                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CONCURRENT JURISDICTION; EXCEPTIONS (§ 16.1-244)

A. Nothing contained in this law shall deprive any other court of the concurrent
jurisdiction to determine the custody of children upon a writ of habeas corpus
under the law, or to determine the custody, guardianship, visitation or support
of children when such custody, guardianship, visitation or support is incidental
to the determination of causes pending in such courts, nor deprive a circuit
court of jurisdiction to determine spousal support in a suit for separate
maintenance. However, when a suit for divorce has been filed in a circuit court,
in which the custody, guardianship, visitation or support of children of the
parties or spousal support is raised by the pleadings and a hearing, including a
pendente lite hearing, is set by the circuit court on any such issue for a date
certain or placed on a motions docket within 21 days of the filing, though such
hearing itself may occur after such 21-day period, the juvenile and domestic
relations district courts shall be divested of the right to enter any further
decrees or orders to determine custody, guardianship, visitation or support when
raised for such hearing and such matters shall be determined by the circuit
court unless both parties agreed to a referral to the juvenile court. In any
case in which the jurisdiction of the juvenile and domestic relations district
court has been divested pursuant to this section and no final support order has
been entered, any award for child support or spousal support in the circuit
court shall be retroactive to the date on which the proceeding was commenced by
the filing of the action in the juvenile and domestic relations district court,
provided that the petitioner exercised due diligence in the service of the
respondent. Nothing in this section shall deprive a circuit court of the
authority to refer any such case to a commissioner for a hearing or shall
deprive the juvenile and domestic relations district courts of the jurisdiction
to enforce its valid orders prior to the entry of a conflicting order of any
circuit court for any period during which the order was in effect or to
temporarily place a child in the custody of any person when that child has been
adjudicated abused, neglected, in need of services or delinquent subsequent to
the order of any circuit court.

B. Jurisdiction of cases involving violations of federal law by a child shall be
concurrent and shall be assumed only if waived by the federal court or the
United States attorney.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 16.1-161; 1956, c. 555; 1977, c. 559; 1978, c. 740; 1984,
cc. 657, 669; 1985, c. 183; 1987, c. 36; 1989, c. 509; 1990, c. 600; 2000, c.
781; 2003, c. 129; 2022, c. 527; 2023, c. 622.