Preview:

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA Present: Judges Elder, Fitzpatrick and Senior Judge Duff Argued at Alexandria, Virginia NANCY J. BOGART v. Record Nos. 0645-94-4 and 1020-94-4

WILLIAM C. BOGART

OPINION BY JUDGE LARRY G. ELDER NOVEMBER 28, 1995

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF FAIRFAX COUNTY Thomas S. Kenny, Judge (Record No. 0645-94-4) Jane Marum Roush, Judge (Record No. 1020-94-4) Thomas P. Mains, Jr. (Mains & Mains, L.C., on briefs), for appellant. (Stephen G. Cochran; Cochran & Rathbun, P.C., on brief), for appellee.

Nancy J. Bogart (wife) appeals the trial court's order incorporating the parties' property settlement agreement and awarding William C. Bogart (husband) attorney's fees. Wife

contends (1) the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter a final equitable distribution decree on March 14, 1994, incorporating terms of the parties' property settlement agreement, after a federal bankruptcy court assumed jurisdiction over the matter and declined to approve the agreement; and (2) the trial court violated Rule 1:1 when, on May 20, 1994, it modified its April 28, 1994 order more than twenty-one days after the order's issuance. We hold the trial court had jurisdiction to enter its However,

March 14, 1994 final equitable distribution order.

because the trial court modified the order more than twenty-one days after its entry, it lacked jurisdiction. We therefore

affirm the trial court's order in case number 0645-94-4 and reverse the trial court's order in case number 1020-94-4. I. FACTS Wife filed a bill of complaint for divorce on November 2, 1992, seeking a divorce from husband. November 22, 1993. The divorce was granted on

When the parties separated, they owned

several parcels of real estate as tenants by the entirety, each one encumbered by a deed of trust or mortgage. Following the

parties' separation, husband stopped making mortgage payments on the properties, and the creditors began foreclosure proceedings. On May 27, 1993, seeking bankruptcy protection from the creditors, wife filed a Chapter 11 petition with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and the bankruptcy court assumed jurisdiction over the matter. Assumption of jurisdiction included an automatic stay over the related state court proceedings, pursuant to 11 U.S.C.

Download 0645944.pdf

Virginia Law