Source: https://www.vadivorcelaw.net/children-3-2-j-3-3-a.html
Timestamp: 2020-04-02 11:52:52
Document Index: 386922986

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 3', '§ 3', '§ 20', '§ 20', '§ 20', '§ 20', '§ 20', '§20', '§20', '§20', '§20', '§20', '§20', '§20']

Children - § 3-2 (J) - § 3-3 (A) :: Virginia Family Law Resource Raynor & Farmer, P.C.
(J) Basis of Decision
2015—Rubino v. Rubino, 64 Va. App. 256
The trial court erred in relying on the Virginia Military Parents Equal Protection Act (the “Act”) in making its child custody determination. While the Act provides military parents protection from alienation from the child while the parent cannot exercise visitation during deployment, it only applies in situations where the parent receives orders to report for active duty unaccompanied by any family member. Here, the Act does not apply because Father’s orders to report to Virginia Beach allowed his family to accompany him.
Additionally, the trial court abused its discretion because its erroneous reliance on the Act was the primary basis for the custody determination. Code of Virginia § 20-124.3 requires a court to consider ten factors when determining the best interests of a child for child custody and visitation purposes. A court may only consider the interests of the parents when benefits to the custodial parent also independently benefit the children. The Act does not contemplate Code § 20-124.3’s factors or establish a generalized preference for a military parent. Here, although the trial court determined that the first nine Code § 20-124.3 factors favored neither parent over the other, it concluded under the tenth “catchall” factor, that Father’s orders to report to Virginia Beach provided Father with special protection under the Act.
2014—Nkong v. Nkong, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 1624-14-4
The trial court did not err by awarding Father legal and primary custody of the children. In determining the best interests of a child for custody or visitation purposes, a court is required to consider the factors set forth in Code of Virginia § 20-124.3. The Virginia Court of Appeals has interpreted Code § 20-124.3 as requiring the court to identify the fundamental, predominating reason or reasons underlying its decision. Here, the evidence showed that that Mother was unemployed, moved the children to three different daycares within a short period of time, and suffered from a mental condition that affected her ability to co-parent the children. The trial court identified that the fundamental predominating reason for awarding Father primary custody of the children was that Father provided a more stable environment for the children. The evidence supported the trial court’s conclusion.
2014—Pham v. Bui, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 1170-14-4
The trial court did not err by granting Mother sole custody of the child where the totality of the evidence showed that Father lacked the ability to accurately assess and meet the child’s emotional needs, that Father had significant problems processing information, regulating his emotions, and controlling impulsivity, and that Mother and the child were fearful of Father.
2013—Wiencko v. Takayama, 62 Va. App. 217
In order to prevail on an “as applied” Equal Protection challenge to a custody determination, an appellant must unambiguously show that the trial court made its custody determination based on invidious discrimination.
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in considering the recommendation of the guardian ad litem regarding custody, even though guardian neglected to interview the children in connection with the divorce case as required by the standards governing gaurdians ad litem. The trial court was correct to consider all aspects of the guardian’s investigation, including her previous representation and interviews of the children, and to weigh her opinion accordingly, instead of disregarding her opinion entirely because she failed to comply with the standards.
2013—Forbes v. Forbes, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 1081-12-1
In determining the “best interest” of the child, Va. Code §20-124.3 does not require the court to explain what weight or consideration it has given to each of the statutory factors. Instead, it requires the court to identify the “fundamental, predominating reason or reasons underlying the decision.” Artis v. Jones, 52 Va. App. 356, 363 (2008). In this case, the court satisfied this requirement by identifying the mother’s family support network as an important factor in its decision.
2011—Harris v. Harris, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 2317-09-1
Trial court erred in excluding from evidence in a custody appeal psychological evaluations of the children, based solely on the fact that the evaluations had previously been ordered sealed by the juvenile court. The trial court’s only indication regarding the refusal to admit the evaluations was that the juvenile court “had a reason for sealing them” and that the trial court “would not disturb that ruling.” If the trial court was concerned about the need for the evaluations to remain sealed and inaccessible to the parties, the court should have simply reviewed the evaluations in camera and then ordered them resealed. The mere fact that the juvenile court had ordered them sealed was no reason for the trial court to ignore relevant evidence as it sought to determine the children’s best interests.
