NEW RULES ON PLEADINGS IN JUVENILE COURT: CALIFORNIA-STYLE PLEADINGS COME TO VIRGINIA

A little-noticed rule change from the Supreme Court requires that anyone who files a support petition in juvenile court, whether for alimony or child support, must include all the various data elements that are required for the check-box forms made out by "intake officers." New Rule 8:3 "Contents of Petitions in Certain Proceedings," should be closely examined by all attorneys who will ever have occasion to file juvenile court support petitions. They are now required to include Social Security numbers, birth dates, employer data, license and certificate information, amounting in all to nine categories of things. Counsel should also examine Rule 8:5, which requires that JDR court studies and reports be furnished to all counsel of record, by mail if so requested, and that counsel must return such reports without copying them. These rules are in the Code Rules volume, and the latest form appears in the January 1995 Virginia Lawyer Register, at page 48.