otherwise provided in subsection C, a child custody determination made …

A child custody determination made by a court of this Commonwealth that had jurisdiction under this act binds all persons who have been served in accordance with the laws of this Commonwealth or notified in accordance with § 20-146.7 or who have submitted to the jurisdiction of t…

If a question of existence or exercise of jurisdiction under this act is raised in a child custody proceeding, the question, upon request of a party, must be given priority on the calendar and handled expeditiously.

A. Notice required for the exercise of jurisdiction when a person is outside this Commonwealth may be given in a manner prescribed by the law of this Commonwealth for service of process or by the law of the state in which the service is attempted or made. Notice may also be by ce…

A. A party to a child custody proceeding, including a modification proceeding, or a petitioner or respondent in a proceeding to enforce or register a child custody determination is not subject to personal jurisdiction in this Commonwealth for another proceeding or purpose solely …

A. Before finding and exercising jurisdiction, a court of this Commonwealth shall communicate with the court appearing to have jurisdiction in any other state concerning a proceeding arising under this act. B. The court may allow the parties to participate in the communication. I…

A. Except as otherwise provided in § 20-146.15, a court of this Commonwealth has jurisdiction to make an initial child custody determination only if: 1. This Commonwealth is the home state of the child on the date of the commencement of the proceeding, or was the home state of th…

A. Except as otherwise provided in § 20-146.15, a court of the Commonwealth that has made a child custody determination consistent with § 20-146.12 or 20-146.14 has exclusive, continuing jurisdiction as long as the child, a parent of the child, or any person acting as a parent of…

Except as otherwise provided in § 20-146.15, a court of the Commonwealth may not modify a child custody determination made by a court of another state unless a court of the Commonwealth has jurisdiction to make an initial determination under subdivision A 1 or A 2 of § 20-146.12 …

A. A court of this Commonwealth has temporary emergency jurisdiction if the child is present in this Commonwealth and the child has been abandoned or if it is necessary in an emergency to protect the child because the child, or a sibling or parent of the child, is subjected to mi…

A. Before a child's custody determination is made under this act, notice and an opportunity to be heard in accordance with the standards of § 20-146.7 must be given to all persons entitled to notice under the laws of this Commonwealth as in child custody proceedings between resid…

A. Except as otherwise provided in § 20-146.15, a court of this Commonwealth may not exercise its jurisdiction under this article if, at the time of the commencement of the proceeding, a proceeding concerning the custody of the child has been previously commenced in a court of an…

A. A court of this Commonwealth that has jurisdiction under this act to make a child custody determination may decline to exercise its jurisdiction at any time if it determines that it is an inconvenient forum under the circumstances and that a court of another state is a more ap…

A. Except as otherwise provided in § 20-146.15 or by other law of this Commonwealth, if a court of this Commonwealth has jurisdiction under this act because a person seeking to invoke its jurisdiction has engaged in unjustifiable conduct, the court shall decline to exercise its j…

A. In a child custody proceeding, each party, in its first pleading or in an attached affidavit, shall give information, if reasonably ascertainable, under oath as to the child's present address or whereabouts, the places where the child has lived during the past five years, and …

A. In a child custody proceeding in this Commonwealth, the court may order a party to the proceeding who is in this Commonwealth to appear before the court in person with or without the child. The court may order any person who is in this Commonwealth and who has physical custody…

In this article: "Petitioner" means a person who seeks enforcement of an order for return of a child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or enforcement of a child custody determination. "Respondent" means a person against whom a procee…

Under this article a court of this Commonwealth may enforce an order for the return of the child made under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

A. A court of this Commonwealth shall recognize and enforce a child custody determination of a court of another state if the latter court exercised jurisdiction in substantial conformity with this act or the determination was made under factual circumstances meeting the jurisdict…

A. A court of this Commonwealth that does not have jurisdiction to modify a child custody determination may issue a temporary order enforcing: 1. A visitation schedule made by a court of another state; or 2. The visitation provisions of a child custody determination of another st…

A. A child custody determination issued by a court of another state may be registered in this Commonwealth, with or without a simultaneous request for enforcement, by sending to the appropriate juvenile and domestic relations district court in this Commonwealth: 1. A letter or ot…

A. A court of this Commonwealth may grant any relief normally available under the law of this Commonwealth to enforce a registered child custody determination made by a court of another state. B. A court of this Commonwealth shall recognize and enforce, but may not modify, except…

If a proceeding for enforcement under this article is commenced in a court of this Commonwealth and the court determines that a proceeding to modify the determination is pending in a court of another state having jurisdiction to modify the determination under Article 2 (§ 20-146.…

A. A petition under this article must be verified. Certified copies of all orders sought to be enforced and of any order confirming registration must be attached to the petition. A copy of a certified copy of an order may be attached instead of the original. B. A petition for enf…

Except as otherwise provided in § 20-146.32, the petition and order shall be served, by any method authorized by the law of this Commonwealth, upon the respondent and any person who has physical custody of the child.

A. Unless the court issues a temporary emergency order pursuant to § 20-146.15, upon a finding that a petitioner is entitled to immediate physical custody of the child, the court shall order that the petitioner may take immediate physical custody of the child unless the responden…

A. Upon the filing of a petition seeking enforcement of a child custody determination, the petitioner may request in the petition that the court issue an ex parte order that the child be taken into immediate physical custody if the child is imminently likely to suffer serious phy…

A. The court shall award the prevailing party, including a state, necessary and reasonable expenses incurred by or on behalf of the party, including costs, communication expenses, attorney's fees, investigative fees, expenses for witnesses, travel expenses, and child care during …

A court of this Commonwealth shall accord full faith and credit to an order issued by another state and consistent with this act that enforces a child custody determination by a court of another state unless the order has been vacated, stayed, or modified by a court having jurisd…

An appeal may be taken from a final order in a proceeding under this article in accordance with expedited appellate procedures in other civil cases. Unless the court enters a temporary emergency order under § 20-146.15, the enforcing court may not stay an order enforcing a child …

In applying and construing this act, consideration shall be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it.

A motion or other request for relief made in a child custody proceeding or to enforce a child custody determination that was commenced before July 1, 2001, is governed by the law in effect at the time the motion or other request was made.

A. The general purposes of this act are to: 1. Avoid jurisdictional competition and conflict with courts of other states in matters of child custody that have in the past resulted in the shifting of children from state to state with harmful effects on their well-being; 2. Promote…