IN VIRGINIA, JUDICIAL INBREEDING IMPEDES JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN

[Waller, 2001] Get rid of the "best interests of the child" as the standard for custody and replace it with a new concept called the "approximation standard." That means that the judge should try to approximate the same setup for the children that existed before the divorce. If mom was with the kids 70 percent of the time before the divorce, she would be with them 70 percent of the time after the divorce. In non-contested custody cases, the mother and father generally agree to this on their own.

New laws prohibiting no-fault divorce for Virginia couples with minor children might increase post-separation litigation. I have noticed that Virginia's family courts are already experts at creating and endorsing high-conflict cases. Parental conflict, we know, hurts children. All of the best solutions for managing child custody ("parent-time") disputes share a common theme: minimizing conflict. Now, minimizing conflict is not exactly in the best interest of most trial lawyers who earn good livings from going to court to litigate cases. Albo knows this.

I truly believe that practicing trial lawyer and chief of judicial "hiring and firing" (as Courts of Justice chair) Delegate Dave Albo is Virginia's biggest enemy of children caught in the middle of highly conflicted parent-time disputes. Think about this quote: "To outsiders, Virginia's system of lawmakers electing judges looks quirky and even unfair, a cloistered system of good ol' boys looking out for each other" (--Judge's reappointment a picture of politics at its ugliest, R. H. Melton, Washington Post, January 23, 2003). I think about this quote a lot. And I thought about it a lot on 27 September 2006 and then on 1 December 2006 as I observed JUDICIAL INTERVIEWS/SELECTIONS (House Room C, General Assembly Building, House Committee for Courts of Justice & Senate Committee for Courts of Justice), led by practicing trial lawyer and chief of judicial "hiring and firing" (as Courts of Justice chair) Delegate Dave Albo. Will Albo really prefer a judge who efficiently resolves difficult family cases by getting those cases out of court, for good, as quickly as possible over a judge who exploits by, for example, turning every little
motion into a full-blown trial? How does a judge who wants to keep his job keep Albo happy? Think about it. [ "When judges rule, are they thinking of the evidence before them and the law on the books or are they imagining how an unpopular ruling could play on Capitol Square?" --a segment from Put judges on trial before they're picked, Virginian-Pilot editorial, February 28, 2007 ]

I wish to educate the people of Virginia about our deplorable judicial selection process. It is the basis for 40 or so pieces of some of the messiest, most poorly written, "beating 'round the bush" proposed domestic relations legislation I have ever seen, to the detriment of about 7000 Virginia children who this year will join the thousands upon thousands in our state already caught in the middle of ongoing parent-time disputes. Much attention, after all, is devoted to the 7000 or so caught in foster care. Is that not true?

Do you know that many of Mr. Albo's cohorts are now working both sides of the bench? He likes to call them "substitute judges." What next?

... after states adopt no-fault divorce, fewer women commit suicide and domestic violence drops sharply ... -A New Push to Loosen New York's Divorce Law, Leslie Eaton, New York Times, November 30, 2004

Veronique Wyvell, RN
Member, Fairfax County Network Against Family Abuse
Founder, MOMMY GO BYE-BYE: Mothers Against Unjust Law
7831 Enola Street, #TA7, McLean, Virginia 22102
VWyvell@patriot.net

MAUL (Mothers Against Unjust Law) Goals:
Rebuttable PRESUMPTIONS Against Custody for Batterers
PPAs (Parenting Plan Agreements) before Litigation
Moratorium on CCEs (Child Custody Evaluations)
MINIMUM Parent-Time Schedules (UTAH Code)
JURY Trials (in Domestic Relations Cases)
PROTECTIVE Parent Reform Acts
DIGITAL Courtroom Records
ALI's Approximation Rule
TERM LIMITS for Judges