A protective mom is one who take action, particularly in a child custody case, to protect her child from harm. Though protective moms are sometimes reviled in the media as helicopter moms, unnecessarily over-protective women who interfere in their children’s lives, in the custody context they are often the only ones speaking out about the...
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The short answer is yes – you can choose to give your child your last name at birth. The longer answer, of course, is that this can be complicated. For unmarried mothers, particularly ones who exclude their child’s father from the birth, this is easier. We don’t necessarily assume that a child should be given...
There are all sorts of different words that attorneys, judges, Guardians ad litem, divorce coaches, and others in the family law space use to describe the tools that we utilize in divorce and custody cases. A ‘parenting plan’ is a good example, because it’s one you hear over and over, but it’s also one that...
There’s an easy answer to this question. There’s also a harder answer. Let’s get into it, though, and talk more about dating after separation and divorce. Dating after separation: the easy answer The easy answer is that life is messy. That marriages often end long before divorces are finalized. That, for many separated and separating...
Relocation is one of the trickiest areas of child custody litigation in part because there are no hard and fast answers. Whether you and your child’s father were married and are not separated and/or divorcing, or whether you were unmarried but share children in common, you will find that your ability to move wherever you...
In Virginia, you are married until you are divorced. While Virginia requires a fairly lengthy period of separation before you are legally permitted to finalize your divorce, being legally separated is not the same as being actually divorced. Separated is still married. In fact, the entire point of requiring a period of separation is so...
As you probably already know, not all wives are SAHMs. Goodness knows I’m not! From a divorce perspective, having access to your own income, benefits, and opportunities is so critically important. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – one of the biggest evils when it comes to divorce and child custody cases...
Even though Virginia does not assume 50/50 custody – the statute actually just says that the court must consider all forms of custody equally – it is still often the starting point in many custody cases, especially contested ones. I’m not a fan of automatic 50/50 custody; I think it creates a situation focused on...