Monthly Archive: February 2023

When Non Lawyers Give Legal Advice

Getting your divorce information from a person who is not a lawyer is pretty risky behavior. I’m a member of a Facebook group for moms in a prominent local city, and I’ve noticed that there are a lot of requests for legal advice. It’s not a group for family lawyers, so, as you can probably...

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  In all honesty, most attorneys in the Hampton Roads area have a pretty high degree of familiarity with military divorces. In fact, in many ways, military divorces aren’t really all that different from regular, ‘civilian’ divorces. Divorce is never ‘one size fits all’, whether military or not, but there are some general basics that...

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Child Abuse Cases in Virginia

  I’ve said it before and, though it pains me, I’ll say it again. Where domestic violence and child abuse are concerned, the court is very, very jaded. It’s not just the courts, either. Attorneys, too, can become jaded. We hear terrible stories, day in and day out, and, sometimes, they’re not true, or they’re...

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Everyone wants a free consultation – but, of course, that’s not really something that family law attorneys are known for. Though there may be the odd new attorney starting out who offers a free consultation (no, I can’t provide a list – sorry, I don’t actually know myself), that is definitely the exception and not...

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I have a case where everything is negotiated down to one of the tiniest points imaginable. Without giving specifics, I’ll just say that it amounts to about an hour or parenting time one day a year – literally, one single hour. No one is budging. In my client’s defense, her husband has been fairly abusive...

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Your Boundaries and Virginia Divorce

Boundaries are a hard thing for women everywhere. There are a million reasons, but I think that most of us feel essentially required to take care of the feelings of everyone around us. The feeling that we’ve disappointed someone is almost physically painful, and we take a lot of abuse – we’re programmed, in a...

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I don’t want anything but a divorce.

  Maybe you suspect things will be difficult. Maybe he’s refusing outright to sign anything that you prepare. Maybe there’s legitimately nothing to divide in your divorce. For whatever reason, you tell your attorney, “I don’t want anything from him – anything at all – except a divorce.” When people tell me that, it makes...

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Personality Disorders and Divorce

It’s probably safe to say that, in divorce, most rational people end up settling. In terms of the financial outlay, it makes sense. Not just in the sense of what it costs to hire an attorney – which can be substantial – but in terms of the money involved in the marriage itself. You probably...

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