1870952 Commonwealth/DSS, et al. v Raymond M. Walker 04/09/1996

State: Virginia

Court: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Clerk

Docket No: 1870952

Case Date: 04/09/1996

Plaintiff: 1870952 Commonwealth/DSS, et al.

Defendant: Raymond M. Walker 04/09/1996

Preview: COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present:  Judges Baker, Coleman and Elder
Argued at Richmond, Virginia

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA,
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL
SERVICES, DIVISION OF CHILD SUPPORT
ENFORCEMENT, ex rel., JANET MAY              OPINION BY
         JUDGE LARRY G. ELDER
v.  Record No. 1870-95-2       APRIL 9, 1996

RAYMOND M. WALKER

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF HANOVER COUNTY
Richard H. C. Taylor, Judge

  Keith H. Warren, Special Counsel, Virginia Department of Social Services (Betsy S. Elliott, Senior Special Counsel, Virginia Department of Social Services; James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General; William H. Hurd, Deputy Attorney General; Siran S. Faulders, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Robert B. Cousins, Jr., Senior Assistant Attorney General, on brief), for appellant.

  Wilbert L. Sawyer, Jr., for appellee.

The Commonwealth/Department of Social Services, Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE), ex rel. Janet May, appeals the circuit court's decision that Raymond M. Walker (father) owed no child support arrearage.  DCSE contends that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to hear father's appeal from the juvenile and domestic relations district court (J&DR court) where father posted no appeal bond.  Because the circuit court possessed jurisdiction over the case, even though father posted no appeal bond, we affirm its judgment.
I.
FACTS
In May 1986, the J&DR court entered a support order directing father to pay one hundred dollars per week for the support of his two minor children.  In March 1994, DCSE filed a motion for a show cause order with the J&DR court, alleging father had accrued an arrearage of $2,496.06.  On September 9, 1994, the J&DR court found father in contempt for failure to pay child support as ordered.  The J&DR court suspended father's jail sentence on the condition that he make payment on $2,395 in arrears.
Father appealed the J&DR court's order to the Circuit Court of Hanover County.  DCSE objected to the taking of any testimony from father, arguing that father failed to post an appeal bond as mandated by Code

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