2010—Flanagan v. Flanagan, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 0468-10-4
Despite the trial court’s statement that it was “not in a position to articulate what specific inappropriate conduct in the form of an act, or series of acts, might have occurred between the child and her father,” the trial court did not err in awarding sole physical and legal custody to mother with supervised visitation to father, based on the court’s finding that “it is more likely than not that this inappropriate act or series of acts occurred.” The trial court was not required to make specific findings of acts of sexual abuse in order to consider evidence related to sexual abuse when deciding the best interests of the child.
2010—Alexander v. Allen, Unpublished, No. 1680-09-1
he following language, contained in the trial court’s opinion letter, failed to meet the requirement, pursuant to Virginia Code §20-124.3, that the trial court communicate case-specific reasons for custody and visitation awards: “after considering the mandatory provisions of Code §20-124.3, and after considering the testimonies of the witnesses, the parties, the recommendation of the guardian ad litem and the best interest of the child, the Court orders….”
2009—Haring v. Haring, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 1085-08-4
Trial court was not required to communicate the basis of its decision finding no material change in circumstances pursuant to Virginia Code §20-124.3. Communication pursuant to the statute is required only when the court makes a determination as to the best interests of the child. However, because the court ruled that no material change in circumstances existed, it did not reach the “best interests of the child” prong of the test, and was therefore not required to communicate the basis of its decision pursuant to §20-124.3.
2008—Artis v. Jones, 52 Va. App. 356
Trial court erred by failing to explain how the factors contained in Va. Code §20-124.3 applied to determine how the best interests of the child would be served by the specific change in custody and visitation ordered by the court. “While communicating the basis of the [custody] decision does not rise to the level of providing comprehensive findings of fact and conclusions of law, it does mean that the trial court must provide more to the parties than boilerplate language or a perfunctory statement that the statutory factors have been considered.” (citing Lanzalotti v Lanzalotti, 41 Va. App. 500 (2003)). The trial court must provide a case-specific explanation of the fundamental, predominating reason or reasons for the decision.
When ruling on the “best interests” of a child, Va. Code §20-124.3 requires the trial court to identify the fundamental, predominating reason or reasons underlying its decision. This level of specificity does not require the court to address all aspects of the decision making process, as one would expect from comprehensive findings of fact and conclusions of law, nor require the court to quantify or elaborate as to exactly what weight or consideration it has given to each of the statutory factors. However, the statutory command cannot be satisfied by formulaic and generalized explanations such as “I’ve considered all the factors and I rule thus...” or “the best-interest test generally favors...” To satisfy the statute, the trial court must provide a case-specific explanation of the fundamental, predominating reason or reasons for the decision. Arguments that the parties could infer the court’s underlying reasons from reports, or closing arguments, or some other contextual source should likewise fail. If the parties must infer the reasons, it is probably because the judge did not communicate them directly. An unspoken and unwritten inference, no matter how strong, cannot substitute for what the statute requires: an express communication to the parties of the basis for the decision.
1984—Armistead v. Armistead, 228 Va. 352
The trial court erred by limiting the evidence to facts and circumstances that occurred subsequent to the entry of a temporary custody order. The temporary order, which incorporated an agreement of the parties, was regarded by the parties as a mere experiment, with which neither party was fully satisfied. Therefore, neither the agreement nor the temporary order were entitled to conclusive effect on the paramount question before the trial court, which was in whose custody would the child’s best interests be served.
(K) Conditions
2017—Vechery v. Cottet-Moine, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 1143-16-4
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in prohibiting the child from playing competitive golf for one year. Although the trial record indicated that the child was a talented golf player who had played in nineteen tournaments in the year prior to the custody hearing, the record also showed that Father removed the child from school for a golf tournament, became upset when Mother participated in the child’s golfing events, and essentially forbid Mother’s involvement with the child’s golfing activities. Under these facts, the trial court acted within its discretion in concluding that competitive golf negatively affected the child’s welfare.
2015—Salvato v. Salvato, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 0399-15-4
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in enjoining Mother from having any contact with her alcoholic husband during her visitation time with the child where the restriction was in the best interests of the child. The trial court properly found that the child would be irreparably harmed if Mother contacted her husband during visitation, and the injunction was not vague or overbroad. The no-contact provision was an essential element of the visitation awarded in the order.
