COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Annunzia ta, Bumgardner and Clements Argued at Salem, Virginia

MELVIN R. JONES MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY v. Record No. 2376-03-3 J UDGE RUDOLPH BUMGARDNER, III JUNE 1, 2004 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, DIVISION OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT, ex rel . TERESA M. DYE

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF ROANOKE Jonathan M. Apgar, Judge (Melvin R. Jones, pro se , on brief). Appellant submitting on brief. Stephanie Cangin, Special Counse l (Jerry W. Kilg ore, Attorney General; Craig M. Burshem, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Beth J. Edwards, Regional Specia l Counsel; Alice G. Burlinson, Regional Special Counsel, on brief), for appellee.

Melvin R. Jones appeals the registration and confirmation of child support orders from

North Carolina. We conclude the circuit court lacked jurisdiction because Jones did not post a bond when he appealed to the circuit court from the juvenile and domestic rela tions district court. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment of the circuit court and reinstate the j uvenile court order. In April 2002, the Division of Child Support Enforcement petitioned the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of the City of Roanoke to register seve ral child support orders from North Carolina pursuant to the Unif orm Interstate Family Support Act. See Code § 20-88.32 et seq . Jones had personally appeared and c onsented to the original child support order entered in 1993. The Request for Virgin ia Registration of Foreign Support Order the

* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opini on is not designated for publication.- 2 - Division submitted for entry contains a “Certificate of Arrearage” that set the arrearage at $32,525.30 as of December 31, 2001. After a heari ng, the juvenile court registered and confirmed the orders on March 25, 2003. Jones app ealed to the circuit court, but he did not post an appeal bond. Code § 16.1-296(H) requires a part y appealing an order of the juvenile court to file an appeal bond for that portion of the or der establishing a support arrearage. 1 “An appeal will not be perfected unless such appeal bond as may be requi red is filed with in thirty days from the entry of the final judgment or order.” Id. “The statutory requirements for appeal bonds always have been construed as mandatory, and the exercise of appellate jurisdiction has been confined to the provisions of the written la w.” Commonwealth v. Walker , 253 Va. 319, 322, 485 S.E.2d 134, 136 (1997). Failure to file an a ppeal bond within thirty days from the entry of the final judgment “‘constitutes a jurisdictional defect which ca nnot be corrected’” af ter that time. Id. (quoting Parker v. Prince William County , 198 Va. 231, 235, 93 S.E.2d 136, 139 (1956)). The rationale supporting the statutory requireme nt is sound: requiring the a ppeal bond “provides assurances that any judgment that may be rendered on appe al, if perfected, will be satisfied.” Mahoney v. Mahoney , 34 Va. App. 63, 67, 537 S.E.2d 626, 628 (2000) ( en banc ). Code § 16.1-296(H) required Jones to file an ap peal bond within thirty days. He failed to do so. The circuit court lacked jurisdiction to hear his appeal. Accordingly, we vacate the

1 In cases involving s upport, no appeal shall be allowed until the party applying for the same . . . gives bond, in an amount and with sufficient surety approved by the judg e or by his clerk . . . to abide by such judgment as may be rendered on appeal if the appeal is perfected or, if not perfected, then to satisfy the judgment of the court in which it was rendered. Code § 16.1-296(H).- 3 - judgment of the circuit court and reinstate the juvenile court’s order, which became final when Jones failed to perfect his appeal. Vacated and final judgment.