Monthly Archive: October 2018

There is no shortage of ways that sly fathers will seek to avoid responsibility for their child support obligations. I’ve seen a lot of creative solutions – and even outright requests for downward deviations from the guideline amount of child support – over the years. One of the trickiest ways I’ve seen a child’s father...

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New Blended Military Retirement

Military retirement is changing, and gone are the days where we could determine what a person’s total retirement benefit would be if we knew a few things, like rank, years of service, and base pay. Beginning in January 2019, new military service members who join the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, or...

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How to Sue your Guardian ad Litem

In custody and visitation cases, Guardians ad litem are some of the most passionately despised people, and probably at least once a week someone asks me what they can do to either get rid of their Guardian ad litem or request that they be sanctioned for their behavior. How do I sue my guardian ad...

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Custody and Child Support of Older Teenagers

Under the law, a child magically becomes an adult on their 18th birthday. But what does that mean, and how does it impact custody and visitation? When you have an older teenaged child, what options do you have? What does the court allow? These are all good questions, and, if you’re the parent of an...

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Financial Abuse in Virginia Divorce

Financial abuse is a major issue in many divorce cases, especially when there’s a big disparity in income between the parties. For two spouses with a roughly similar income (even if that income isn’t super large), the act of separating and setting up separate houses, though difficult, isn’t nearly as complicated or as consuming as...

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Petitions to Modify Virginia Child Custody

As you probably are already aware, once you have a child with someone, they never really go away. In a divorce or a breakup where there are no children, the parties are free to go their own separate ways and never see each other again. It’s not only desirable but encouraged. There’s no reason for...

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Temporary Agreements in Divorce and Custody

Temporary Agreements are complicated issues in divorce and custody cases. If your husband (or child’s father) proposes one, you should proceed with extreme caution. That being said, we often use temporary agreements for all sorts of reasons. I’m working on one right now for a client who needs custody and spousal support determined on a...

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Can I handle my Virginia family law case myself?

Under Virginia law, you are free to elect to handle your own family law case in the Virginia courts. Depending on the complexity of your case and the issues involved, though, it may be more or less possible to do so. Family law cases cover several varieties – juvenile court cases (custody, visitation, child support,...

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