Title 20, Title 20. Domestic Relations

On each marriage license issued under § 20-14 there is hereby levied a license tax of $20, which tax shall be collected by the clerk when the license is issued and accounted for as in the case of other state taxes collected by him. Ten dollars of this license tax shall be allocat…

The clerk issuing any marriage license shall require the parties contemplating marriage to state, under oath, the information required to complete the application for marriage license. The parties shall be able to designate themselves on the application for marriage license as sp…

The clerk (i) may, on his own authority, correct marriage records established in his office by amending the same upon application under oath and submission of evidence deemed by the clerk to be adequate and sufficient and (ii) shall correct such records upon order of the court in…

The clerk to whom the license and certificate are returned, shall file and preserve the original in his office, and make an index of the names of both of the parties married. When the certificates of such person celebrating such marriage are returned to the clerk, and recorded as…

It shall be the duty of every clerk issuing marriage licenses no later than March 31 of each year to furnish to the attorney for the Commonwealth of his county or city a list of all marriage licenses issued during the preceding calendar year that have not been returned by the min…

It shall be the duty of the attorney for the Commonwealth for each county and city, upon the receipt from the clerk of the list required by § 20-21, to have such person or persons as he may think proper summoned before the circuit court of his county or city to ascertain the name…

When a minister of any religious denomination produces before the circuit court of any county or city in the Commonwealth, or before the judge of such court or before the clerk of such court at any time, proof of his ordination and of his being in regular communion with the relig…

If any minister authorized to celebrate rites of marriage under § 20-23, or any other person so authorized under § 20-25, shall fail to comply with § 32.1-267, the penalty shall be $25.

Upon application filed with the clerk of the circuit court and payment of applicable clerk's fees, such clerk may issue an order authorizing one or more persons to celebrate the rites of marriage in the Commonwealth. Any person so authorized may be required to, before acting, ent…

Marriages between persons belonging to any religious society which has no ordained minister, may be solemnized by the persons and in the manner prescribed by and practiced in any such society. One person chosen by the society shall be responsible for completing the certification …

Any person authorized under § 20-25 to celebrate the rites of marriage shall be permitted to charge the parties a fee for the ceremony not to exceed $75 for each ceremony. Such person and parties may negotiate payment for any additional services agreed to by the celebrant and the…

If any person knowingly perform the ceremony of marriage without lawful license, or officiate in celebrating the rites of marriage without being authorized by law to do so, he shall be confined in jail not exceeding one year, and fined not exceeding $500.

The clerks of the circuit courts of any counties or their deputies and the clerks of the circuit courts of any cities or their deputies are authorized to issue marriage licenses in conformity with the law now governing the same, to any persons desiring to be married on any of the…

No marriage solemnized under a license issued in this Commonwealth by any person professing to be authorized to solemnize the same shall be deemed or adjudged to be void, nor shall the validity thereof be in any way affected on account of any want of authority in such person, or …

If a person, having had a child, shall afterwards intermarry with the mother or father, such child if recognized by both of them, as their own child, jointly or separately, before or after marriage, shall be deemed legitimate. The issue of marriages prohibited by law, deemed null…

If any clerk of a court knowingly issue a marriage license contrary to law, he shall be confined in jail not exceeding one year, and fined not exceeding $500.

All marriages of females residing within jurisdiction of a corporation court, which were solemnized prior to February 1, 1904, by virtue of a license issued by the clerk of the court of the county wherein a city was or is situated, shall be as valid as if such license had been is…

All marriages heretofore solemnized outside this Commonwealth by a minister authorized to celebrate the rites of marriage in this Commonwealth, under a license issued in this Commonwealth, and showing on the application therefor the place out of this Commonwealth where said marri…

The following marriages are prohibited: 1. A marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of an earlier marriage of one of the parties; 2. A marriage between an ancestor and descendant, or between siblings, whether the relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by adopti…

In the cases mentioned in § 20-38.1, in which the relationship is founded on a marriage, the prohibition shall continue in force, notwithstanding the dissolution of such marriage by death or by divorce, unless the divorce be for a cause which made the marriage originally unlawful…

If any person marry in violation of § 20-38.1, he shall be confined in jail not exceeding six months, or fined not exceeding $500, in the discretion of the jury. If any persons, resident in the Commonwealth and within the degrees of relationship mentioned in that section, shall g…

All marriages that are prohibited by law on account of either of the parties having a former spouse then living shall be absolutely void, without any decree of divorce or other legal process.

