Farley v. Farley
| Decision Date | 23 January 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 1592-88-4,1592-88-4 |
| Citation | 387 S.E.2d 794,9 Va.App. 326 |
| Court | Virginia Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Curtis E. FARLEY v. Sarah Lee (King) FARLEY. Record |
Bernard S. Gild, Annandale (Gild & Associates, P.C., on brief), for appellant.
Warren L. Dennis, McLean (Kevin T. Lamp, Margaret D. Hawthorne, Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll, on brief), for appellee.
Panel: BAKER, COLEMAN and KEENAN, JJ.
Curtis Farley appeals the decision of the trial court transferring jurisdiction over matters of child custody and visitation to the Family Court for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, Charleston, South Carolina. Appellant asserts that the reason enunciated by the trial court for transferring jurisdiction, adverse media publicity, was an insufficient basis for doing so under the Virginia Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), Code § 20-125 et seq. Because the record contains ample support for the transfer of jurisdiction under the UCCJA, we find no abuse of discretion and affirm the decision of the trial court.
We review the evidence, and the propriety of the trial court's decision, in accordance with the following established legal standards. In matters of custody, visitation, and related child care issues, the court's paramount concern is always the best interests of the child. This standard applies especially in a case of alleged child sexual abuse, which was an issue before the trial court, and in such cases the court may subordinate the legal rights of the parents to the welfare of the child. M.E.D. v. J.P.M., 3 Va.App. 391, 396-98, 350 S.E.2d 215, 219-20 (1986). In matters of a child's welfare, trial courts are vested with broad discretion in making the decisions necessary to guard and to foster a child's best interests. Eichelberger v. Eichelberger, 2 Va.App. 409, 412, 345 S.E.2d 10, 12 (1986). A trial court's determination of matters within its discretion is reversible on appeal only for an abuse of that discretion, M.E.D., 3 Va.App. at 398, 350 S.E.2d at 220, and a trial court's decision will not be set aside unless plainly wrong or without evidence to support it. Code § 8.01-680; City of Richmond v. Beltway Properties, 217 Va. 376, 379, 228 S.E.2d 569, 572 (1976).
For purposes of appellate review, a trial court's determination is considered to have settled all conflicts in the evidence in favor of the prevailing party, and the prevailing party's evidence is entitled to all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom. Id. In examining the evidence and determining matters regarding a child's welfare, the trial court must consider all the evidence before it. Venable v. Venable, 2 Va.App. 178, 186, 342 S.E.2d 646, 651 (1986). Where a trial court makes a determination which is adequately supported by the record, the determination must be affirmed.
The UCCJA specifies numerous reasons why a court may transfer a case to another jurisdiction. These reasons may well be far more compelling than adverse publicity, which was the basis stated by the trial judge in this case for transfer. Among the denominated reasons specified in the Act are the avoidance of "jurisdictional competition and conflict with courts of other states" in matters of child welfare; the assurance that litigation of matters of child welfare will occur "in the state most closely connected with the child and his family and where significant evidence concerning his care, protection, training and personal relationships is most readily available"; the assurance "that the courts of this state decline the exercise of jurisdiction when the child" has a "closer connection with another state"; the discouragement of "continuing controversies" over matters of child welfare; the facilitation of "the enforcement of foreign custody orders" and the avoidance of "relitigating foreign custody decisions in this state so far as possible"; and the promotion of "the exchange of information and other forms of mutual assistance between courts of this state and those of other states concerned with the same child." Middleton v. Middleton, 227 Va. 82, 93, 314 S.E.2d 362, 367 (1984). Code § 20-130 specifically authorizes a trial court, upon a finding that it is an inconvenient forum, to decline jurisdiction for, among other reasons, the fact that "another state is or recently was the child's home state"; "another state has a closer connection with the child and his family"; or "substantial evidence...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Geouge v. Traylor
...reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the evidence, because they were the prevailing parties below. See Farley v. Farley, 9 Va. App. 326, 328, 387 S.E.2d 794, 795 (1990). Thus, we must disregard any evidence that conflicts with appellees' evidence. See Garst v. Obenchain, 196 Va. 664......
-
Barker v. Barker
...this conflict in the evidence in wife's favor, and will not reverse the trial court's determination. See Farley v. Farley, 9 Va.App. 326, 328, 387 S.E.2d 794, 795 (1990). Allocation and Consideration of Marital Debt In determining an equitable distribution award, a court must consider the "......
-
Brown v. Commonwealth
...of fact and conclusions of law." Fitzgerald v. Commonwealth , 223 Va. 615, 627, 292 S.E.2d 798 (1982) ; see Farley v. Farley , 9 Va. App. 326, 329, 387 S.E.2d 794 (1990). Here, the trial court properly articulated the basis of its ruling and the court was not obligated to explain the precis......
-
Farrell v. Warren Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs.
...” Fields v. Dinwiddie Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 46 Va.App. 1, 7, 614 S.E.2d 656, 659 (2005) (quoting Farley v. Farley, 9 Va.App. 326, 329, 387 S.E.2d 794, 796 (1990)). Moreover, in a parental rights termination case, “[t]he trial court's judgment, ‘when based on evidence heard ore tenus, ......