The only sure-fire way to defend against a Rule to Show Cause for failure to pay child support is to bring receipts showing that all of the child support payments were actually paid on time. If you are in full compliance with the order, and always were, then there is really nothing left to do but dismiss the Rule. Failing that, options for defense are extremely limited. Actual, literal, inability to pay support is technically a valid defense to a Rule but it almost never wo

The last post was largely about jail sentences in civil contempt proceedings, and indeed that is where Rules to Show Cause for failure to pay child support end up if the defendant continues to violate the support order. This civil jail term is not the same as a criminal jail sentence, though, because of the purge bond. In a criminal case, if someone is convicted and sentenced to a year in jail then they will serve about a year in jail (the actual amount of time depends on se

As we have discussed before, if a judge finds someone in contempt (that is, the judge decides that that person has violated a court order) then the judge imposes a sentence that does not punish, but instead convinces the person to stop violating the order. Fines are possible, but they are not usually done in a child support case. They can be, though. When fines are used as a sentence in a Rule to Show Cause it is usually that the defendant is fined a certain amount per day

Since the Rule to Show Cause is the way to enforce a court order, the ultimate purpose of a Rule is to get the other side to comply with the terms of that order. It is not, strictly speaking, about punishing a violation. There is a procedure for that and it is a criminal contempt proceeding; that is a completely different beast from the civil contempt proceeding that we are discussing here. Almost all child support enforcement actions are civil contempt proceedings. In th

The Rule itself is an order for the other parent to appear on a specific day and time to explain why they should not be held in contempt. The Rule has to be served on the other parent, and there is generally a right to be arraigned on the Rule and given the opportunity to request to have an attorney appointed to them. The first hearing on a Rule, then, is usually just procedural to see if the other parent has been served with notice and to see if they need an attorney. The

To begin the process of enforcing a child support order, you have to request a Rule to Show Cause. You do this in whichever court issued the order. This means both the county and the appropriate level of court, i.e. JDR or circuit. Once you are in the right court, you file the paperwork to being the process with the clerk’s office. In order to understand why the Show Cause process works the way it does, some behind-the-scenes technical information is helpful. Normally, if

Before going any further, please enjoy this disclaimer: The content of this post, indeed of all of my posts, is intended to reference only Virginia law. I am writing this blog to give some idea of the complexities that can underlie family law issues in Virginia and in no way am I giving anyone legal advice here. While I hope these posts will be informative, no one should feel entitled to rely on the information presented here as an authoritative source. Anyone facing a le

At this point we have covered all the basics of establishing child support, and some of the intermediate aspects, too. Here are my closing thoughts. I decided to start with child support because it is the easiest part of family law to do as an attorney. If these posts have made it sound complicated then I welcome you to imagine how bad it gets when we get to the really complicated stuff, like equitable distribution. This is why attorneys are important; I do these things al

At this point in the establishment series we have covered all of the basic elements needed to calculate support for most people. The basic elements do not cover everything, though, so this post will address some of the other issues that can come up and which have an effect on the guideline. The first issue is whether either parent is paying spousal support to the other, and if so who pays how much. If there is spousal support being paid because of a court order then it is d

As was mentioned in the last post, a custody order is not necessary to get an order of child support. This post addresses that issue in slightly more detail. A child custody order can be helpful in setting out the exact schedule so that days can be calculated—and they are immensely useful outside the context of child support, but I am limiting myself to support considerations right now—but they are not necessary in order to get support. It is the public policy of Virginia t