Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

Re: Child Support, Visitation, and Adoption Questions

The noncustodial parent has a duty to pay support

for his or her children, whether its during the pendency of a divorce suit or thereafter.

The noncustodial parent will normally have reasonable visitation rights both during the pendency of the divorce and thereafter.

If one parent makes a conscious decision to move away from the area where the marital residence is located and where the children have been living,

the court may decide to impose a greater share of the burden involving visitation on this parent to

ensure that a regular visitation schedule occurs between the child(ren) and the noncustodial parent. This could mean that the parent who moves away would be responsible for arranging the entire transportation (or a substantial portion thereof) of the children for these visitations with the noncustodial parent. There is no way to predict, exactly, what arrangements the court would order as it would depend on the specific facts of the case.

Adoption is not a realistic option in a situation where the parents of the child(ren) are sharing legal custody and the noncustodial parent is paying child support unless the noncustodial would consent to the adoption(and the termination of his/her parental rights) which would not seem very likely in this particular situation.

Re: Child Support, Visitation, and Adoption Questions

Let me answer each of your questions one at a time.

1. Is he required to pay child support during the separation if it is in the separation agreement? If he signed a property settlement agreement then he is bound by contract law to make the payment. However, what she really needs to do is to have that agreement turned into a court order. She can do this through her final decree of divorce or she can petition the court separately. The reason she may want to do this is if he stops paying then she has the power of a court order in addition to the contract right.

2. What are the post-separation procedure and visitation rights? Visitation should have been included in the agremeent. Is it not? If it's in the agreement then she needs to abide by those terms (unless of course the child would be harmed). If it isn't in the agreement, it is up to the father to petition the court for visitation if for some reason she doesn't want to give visitation. I will tell you, however, she should not be denying visitation unless there is an awfully good reason. The two of them need to work out a visitation schedule that will allow him reasonable access to the child while giving stability to the child. If she unreasonably denies visitation courts won't be too keen on that.

3. If you relocate then she could be ordered to meet half way or even pay his expense to travel. These relocation cases are quite unpredictable. If she is moving for a good reason and she is not moving to impede his right to visitation then typically (although there is no guarantee) the court will not order her to meet halfway, but again I would need more facts to better assess your chances in court. If the drive is say from Norfolk to Northern Virginia she may be ordered to meet him half way. Your best bet is to have an attorney draft an agreement without having to litigate the issue.

Visitation every weekend? It depends on many factors: the distance between the homes, the relationship the father has with the child, the age of the child, is the child is school so that every weekend would be disruptive?

You can only adopt the child if he voluntarily terminates his parental rights or if a court orders the termination of his rights.

I hope I have answered your questions. Feel free to contact me should you have additional questions.