COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA Present: Judges Beales, O’Brien and Senior Judge Annunziata Argued at Alexandria, Virginia UNPUBLISHED TAHMINA BEGUM MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY v. Record No. 1108-18-4 JUDGE ROSEMARIE ANNUNZIATA APRIL 9, 2019 SHAHEEN M. SHAKHAWAT FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF ARLINGTON COUNTY Gaylord L. Finch, Jr., Judge Designate Elizabeth Tuomey (Tuomey Law Firm, PLLC, on briefs), for appellant. Adam D. Elfenbein (Elfenbein Law, PLLC, on brief), for appellee. Shaheen Shakhawat (husband) obtained a divorce in March 2017 from Tahmina Begum (wife), serving her by an order of publication. Wife moved to set aside the decree in September 2017, asserting that husband had used a false affidavit to get the order of publication. The trial court denied wife’s motion. Wife contends on appeal that the trial court used the wrong standard in determining that husband had not committed fraud on the court and that the court further erred in not setting aside the divorce decree. We affirm the trial court’s ruling. BACKGROUND1 The parties were married in Bangladesh in October 2009 and separated in Arlington, Virginia in October 2014. Wife moved to Philadelphia to attend Temple University in January 2016. The Arlington County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court ordered husband to * Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not designated for publication. 1 We view the facts in the light most favorable to husband because he was the prevailing party in the trial court. See Monds v. Monds, 68 Va. App. 674, 677 (2018). pay wife $350 per month as support for the parties’ child. The orders from both March and July 2016 showed wife’s address in Philadelphia. Husband filed for divorce on November 15, 2016, and stated that wife resided in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On January 10, 2017, husband filed an affidavit with the circuit court for an order of publication, alleging that wife “cannot be found, and that diligence has been used without effect to ascertain [her] location.” The affidavit stated wife’s last known address was in Ventnor City, New Jersey. A notice of the pending divorce was published in the Washington Times on four successive dates between January 19, 2017, and February 9, 2017. The copy of the order of publication that the circuit court sent to wife at the Ventnor City, New Jersey address was returned on January 24, 2017, marked “return to sender – attempted – not known – unable to forward.” Wife did not respond to the bill of complaint, and the final decree was entered on March 22, 2017. Wife was awarded “sole legal custody and primary custody” of their child, and husband was allowed “visitation as agreed by the parties.” The decree ordered husband to pay child support of $350 per month. Wife moved to set aside the decree on September 27, 2017. The trial court held a hearing on the motion on May 30, 2018, at which both wife and husband testified. Husband testified that he had told wife about the pending divorce. He said that she ...
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