Virginia Divorce Law

Q: my ex-wife active concealed my child from me for a number of years...after I found her, my ex-wife had me brought before a Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge on a Criminal Show Cause Summons issued not by a Judge but by a Deputy Clerk of the Prince William County JDR Clerk's Office. I've noted that there's a HUGE difference in procedure amongst the different jurisdictions in Virginia...Arlington and Alexandria require the motion for show cause rule to get run by a Judge and that the Judge will issue and show cause rule...all of the other jurisdictions in northern Virginia allow the Deputy Clerks to issue Show Cause Summons - and in my case the Clerk apparently made a legal determination as to whether to issue a criminal or civil show cause summons - captioned "Commonwealth of Virginia v. David B. Briggman, Defendant" and charging me with criminal contempt pursuant to Section 18.2-456 of the Code of Virginia - a criminal statute. Upon appearing for the arraignment, I was advised that I was charged with criminal contempt and given the option of retaining counsel, having counsel appointed for me or waiving counsel. My former attorney them objected to my ex-wife's attorney being allowed to prosecute me (as opposed to a state prosecutor)...which was denied. I was summarily convicted of criminal contempt and ...she throws in a purge clause - $29,000 and change to be precise. QUESTION: Virginia has no case law on this point, however, about 20 other states, including many in the 4th Circuit, (assuming it's civil contempt (because of the purge clause) can a judge impose a purge clause (like my $29,000 purge clause)...without a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that I have the present ability to pay the purge clause? Lot's of supporting case law in other states -- none in Virginia.

A: I am not an attorney, and don't know beans about divorce law except what I learned when I was employed as a legal secretary. So I went out to the web to see what I could find in the way of references to Virginia divorce law. http://www.divorcesource.com/VA/index.shtml This site has a wealth of information about Virginia divorce law, including laws, cases, and a directory of attorneys. There are numerous articles covering various aspects of divorce in Virginia, and a Message Center

where people can ask or answer questions. If you don't find what you're looking for here, just do a web search on the phrase 'Virginia divorce law', and you'll get a bunch of other URLs to check out. I would also suggest that you contact the Virginia State Bar Association to see if they can give you any help. The URL for the State Bar is www.vsb.org, and you will find an online pamphlet on divorce written by the Family Law Section at http://www.vsb.org/publications/brochure/divorce.html. Whatever you do, don't try to represent yourself in this case. You need to get yourself some good information, then find the very best possible attorney you can find.