Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
I am a resident of Tennesse but was divorced in Virginia court systems almost 3 years ago. I am the non-custodial parent of a child and was ordered to pay alimony and child support. Since last November I have been denied visitation off and on at the whims of the custodial parent. I quit paying due to job loss and now I currently have a much lower paying job as of June and cant afford to pay full payments. I do not pay through court, we set up personal payments, which requires me to mail the custodial a check each month.
For the past 5 weeks and presently I have been denied total visitation with my child and have not been contacted by custodial parent up until the end of the 5th week. Usually the visitation should be Tuesdays 8am-Wednesday at 5pm and every 2nd and 4th Saturday 8am-6pm. I have been denied visitation almost every Saturday since November. What actions can I take to get payments lowered and action taken against the custodial parent for denying visitation? The custodial's income has also increased since original payment orders have been set and custodial also does not pay for living expenses such as rent. When the divorce was being finalized, the custodial claimed to be paying a lot of living expenses that were not necessary or documented, just "claimed to be paying". Will going back to court help any of these situations?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Yes, you must go back to the Virginia court having jurisdiction over the issues of visitation and child support and file the appropriate motions to have these matters reviewed by the court and action(s) taken as appropriate. If visitation and support are still within the jurisdiction of the circuit court which handled your divorce (and have not been transferred to the J&D court), you will likely need to engage the services of an attorney to represent you.
On the support side, your reduction in income and your ex-spouse's increase in income , along with the passage of three years, should allow you to petition the Virginia court for a material change in circumstances. The visitation issue can be addressed at the same time, but it is likely the court will not allow visitation to be connected with the support issue.
It is important that you petition for a reduction in support as soon as possible, since the new support amount could be made retroactive to the date of filing.
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