Norfolk court moves to control divorce docket

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Unhappy couples have been flocking to Norfolk Circuit Court to file their divorces, and the judges there need a break.

Statistics from the Supreme Court of Virginia indicate that last year, nearly 4,000 complaints for divorce – about 12 percent of all divorces filed in Virginia circuit courts during 2016 – were filed in Norfolk.

Under the Virginia Code, venue in divorce cases is not jurisdictional, and a divorce suit can be filed and litigated in any jurisdiction in the commonwealth, if the defendant does not object.

For several years, residents of other cities in the Hampton Roads area have filed many contested divorce cases in Norfolk, and residents from beyond Tidewater have filed thousands of uncontested divorce cases in Norfolk, according to the court. Of neighboring venues, Virginia Beach saw 1,147 divorce complaints filed last year and Chesapeake had 1,009 filed, but other courts saw filings ranging from 273 in Suffolk to 680 in Newport News.

A conservative estimate is that venue is improper in 75 percent of all divorce suits filed in the Norfolk Circuit Court, its judges have determined.

Chief Judge John R. Doyle III has entered an order that effective June 1, all divorce complaints filed in the Norfolk Circuit Court, whether filed pro se or by counsel, must state the city and/or county and state of residence of the plaintiff and the defendant, or if the residence of the defendant is unknown, the city and/or county and state where the defendant was last known to reside, and the city and/or county where the parties last cohabited.

Providing the residency information will allow the court to exercise its discretion to transfer a particular case to a proper venue.

“The Court and Clerk appreciate the confidence the Bar and the public have shown in our practice of concluding suits for divorce promptly, but the disproportionate number of divorce filings in this Court is not consistent with the intent of the Code of Virginia § 8.01-261(19),” Doyle’s order said.

The court is looking ahead, in an effort to ward off return customers, to keep the court from becoming the preferred forum for post-divorce litigation when neither party lives in Norfolk.

Doyle also is ordering that every final divorce decree tendered to the court on or after June 1, which makes an equitable distribution award or incorporates a property settlement agreement, and does not include a transfer provision pursuant to Va. Code § 20-107.3(L), shall state the city and/or county and state where each party then resides.