20-88.56 - Costs and fees. - Virginia Statutes

§ 20-88.56. Costs and fees.

A. The petitioner may not be required to pay a filing fee or other costs.

B. If an obligee prevails, a responding tribunal may assess against anobligor filing fees, reasonable attorney's fees, other costs, and necessarytravel and other reasonable expenses incurred by the obligee and theobligee's witnesses. The tribunal may not assess fees, costs, or expensesagainst the obligee or the support enforcement agency of either theinitiating or the responding state, except as provided by other law.Attorney's fees may be taxed as costs, and may be ordered paid directly tothe attorney, who may enforce the order in the attorney's own name. Paymentof support owed to the obligee has priority over fees, costs and expenses.

C. The tribunal shall order the payment of costs and reasonable attorney'sfees if it determines that a hearing was requested primarily for delay. In aproceeding under Articles 8 (§ 20-88.66 et seq.) and 9 (§ 20-88.74 et seq.)of this chapter, a hearing is presumed to have been requested primarily fordelay if a registered support order is confirmed or enforced without change.

(1994, c. 673; 2005, c. 754.)