Articles

It feels better to operate offensively than defensively, doesn’t it? One of the worst things about divorce and custody cases for many of my clients is that they just don’t know what their husbands/children’s fathers are up to. Things aren’t going well, and there are some major disagreements, so you’re worried that something bigger is...

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Shared Custody: The New Rules

In July of 2018, the law regarding custody was revised. The statute now specifically provides that “[t]here shall be no presumption in favor of any form of custody.” Based on wording alone, I’m not sure that this represents any real legal change at all. I was actually already under the impression that judges considered all...

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Over time, the law changes and evolves. I see trends – even just in the 8 or so years that I’ve been practicing – come and go. It’s funny how that can happen, but, in custody cases, so much is left up to the judge’s discretion. These things really can be different year over year,...

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Emergency Petitions for Custody in Virginia

When I was a kid, I took the whole “boy who cried wolf” story a little too seriously. I vividly remember being told about 911, and how it was only to be used in emergencies. I vaguely remember a terrible impression that bad things happened to people who called 911 when it wasn’t an emergency....

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When coparents are petty

I heard a new one the other day. It doesn’t happen all that often, at this stage in the game, but yesterday it did. I was talking to a woman who told me that her child’s father, after their divorce, tried to one-up her in every single way imaginable – even with the tooth fairy!...

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Health Insurance Coverage After Divorce

Health insurance coverage post-divorce is one of the things that I often see that keeps people married for long after they want to be. I have plenty of cases sitting on my shelf where we’ve negotiated a separation agreement but the parties ultimately decide not to finalize the divorce because they’re receiving health care coverage....

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Child support guidelines are not generous, and breaking up with your child’s father is not cheap. You want to make sure that you’ve asked all the right questions so that you can support your children as well as possible. Child support guidelines are pretty simple, really. They’re based on certain information – the custodial arrangement...

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Leases and Divorce If you and your soon-to-be ex husband don’t own real estate together, well, then, that’s one less thing to fight over or worry about. Whether one of you buys out the interest of the other or you decide to sell your home, there are almost always some difficulties. If you sell the...

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