A. All marriages that are prohibited by § 20-38.1 are void. B. All marriages solemnized when either of the parties lacked capacity to consent to the marriage at the time the marriage was solemnized, because of mental incapacity or infirmity, shall be void from the time they shall…

The minimum age at which persons may marry shall be 18.

A. The parent and child relationship between a child and a woman may be established prima facie by proof of her having given birth to the child, or as otherwise provided in this chapter. B. The parent and child relationship between a child and a man may be established by: 1. Scie…

An individual may file a petition for relief and, except as provided herein, the court may set aside a final judgment, court order, administrative order, obligation to pay child support or any legal determination of paternity if a scientifically reliable genetic test performed in…

Proceedings under this chapter may be instituted upon petition, verified by oath or affirmation, filed by a child, a parent, a person claiming parentage, a person standing in loco parentis to the child or having legal custody of the child or a representative of the Department of …

A. In the trial of any matter in any court in which the question of parentage arises, the court, upon its own motion or upon motion of either party, may and, in cases in which child support is in issue, shall direct and order that the alleged parents and the child submit to scien…

The standard of proof in any action to establish parentage shall be by clear and convincing evidence. Any statements made by a parent in a proceeding held pursuant to this chapter shall be inadmissible in a subsequent criminal proceeding relating to the conception of a child, exc…

Whenever in any legal proceedings a man voluntarily testifies under oath or affirmation that he is the father of a child whose parents are not married, or are not married to each other, the court may require that he complete an acknowledgment of paternity on a form provided by th…

In any proceeding to establish or enforce an obligation for support and maintenance of a child of unwed parents, a male between the ages of fourteen and eighteen who is represented by a guardian ad litem pursuant to § 8.01-9 and who has not otherwise been emancipated shall not be…

An action brought under this chapter is a civil action. The natural parent and the alleged parent are competent to testify. Testimony of a physician concerning the medical circumstances of the pregnancy and the condition and characteristics of the child upon birth shall not be pr…

A. As used in this section, "pregnancy and delivery expenses" means an amount equal to the sum of a pregnant mother's reasonable and necessary medical costs, minus any portion of such sum that a court determines is equitable based on the totality of the circumstances. Any amount …

The provisions of this chapter shall apply to and govern all cases arising under Title 16.1 and this title in which child or spousal support is at issue in any court of the Commonwealth, unless specifically excepted.

Copies of support payment records maintained by the Department of Social Services, when certified over the signature of a designated employee of such entity, shall be considered to be satisfactorily identified and shall be admitted in any proceeding as prima facie evidence of suc…

All orders directing the payment of spousal support where there are minor children whom the parties have a mutual duty to support and all orders directing the payment of child support, including those orders confirming separation agreements, entered on or after October 1, 1985, w…

The transmission of data between the courts and the Department of Social Services shall be accomplished by electronic data transmission or by transmission of notices, abstracts of orders and other documents. The form and content of such transmissions shall be mutually approved by…

A. 1. Unless otherwise directed by the Committee on District Courts, in all cases in which payment of a support obligation arising under an order or decree entered prior to October 1, 1985, is made by the obligor through the office of a clerk of court, the clerk shall notify the …

In any subsequent child support enforcement proceeding between the parties, upon sufficient showing that diligent effort was made to ascertain the location of a party, that party may be served with any required notice by delivery of the written notice to that party's residential …

In this chapter: "Child" means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual's parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent. "Child support order" mea…

In applying and construing this Uniform Interstate Family Support 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. The juvenile and domestic relations district courts, circuit courts, and the Department of Social Services are the tribunals of the Commonwealth. B. The Department of Social Services is the support enforcement agency of the Commonwealth.

A. Remedies provided by this chapter are cumulative and do not affect the availability of remedies under other law or the recognition of a foreign support order on the basis of comity. B. This chapter does not provide the exclusive method of establishing or enforcing a support or…

A. A tribunal of the Commonwealth shall apply Articles 1 through 9 (§ 20-88.32 et seq.) and, as applicable, Article 13 (§ 20-88.83 et seq.) to a support proceeding involving a foreign support order, a foreign tribunal, or an obligee, obligor, or child residing in a foreign countr…

In a proceeding to establish or enforce a support order or to determine parentage of a child, a tribunal of the Commonwealth may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident individual or the individual's guardian or conservator if: 1. The individual is personally served wit…

Personal jurisdiction acquired by a tribunal of the Commonwealth in a proceeding under this chapter or other law of the Commonwealth relating to a support order continues as long as a tribunal of the Commonwealth has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify its order or conti…