VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE MAKES MAJOR CHANGES TO ALIMONY, SEPARATION AGREEMENTS, FOSTER CARE, CHILD SUPPORT

The 1998 General Assembly adjourned in mid-March. It enacted Rehabilitative Alimony, changed standards for Termination of Parental rights, and made changes in how child support is computed and awarded.

WHAT PASSED

Rehabilitative Alimony -- On separate web page

Separation Agreements, Reconciliation, and the Premarital Agreement Act

The bill originally would have amended the introductory section of the Premarital Agreements Act to make clear that the Act does not cover Separation Agreements. The substituted version, in contrast, omits that statement and actually adds to the Act a substantive provision about Separation Agreements, in the section on post-marital agreements! What it says is that reconciliation nullifies the not-yet-performed portions of a Separation Agreement unless the Agreement expressly says otherwise.

Foster Care & Termination Reforms

Substitute SB 388 limits the requirement that foster care plans aim at attempting "family reunification," by specifying that the child's health and safety is "the paramount concern," and limiting family reunification to "reasonable efforts" "if consistent with the child's health and safety." It also says courts must not require agencies to make reunification efforts if the parent has had rights to another child terminated, or if the parent has been convicted of felonious assault resulting in severe injury to a child of the parent or one whom the parent lived with, or of the homicide of such a child or the other parent. It makes clear that the JDR Court always keeps its jurisdiction over children in these cases, and lets JDR judges issue protective orders sua sponte in any case before them.

Child Support Changes

H 717 says that courts may order either party to let the other party take the dependency exemption. This bill is a substitute for one that would have made all support orders include a discussion of tax consequences in their mandatory §20-60.3 language.

H 1256 (substituted version) gives parents credit for disability benefits that are paid on the child's behalf and that were counted as gross income. If the credit exceeds obligations it can be counted against arrearages or even future obligations.

In postponing consideration of the bill defining a "day" for the purpose of the shared custody support guidelines, the Assembly formally asked the Virginia Bar Association Coalition on Family Law to conduct a study of the issue (HJR 141). This is also a first. The Coalition is a lobbying group of representatives from practically every lawyer group in the state that has something to do with family law, including the Virginia Women Attorneys Association, some local bar groups, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. (The VSB does not participate in the Coalition's lobbying activities, however.)

The Assembly also passed H 1054, reiterating that the Guidelines apply to pendente lite support ordered under §20-103 just as in any other support case.

POSTPONED TO NEXT YEAR

·Define "day" as "overnight" for purposes of shared-custody support guidelines. The VBA Coalition is authorized to study the issue.
·Replace UCCJA with the new Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (see article in next issue)
·Mandatory makeup visitation with loss of custody for three visitation order violations
·Covenant marriage
·Requiring mutual consent for some no-fault divorces
·Sending divorcing parents to mandatory programs on effects of divorce
·English-style joint parenting plans
·Presumption of joint parental responsibility
·"Imminent harm" standard for awarding custody to non-parent
·Fines and criminalization of employers not complying with Payroll Withholding Orders
·Replace "best interests" with "needs"
·Replace terms "custodial," "non-custodial," "custody," "joint custody" and "visitation" with "sole parenting," "shared parenting," and "parenting arrangements" as in England (see Summer 1993 FLN, p. 15)
·Letting attorneys issue subpoenas, which was endorsed by the Boyd-Graves conference.

WHAT WAS KILLED

Termination of Parental Rights reforms, which would allow juries, make JDR a court of record, and appeal straight to Court of Appeals instead of de novo to Circuit Court.

Child Care costs in Guidelines to include any costs of employment, of job searching, education and training (!?). Guidelines to factor in value of tax exemptions and credits for children, which courts must allocate or alternate between parties.

Requiring siblings, grandparents and legal guardians to report suspected abuse or neglect.