Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

i am the mother, i live in Jordan, but my husband and baby live in VA, i filed for custody in VA and got the hearing date this May,now i'm planning to fly to the US for the hearing, what happens if he didnt show up? if he simply ignore the court hearing date notice? He got the custody of my babye by misleading me, and threatening me, he was an abusive husband and since am not a US citizen i was not aware of the system, his threats worked, anways i left the US back then and got back home, he got the baby then, a couple of months later i came back and filed for custody, i have a hearing now in May, and i'm afraid i will travel from the middle east to the US to attend the court and then he doesnt show up, and i still dont know the system there very well, so now my question will affect my ticket purchase, what if he didnt attend? does the court try to service him again? if yes how long time do they need to do so? if not would they drop the case since he got the custody already? and if he attended how long would it be to the second hearing? this question is related as well to my ticket purchase and my job requirments here since i am taking that period off my job.


Asked on 3/14/10, 3:40 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

These are all reasonable questions for the attorney who hopefully is by now representing you in this matter. However, if by chance you have no such attorney and are representing yourself, and you are now residing in Jordan

and hoping to now reverse a previous decision of the Virginia court granting custody of the subject child to your husband, I would give little chance for your success.

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Answered on 3/19/10, 6:11 pm


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