Norfolk Court Cases

SWALEF v. Christopher Scott Anderson ANDREA

Court of Appeals of Virginia

50 App Virginia. 100

June 26, 2007, decided

Issue:

That the Court erred Norfolk Circuit "by not extending full faith and credit to judgments of Minnesota has concluded that Virginia had exclusive jurisdiction over child custody proceedings between the parties."?

The Minnesota Court explicitly concluded that "[bsent] down the jurisdiction of that court, the Commonwealth of Virginia has continuing jurisdiction over the issue of custody in this case." This equity, if the link on Virginia courts do not preclude the courts Norfolk guard down. In fact, the order explicitly notes that Virginia courts may decline jurisdiction. In short, even if the order has the force of Minnesota mandatory for courts in Virginia, the order by its explicit language allows Virginia to divest. Norfolk Circuit Court order is consistent with the law of Minnesota that the operation of the Court of Minnesota - that the Virginia continuing competence - and certainly also to the courts of Virginia to refuse to exercise jurisdiction under Virginia Code Ās 20-146.18, which allows a Virginia court to decline exercising jurisdiction over a case Custody of children, such as the one before us. Therefore, even though Virginia has jurisdiction over this custody case, a court may decline to exercise that jurisdiction

The court held that "we find that the Norfolk Circuit Court acted entirely within its authority when it declined to exercise jurisdiction over the petition filed by the father custody. The court did not abuse its discretion deferred to the authority of the White Earth Court, therefore, this Court affirms the Norfolk Circuit Court child custody order is given.

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