2013—Koss v. Brown, Va. Court of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 1032-13-4
The trial court did not err by ordering that during Father’s telephone calls with the children, Father could not discuss or supervise German homework that Father had assigned to the children. Protection of children from harm, whether moral, emotional, mental, or physical is a valid and compelling state interest, (citing Knox v. Lynchburg Div. of Soc. Serv., 223 Va. 213 (1982)). Here, the evidence showed that when Father supervised the children’s German homework over the telephone, Father yelled at the children and verbally abused them. Although the trial court prohibited Father from discussing the German Homework with the children over the telephone, Father was free to do German homework with the children when they were face-to-face. Thus, the trial court’s remedy was appropriate to advance the compelling state interest in protecting the children in the least restrictive manner and was consistent with Father’s First Amendment right to free speech, (citing Roberts v. Roberts, 41 Va. App. 513 (2003)).
2011—Gudino v. Gudino, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 0068-11-2
The trial court did not err in ordering mother to pay the pro-rata costs for her visitation with the children while the children were with her in the U.S., nor in requiring her to pay the entire costs of her visitation with the children in Japan, where they resided with the father. Despite the fact that the father earned significantly more than the mother, the father, as primary custodian, bore most of the costs of the children’s upbringing, and resided with the children in Tokyo, Japan, which the court noted was “one of the most expensive cities in the world.” The mother worked full-time and lived with her own father, and demonstrated through the hiring of an expert and the payment of over $150,000 in legal fees that she had the ability to pay the costs of visitation.
2011—Freeman v. Golden, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 1550-10-4
Having determined that the father’s inability to agree on co-parenting matters with the mother negatively affected the child, the trial court did not err in granting mother (i) all final decision-making authority with regard to the child’s sporting and extra-curricular activities, (ii) allowing mother to select one sport that could occur during father’s visitation time, thereby requiring father to meet all obligations for that sport that occurred during his time, and (iii) allowing the mother to give the nine-year-old child a cell phone, over father’s objection, that the child could use to make and receive calls from the mother while in father’s custody.
2011—Barrett v. Barrett, Unpublished, No. 0753-10-3
The trial court did not inappropriately decide a matter of child support by requiring as part of a custody/visitation order that Father be responsible for all transportation to and from visitation. The requirement merely apportioned the responsibility of transportation, not the costs. The legislature’s inclusion of the cost of visitation travel as a permitted factor in deviating from a general child support calculation does not mean that a determination of who is responsible for transportation as it relates to visitation is an imposition of costs and thus solely a child support matter.
Trial court did not err in imposing visitation restrictions on Father, a homosexual, which required him to be discreet in the presence of the children about his romantic relationship even though there had been no showing of harm or a specific danger of harm to the children.
2007—Sirney v. Sirney, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 0754-07-4
The trial court’s restriction on Mother having overnight guests when the children were visiting did not violate Mother’s equal protection or due process rights. The overnight restriction did not impose a limitation based upon mother’s homosexual relationship and it did not restrict or deprive her of a liberty interest. Rather, the restriction was gender neutral, applying to both male and female overnight guests, thereby applying equally to both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. Furthermore, the trial court specifically stated that the focus of its analysis was not Mother’s homosexual relationship, but the conduct and relationship of each parent with the children and the best interests of the children. Further, the trial court emphasized that Mother’s homosexual relationship was significant only in its consideration of how the children had reacted to the relationship.
1995—Forrest v. Ruhlin, Va. Ct. of Appeals, Unpublished, No. 2256-94-4
Trial court did not err in ordering that mother's new husband not make derogatory comments about the children's father in the presence of the children. Mother's husband had testified as a witness, was present in court, and was subject to the court's authority. In exercising its authority to promote the best interests of children, a trial court may impose restrictions which affect non-parties.
1986—Eichelberger v. Eichelberger, 2 Va. App. 409
Unless circumstances justify placing restrictions or conditions on visitation privileges, the relationship between a child and non-custodial parent should not be subject to the dictates of the custodial parent. In instances in which visitation privileges have been liberally granted without restriction, and absent a court finding that the non-custodial parent has acted without concern for the child’s well-being or best interest, has demonstrated irresponsible conduct, or has interfered with basic decisions which are the responsibility of the custodial parent, or a finding that the activity questioned by the custodial parent presents a danger to the child’s safety or well-being, neither the custodial parent nor the Court may intervene to restrict activities during visitation. The specific issue was the child’s use of a mini bike.