How to Modify a Custody or Visitation Order in Virginia

The standard

Va. Code § 20-108 lets the court, on petition of either parent or on its own motion, revise and alter a decree about the care, custody, and maintenance of the children “as the circumstances of the parents and the benefit of the children may require.” The J&DR court may make any order of disposition in these cases that the circuit court could make (§ 16.1-278.15(A)).

In Keel v. Keel, 225 Va. 606 (1983), the Supreme Court of Virginia set out a two-part test: first, has there been a change in circumstances since the most recent custody award, and second, would a change in custody be in the best interests of the children. The Court said the change can involve either parent or the children themselves, positive as well as negative, and called the best interests prong the most important part. The judiciary’s self-help page describes the first part as a “material change of circumstances” since the last order.

Once the court reaches the merits, the best interests factors in § 20-124.3 apply. See the custody factors guide.

What you file

1. The motion. The J&DR District Court Manual says motions to modify custody orders may be filed directly with the clerk’s office on DC-630, Motion to Amend or Review Order (revised 10/23 front, 10/21 reverse). The form asks for the date of the order, what it says, the changes you request, and your reasons. Its reverse side holds the notice of the hearing date and the return of service.
2. A new DC-620 affidavit. Because a modification is a child custody proceeding, the manual says the person filing also files a completed DC-620, Affidavit (Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act).

The court’s self-help page says that if you are not involved in a divorce, you file in the same J&DR court that entered the last order. If the current order came from a circuit court divorce case, check whether that court transferred the matter to a J&DR court under § 20-79(c).

Situations the statutes address

• Withheld visitation. The intentional withholding of visitation from the other parent without just cause may constitute a material change of circumstances justifying a change of custody, in the discretion of the court (§ 20-108).
• Military deployment. An order limiting a deploying parent’s custody or visitation because of deployment is entered as a temporary order (§ 20-124.8(A)). When the deploying parent returns and moves to amend or review it, the hearing takes precedence on the docket, is set within 30 days of filing, and the nondeploying parent bears the burden of showing that going back to the pre-deployment order is no longer in the child’s best interests (§ 20-124.8(C)). A member of the armed forces, National Guard, or a reserve component who files or is a party to a petition based on a change of circumstances due to a parent’s deployment is entitled to have it expedited (§ 20-108).
• Relocation. Custody and visitation orders require 30 days’ advance written notice of a move, unless the court orders otherwise for good cause (§ 20-124.5). See the relocation guide.
• Child support. No support order may be retroactively modified, but it may be modified for any period during which a modification petition is pending, only from the date that notice of the petition was given to the responding party (§ 20-108). The J&DR manual names the DC-630 for requests to review or change a support order as well.

Primary sources

Laws, rules and forms change. Check the current version at the source before you file.

• Va. Code § 20-108, revision and alteration of decrees
• Keel v. Keel, 225 Va. 606 (1983)
• Va. Code § 20-124.3, best interests of the child
• Va. Code § 20-124.5, notification of relocation
• Va. Code § 20-124.8, deployment; temporary order
• Va. Code § 16.1-278.15, custody or visitation orders
• Va. Code § 20-79, effect of divorce proceedings
• Form DC-630, Motion to Amend or Review Order
• Form DC-620, UCCJEA affidavit
• J&DR District Court Manual, Chapter 6 (motions to modify)
• J&DR District Court Manual, Chapter 9, Support
• Virginia court self-help: custody, visitation and support