13 Va. App. 151 - Watkinson v. Henley’s Empirical Analysis
1991
Citation profile
52 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 52 later decisions — most recently November 2012 · most notably 15 Va. App. 696 - Barnhill v. Brooks (1993), 15 Va. App. 575 - Hiner v. Hadeed (1993)
52 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Featherstone v. Brooks · 4 Va. App. 173 - Fry v. Schwarting · 12 Va. App. 18 - Richardson v. Richardson · Morris v. Morris · 4 Va. App. 559 - Yohay v. Ryan
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 52 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[W]here parents have agreed upon an amount ... for the support and maintenance of a child, the trial court must consider the provisions of the agreement, that relate to the factors in Code §§ 20-107.2 and 20-108.1, in deciding whether the presumptive amount would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case. In so doing, the trial court must consider whether the agreed provisions for the child would better serve the interest or "equities" for the parents and children. Code § 20-107.2(2)(h).”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage“the material or substantial change of circumstance rule established prior to the enactment of Code § 20-108.2 is [not] required as a condition precedent to a child or party obtaining the benefits of that Code section where either can show a significant variance between the guidelines and the court’s prior decree. In such situations, the Code itself supplies the reasons to review the previous award and apply the guidelines; if the trial court declines to apply them it must “make written findings in the order” showing why “the application of the guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate” to the case. No such findings were contained in the decree from which this appeal emanates.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“[Wjhere parents have agreed upon an amount, or agreed upon other provisions, for the support and maintenance of a child, the trial court must consider the provisions of the agreement, that relate to the factors in Code §§ 20-107.2 and 20-108.1 [now contained exclusively in § 20-108.1], in deciding whether the presumptive amount would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case. In so doing, the trial court must consider whether the agreed provisions for the child would better serve the interest or “equities” for the parents and children. Code § 20-107.2(2)(h) [now § 20-108.1(B)(18) ]. The best interest of the child or children is the paramount and guiding principle in setting child support, whether it be adopting the presumptive amount, calculating an alternate sum after the presumptive amount has been rebutted, ordering the amount agreed upon between the parents, or approving, ratifying and incorporating, in whole or in part, the child support provisions of a contract. Furthermore, we hold that if the trial court finds that the presumptive amount is unjust or inappropriate because the provisions in a separation agreement serve the best interest of the child, the court may vary from the guidelines by ordering support be paid in an amount equal to the benefits provided for in the contract. Alternately, the court may, rather than judicially set support, elect to affirm, ratify and incorporate by reference the agreement between the parties, or any provisions thereof, concern”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.