In child custody cases, the court may order a home study. A trained social worker goes to the person’s home, evaluates the physical conditions there, and observes the party’s interactions with the child or children. In the past, the Department of Human Services would do home studies in child custody cases. More recently, such home studies have become rarer because the agencies have other priorities and limited resources.
The judges in custody cases have a very difficult job. The decisions they make can have a tremendous impact on the lives of the children who come before them. I can recall one case where the mother’s boyfriend had physically abused her infant child. The judge later return that child to the mother and the boyfriend again injured the child, this time inflicting permanent brain damage. The judge was devastated that his decision had this result. So it is natural that the judges want reassurance that the child or children will be safe where they send them. Home studies are one way to get that reassurance. Although the information was often only marginally helpful to the court, the fact that someone independent had visited the home and checked it out gave the judge some peace of mind. In most cases, however, the investigations found nothing unusual and just established that the homes of the parties met minimum standards.
Now that DHS home studies are rarer, judges have to rely more on the guardian ad litem to report on the conditions in the home. The guardian ad litem is a lawyer that the court appoints to represent the interests of the child or children. They typically make a home visit as part of their investigation. The judges particularly value the input they receive from the guardians ad litem because they are independent of the parties.
One of the disadvantages of being the out-of-state parent in a contested custody case is that the guardian ad litem cannot easily visit your home. Sometimes the guardian ad litem gets flown to the out-of-state party’s home but that will be unusual unless the parties have the resources to pay for it. Instead of a guardian ad litem home visit, the court may require the out-of-state party to have a home study. This can add a significant expense for the out-of-state parent in a custody case.
In my cases, we try to assemble as much evidence as we can including photos of the home and especially video of the client with their child. I sometimes have trouble convincing the client to go to the trouble of making videos But the impact is far better than the best photographs. Video lets the judge see what the parent and child are like together. Good photos and video can convince the judge even without a home study.
Robert Jeffries is a very experienced lawyer with more than 25 years in active practice. He is a graduate of Dickinson College and the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. During law school and following his graduation, he spent five years representing criminal defendants in Washington, DC. He then spent ten years in Los Angeles representing individuals and corporate clients in a variety of business litigation matters.
Since 1998 Mr. Jeffries has devoted his practice to Virginia family law. Because of his prior business litigation experience, he is very skilled in helping clients deal with the financial issues that come up in divorce. From quickly assessing the economics of a case to preparing financial exhibits for use at trial, his prior business litigation experience gives his clients a key advantage.
Because so many of the firm’s clients are not Virginia residents, Mr. Jeffries has extensive experience with interstate child custody cases and the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. This experience has enabled him, in appropriate cases, to stop a child custody case from going forward in Virginia and require it to be litigated in the client’s home state. In other situations, he has been successful in keeping a child custody case in Virginia where it was to his client’s advantage.
Mr. Jeffries is a highly skilled legal writer and very at home making arguments in the Virginia Court of Appeals and the Virginia Supreme Court.
He has always emphasized respect for the firm’s clients and delivering maximum value for them. His many years of experience in the courtroom enable him to devise cost-effective strategies for achieving the client’s goals.
He is very accessible to his clients. He responds to phone calls and emails promptly. Because he has many clients serving literally all over the world, he is used to taking calls outside of the usual working hours.
Mr. Jeffries is admitted to practice in Virginia, California, New York, and the District of Columbia. He speaks Spanish and Russian fluently.
