Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
Absense from custody trial due to sickness and no lawyer
Dear Sirs, I had a child custody trial on January 16th. My attorney did not attend nor did he call to postpone the trial. I was unrepresented an to make matters worse my 13 year old was deathly ill throwing up the morning of court. This was documented by the doctor. I wrote a letter to the judge on the morning of court to inform them I could not attend due to the extreme illness of my son. Also, for the previous 2 weeks I had informed all parties, the court, the judge, the guardian lietem, my ex-husband that I was without representation. On the afternoon of the trial. The lawyers had the trial anyway. I lost all child support. Spousal support was put into place in the amount of $1120. My ex-husband makes @ 100K per year. I make @ 34K. The guardian lietem allowed the children to lose all child support which was switched to their father. I had primary custody up to this point and I have taken care of the children throughout this. The ex has given me @ $420 about 4 times over the last 2 year
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Absense from custody trial due to sickness and no lawyer
You did not say why your attorney did not attend. Did you call him/her to find out? Did you inquire about an appeal? You did not indicate which court tried the case. If it were the Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court you could've appealed within 10 days and gotten a de novo (re-trial before a different judge from the beginning without prejudice as to the first court's decision) trial of the case.
It seems to me you did not do very much to protect your own interests other than complain after the fact about the legal system.
If,in fact, you actually retained the attorney to appear that day, you need, at the very least, to find out directly from him/her why the failure to appear. If there is no good explanation, a bar complaint may be appropriate. But don't file a bar complaint just for the purpose of "getting even" with the lawyer or the system.
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