Legal separation in Virginia is simple to define: when one person forms the intent to end the marriage, the parties become legally separated. You don’t have to go down to the courthouse or file any paperwork. It’s that way in some states, but in Virginia it’s much easier. Of course, legal separation comes with its...
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As far as custody cases go, primary physical custody is pretty much the holy grail. I have clients all the time who tell me that they want sole custody, but these days, that’s really not something that happens. So what is the court looking at when making a decision? That’s a great question. First of...
The Virginia divorce process can basically go in one of two ways: either your divorce is litigated and it follows the steps set by the local circuit court, or it is uncontested and you negotiate a separation agreement. It is possible to have some sort of combination of the two, where you either start out...
In most cases, no fault divorces are much easier than fault-based divorces because you don’t have to spend the time in court proving that your fault grounds exist. There are two different kinds of no-fault divorces: contested, and uncontested. Either a fault-based or a no-fault based divorce can be contested. By “contested,” I mean that...
I always try to urge my clients to think carefully about whether they want to pursue a fault-based divorce rather than a no-fault one. Normally, we take a look at the situation together, and try to come up with a plan that best addresses her unique concerns. In most cases, it’s really not worth it...
Because divorce is divided into only two categories (fault and no fault), people tend to gravitate towards wanting to call their divorce a “fault” divorce. I can understand. When a marriage disintegrates, there is a lot of anger and hurt feelings, so it’s soothing to somehow find a way to make your divorce say “it...
There is life after divorce. You may not realize it now, but there will come a time when you think about your divorce less and less. As time goes on, the old wounds heal. You’ll come out smarter, stronger, better than you were when you started the process, and you’ll have a better idea of...
Husbands can be tricky. That’s part of the reason why our law firm is dedicated to helping women only in divorce and custody cases. We’ve seen some terrible, terrible things happen, and we wanted to do what we could to help prevent these things from continuing to happen. When I started, I was amazed at...