Articles

Ignoring Your Lawyer’s Advice

I get it. Lawyers tell you things sometimes that you just don’t want to hear. They give you advice and maybe, while you sat in your attorney’s office, you thought you were going to follow it. When you got home, though, other things confronted you, distracted you, and made it difficult for you to do...

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Between part 1 and part two of this article, we’ve talked about a lot of things that can come up in spousal support cases, including recent changes to the law that impact both the modifiability of spousal support and the tax consequences associated with it. We’ve also discussed, pretty generally, how spousal support is awarded –...

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On Monday we talked about spousal support, including how it’s calculated, and what factors affect whether it’ll be awarded. Today, we’re going to go into even more detail, discussing adultery and it’s impact on spousal support, imputation of income, voluntary underemployment, modifiability, and tax consequences associated with support. For more information on these topics, let’s...

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Virginia Woman’s Guide to Spousal Support

I get it. Spousal support is complicated. And not just that, but keeping everything else in mind that will matter during the course of your divorce is complicated. It’s scary, when you don’t know what’s going to happen to you or your children, and your finances are sort of tenuous at best. If you’ve been...

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Ignoring Your Attorney’s Advice Part 2

  On Monday, we discussed common situations that we see in divorce and custody cases, and when a person’s decisions can have unintended consequences. Most people realize that, when you talk with a lawyer, they’ll give you advice. Most people don’t think beyond that word – advice – to the fact that what the attorney...

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Part One Under Virginia law (well, under the law in every state, as far as I’m aware), both parents have an obligation to support their children. For many people, it’s a non issue – parents who are together tend to share expenses and mutually care for the children. For parents who are separated, divorced, or...

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Women ask me all the time whether they can represent themselves in their custody cases. I get it – attorneys are expensive. And probably fairly intimidating, especially if you don’t have much experience with the process. Technically, the answer is yes. You are allowed to represent yourself in a divorce or custody case (because, of...

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Staying in an Unhappy Marriage for the Kids

I get it. Your kids are your life, and there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for them, including (but not limited to) staying in your unhappy marriage. But what’s the right choice? Do you stay, knowing that it’s entirely possible that your kids are aware of more tension than you even realize? Or do you go,...

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