There is no specific age at which a child can express a custody or visitation preference. The Code of Virginia allows such a reasonable preference if the child is of "reasonable intelligence, understanding, age, and experience to express such a preference." When allowed to express a... View More

A prenuptial agreement or marital agreement, variously titled as a separation agreement, post-nuptial agreement, or property settlement agreement, must be in writing and signed by the parties to be enforceable. There are usually notarizations or acknowledgement(s) of the signatures by a... View More

A contempt proceeding for an ED violation may or may not be a violation of the automatic stay in bankruptcy. The question is whether the purpose of the proceeding is to extract a private monetary remedy (not allowed) or to uphold the dignity of the court (allowed). Some have cast this as civil v.... View More

It is not clear that the evaluation was used against you. You could always check the court's file at the clerk's office. A court ordered evaluation could be admissible without an expert witness. Anything else would be hearsay, and the evaluator would likely be required to appear and... View More

For various good cause shown, a spouse can ask for exclusive possession of the marital residence as part of the pendente lite relief available in a Virginia divorce case. The public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia is to promote marriage, not to make divorce easy. Marriage provides a... View More

A former owner of real estate that was sold at a foreclosure auction becomes a tenant at sufferance after delivery of a deed from the substitute trustee. A tenant at sufferance is one who enters into possession of real property lawfully, but remains in possession unlawfully. After title to the... View More

In Virginia, a motion to modify or amend must reference the existing order and recite its relevant provisions. If a third party has custody or visitation, that person is a necessary party to the proceeding, and must be served with notice. In order to prevail, a person seeking to modify an... View More

Virginia is not a common-law marriage state and requires that the parties to a marriage in Virginia must first obtain a license from the state. Virginia Code Section 20-31 corrects defects in marriage licenses if the marriage is otherwise lawful and is consummated by the parties with the belief it... View More

When a Virginia resident dies intestate, without a will, the real property "drops like a stone" into the names of the heirs at law. The heirs at law are the persons specified in the course of descents in Virginia's intestate succession statutes, Sections 64.2-200 to -206. You do... View More

In Virginia, a notary public must verify the identity of a person signing the document, either in front of the notary public, or by the signer acknowledging the signature in the presence of the notary public, or via a videoconference if the notary has satisfied the requirements to be an electronic... View More

You must first check the tenancy on the deed. If your brother and his friend owned the property as joint tenants with the common-law right of survivorship, it passed to his friend upon his death, and you have no rights to it. If they were tenants in common, you should record the will. You will... View More

Child support in Virginia can only be awarded retroactively to the date that the petition was filed in the case of an original determination, or when motion to modify was filed and served on the payer parent in the case of an attempt to change support. The fact that a parent earned more during a... View More

Almost all contracts are verbal, either oral (spoken) or written. A last will and testament requires certain formalities, as does a revocable or irrevocable trust. Both must be in writing and signed. In spite of the absence of a written will, trust, or contract, in some instances a court can... View More

The U.S. Constitution requires each of the 50 states to give full faith and credit to the valid acts of its sister states. There is no such requirement for the actions of other countries, in the absence of a treaty. Instead, the concept of comity controls. Comity allows a state to recognize the... View More

If spouses are not able to reach an agreement on how to divide their property and debts, those matters can be submitted to a judge's decision through the process of equitable distribution incident to a divorce case.

Title is not determinative in equitable distribution in Virginia.... View More

A living will is an advance medical directive. It contains instructions for medical care if the principal becomes incapacitated.

I will assume you mean a will and I will assume that your aunt resides in Virginia, although you appear to be posting from Maryland.

Once your aunt... View More

Section 64.2-528 of the Code of Virginia sets out the order in which debts are to be paid when assets in the personal representative's possession are not sufficient to pay all debts and demands. This is known as an insolvent estate. Funeral expenses are third priority, after costs and... View More

If the creditor attempts to collect on a discharged debt, the debtor reopen the case and can file a show cause proceeding against the creditor for violating the discharge injunction and may recover actual damages, attorney's fees and costs, and with willful and intentional violations causing... View More

A probate estate is administered in the state where the decedent last resided prior to his or her death. In Virginia, this does not necessarily include a nursing home or hospital where the decedent last lived. Residence is more than a physical presence in a given locality; it is the place where a... View More

Hearing dates in Virginia are arranged with the judge's secretary, not the clerk of the court. A party can request, or a file a motion for, a pretrial conference to bring a case in front of a judge in order to set a trial date. The actual hearing date for the pretrial conference would most... View More