Virginia Code 20-146.11: Cooperation between courts; preservation of records.
A. A court of this Commonwealth may request the appropriate court of another state to:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 20-146.11
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
1. Hold an evidentiary hearing;
2. Order a person to produce or give evidence pursuant to procedures of that state;
3. Order that an evaluation be made with respect to the custody of a child involved in a pending proceeding;
4. Forward to the court of this Commonwealth a certified copy of the transcript of the record of the hearing, the evidence otherwise presented, and any evaluation prepared in compliance with the request; and
5. Order a party to a child custody proceeding or any person having physical custody of the child to appear in the proceeding with or without the child.
B. Upon request of a court of another state, a court of this Commonwealth may hold a hearing or enter an order described in subsection A.
C. Travel and other necessary and reasonable expenses incurred under subsections A and B may be assessed against the parties according to the law of this Commonwealth.
D. A court of this Commonwealth shall preserve the pleadings, orders, decrees, records of hearings, evaluations, and other pertinent records with respect to a child custody proceeding until the child attains eighteen years of age. Upon appropriate request by a court or law-enforcement official of another state, the court shall forward a certified copy of those records.
1979, c. 229, §§ 20-142, 20-143, 20-144, 20-145; 2001, c. 305.