Ralph Franklin Bacon v Patricia Lynn Bacon

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: 	Judges Bray, Annunziata and Overton
RALPH FRANKLIN BACON
v. 	Record No. 1820-95-4 	MEMORANDUM OPINION*
PER CURIAM
PATRICIA LYNN BACON 	MARCH 19, 1996
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF
FAUQUIER COUNTY Carleton Penn, Judge Designate
(Vernon H. Miles, Sr., on brief), for appellant.
(Robert A. Niles; Niles, Dulaney, Parker & Lauer, on
brief), for appellee.
Ralph Franklin Bacon (father) appeals the decision of the
circuit court finding him liable to Patricia Lynn Bacon (mother)
for child support arrearages. 	Father argues that the care he
gave his children while they were living with him should be
credited against his nonconforming child support payments. 	Upon
reviewing the record and briefs of the parties, we conclude that
this appeal is without merit. 	Accordingly, we summarily affirm
the decision of the trial court. 	Rule 5A:27.
Under familiar principles we view [the]
evidence and all reasonable inferences in the
light most favorable to the prevailing party
below. 	Where, as here, the court hears the
evidence ore tenus, its finding is entitled
to great weight and will not be disturbed on
appeal unless plainly wrong or without
evidence to support it.
*Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not
designated for publication.

2
Martin v. Pittsylvania County Dep't of Social Servs., 3 Va. App.
15, 20, 348 S.E.2d 13, 16 (1986).
It was uncontested that father was required to pay $50 a
month per child in child support to mother pursuant to the
parties' Property Settlement and Separation Agreement signed on
July 1, 1992 and incorporated into their final decree of divorce
entered June 22, 1993. 	The parties agreed to have "joint care
custody, and control" of the two children, who lived with father
from January 1992 through October 1994. 	Father never sought to
modify his child support obligation.
Code § 20-112 provides that "[n]o support order may be
retroactively modified, but may be modified with respect to any
period during which there is a pending petition for modification
. . . ." 	"Child support payments required under a valid court
order become vested as they accrue, and the court is without
authority to make any change as to past due installments."
Commonwealth ex rel. Comptroller of Virginia v. Skeens, 18 Va.
App. 154, 158, 442 S.E.2d 432, 434-35 (1994).
Unlike the situation in Acree v. Acree, 2 Va. App. 151, 157,
342 S.E.2d 68, 71 (1986), we find no evidence here that the
parties agreed that father would no longer make child support
payments. 	The agreement to pay $100 per month in child support
was expressly set out in the final divorce decree, even though
the children had been living with father for over a year at the
time the decree was entered. 	Therefore, the decision of the

3
circuit court was not plainly wrong and was supported by the
evidence.
Accordingly, the decision of the circuit court is summarily
affirmed.
Affirmed.