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Supreme Court Declines to Decide Civil Union Child Custody Case

On December 8th, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Miller-Jenkins v. Miller-Jenkins, a child custody battle between Lisa Miller, formerly of Winchester, and Janet Jenkins, of Fairhaven, Vermont, which has been in the Virginia court system for several years.

Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins were partners in a civil union legally recognized in Vermont, and have been battling in the courts of both states for several years for custody of and visitation with  Miller's biological daughter, Isabella. Miller became pregnant by artificial insemination and the child was born after the two moved back to Virginia from Vermont, which had declared both women to be the child's parents.

Thereafter, a Vermont court awarded Janet Jenkins visitation with the child. She successfully registered the Vermont visitation order in the appropriate Virginia Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court, and Lisa Miller appealed that registration to the circuit court. The circuit court reversed the registration order. Jenkins appealed.

The Virginia Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the Virginia circuit court did not have jurisdiction over the visitation issue because of the Vermont visitation order already in place, and legally registered in Virginia. The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed that decision. By declining to accept the appeal, the Vermont Supreme Court order on visitation remains in effect, though Miller retains custody of the child.

Appeals Court Reverses Child Suport Reduction

A Stafford County father lost his petition to reduce the amount of his child support obligation due to a material change in circumstances when the Court of Appeals reversed the circuit court decision reducing the amount of support he had to pay under a 2004 order. The Court of Appeals rejected the father's assertions that the improved health of the children, coupled with his former wife's ability to obtain employment and his starting a new family justified a reduction in his support obligation because these constituted material changes in circumstance justifying amendment of the prior order.

The Court of Appeals held that absent proof that the child's mother was able to work, the mere allegation of the father was by itself insufficient to establish a material changeon that basis. So too, the father presented no evidence as to the amount of the increased living costs he claimed as a result of fathering a fourth child with his girlfriend. The court reasonaed that simply fathering a child is not sufficient proof of a material change in circumstances.

Termination of Father's Parental Rights Justified by Prior Violent Conduct

Termination of one's parental rights is an exteme measure, but Virginia judges are empowered to take such extreme measures in completely severing a parent's relationship with his or her child in certain instances. In November 2008, the Virginia Court of Appeals upheld the ruling of the Bristol Circuit Court terminating the father's parental rights based upon his history of domestic violence against the children's mother.  The trial court's decision was based -- as it should be -- on what is in the best interests of the children. In this case, the father was in prison for assaulting the child's mother, the children were in foster care, and the court believed it in the children's best interests to remain in foster care rather than be exposed to the violent tendencies the father had already exhibited upon his release.

Adultery and Alimony

When the admission of an affair by both the husband and his paramour were substantiated by a private investigator, the wife is entitled to a divorce on grounds of adultery even though the suit was filed on "no fault" grounds. Here, the trial court ruled that the law does not discriminate in time of occurrence so long as the parties are legally married when it occurs. Bushkar v. Bushkar, No. CH02-344, June 24, 2005