Terms Used In Virginia Code 20-170

• Collaborative law participation agreement: means an agreement by persons to participate in a collaborative law process. See Virginia Code 20-168
• Collaborative law process: means a procedure intended to resolve a collaborative matter without intervention by a tribunal in which persons sign a collaborative law participation agreement and are represented by collaborative lawyers. See Virginia Code 20-168
• Collaborative lawyer: means a lawyer who represents a party in a collaborative law process. See Virginia Code 20-168
• Collaborative matter: means a dispute, transaction, claim, problem, or issue for resolution that is described in a collaborative law participation agreement and that is between family or household members or arises under the family or domestic relations laws of the Commonwealth, including (i) marriage, divorce, dissolution, annulment, and property distribution; (ii) child custody, visitation, and parenting time; (iii) alimony, spousal support, maintenance, and child support; (iv) adoption; (v) parentage; and (vi) negotiation or enforcement of premarital, marital, and separation agreements. See Virginia Code 20-168
• Party: means a person who signs a collaborative law participation agreement and whose consent is necessary to resolve a collaborative matter. See Virginia Code 20-168
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Virginia Code 20-168
• 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