Shawn Garrett v. Andria Garrett, 1440164

Shawn and Andria Garrett married in 1999; wife filed for divorce on grounds of adultery in June 2015; three minor children were involved.
Trial was set for June 7, 2016; husband did not appear after a protective-order hearing on June 6; wife proceeded to trial and presented testimony and a corroborating witness (after an inadvertent rest).
Wife testified husband had been discharged from the Marines (2011), lost a government contract position, and had about a $109,000 prior salary; she removed roughly $65–68,000 from a joint account while husband was hospitalized and used funds for fees/debt.
Husband later filed a motion to reopen, claiming hospitalization and medication-related incapacity; the trial court found his absence explanation not credible and denied reopening.
The trial court entered a decree granting wife a divorce a mensa et thoro (later determined clerical), awarded wife the entire marital share of husband’s military pension, 18 months of GI Bill benefits, non-modifiable spousal support, child support based on imputed income, and did not require repayment of the withdrawn joint funds.
On appeal the Court of Appeals: affirmed many procedural rulings and the income imputation; reversed awards of GI Bill benefits, the entirety of the marital pension share, and the non-modifiable spousal support; remanded equitable distribution, support determinations, and clerical correction to a divorce a vinculo matrimonii.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Husband)	Defendant's Argument (Wife)	Held
Denial of continuance for husband’s absence	Court abused discretion; husband was unable to attend due to hospitalization and medication	Trial court properly exercised discretion; husband was aware of date and counsel could not contact him	Denial affirmed — no prejudice shown and no preserved due-process claim
Motion to reopen evidence (post-trial) & wife reopening at trial	Court should have reopened to allow husband to present evidence of hospitalization	Court properly allowed wife to reopen when witness was present and denied husband’s late reopening	Denial of husband's reopen affirmed; granting wife's reopen affirmed as within discretion
Award of 18 months of GI Bill benefits to wife	Error: trial court improperly awarded federally controlled transferable benefits husband could not transfer after discharge	Wife sought equitable distribution including educational benefits	Reversed — court abused discretion because federal law prohibits ordering transfer post-discharge
Award of entire marital share of military pension and non-modifiable spousal support	Error: court exceeded statute (pension >50% of marital share) and improperly made spousal support non-modifiable	Wife argued equitable distribution discretion and support award were appropriate	Reversed — pension award violated Code limiting awards to 50% of marital share; non-modifiable spousal support prohibited absent agreement; remanded for recalculation

Venable v. Venable, 2 Va. App. 178 (discretion on continuance motions)
Autry v. Bryan, 224 Va. 451 (appellate review of continuance rulings; must show prejudice)
Shooltz v. Shooltz, 27 Va. App. 264 (motions to reopen evidence are discretionary; error of law is abuse of discretion)
Niblett v. Niblett, 65 Va. App. 616 (imputing income based on prior earnings/current capacity)
Lane v. Lane, 32 Va. App. 125 (parties may contract for non-modifiable support but absent agreement court cannot)