Virginia court allocates expert appearance fee to party calling witness

The Court of Appeals of Virginia held in Blanks v. Blanks that an expert witness appearance fee under Virginia Code section 17.1-612 must be paid by the party on whose behalf the expert testified. In the published September 15, 2026 opinion, the court reversed the portion of a custody-case order requiring the mother to pay $1,500 of the coparenting therapist's appearance fee.

The father had subpoenaed and called the therapist, who testified on two hearing days. The mother cross-examined her. The appellate court explained that the statute gives the trial court discretion over the amount of the expert allowance, but directs allocation to the party on whose behalf the witness testifies. Cross-examination did not make the therapist the mother's witness.

The court distinguished the appearance fee from the therapist's counseling charges. The parents had jointly engaged the therapist under a temporary order to share counseling costs; that did not make her jointly aligned when she testified for the father. A subpoena duces tecum issued on the mother's behalf did not call the therapist to testify for her.

The court remanded for an order allocating the fee consistently with its opinion, including reimbursement if the mother had already paid. A separate order issued that day resolved the mother's other assignments concerning custody and best-interest findings in the father's favor, according to footnote 1. That separate order is not the subject of this fee opinion.