The law breaks down property into essentially two kinds: real property, and personal property. Real property is real estate, so any land, property, or other homes that you may own would fall under this category. Personal property, on the other hand, is pretty much everything else, including cars, money, investments, jewelry, clothing, household appliances, sporting...
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How do you know whether you’ll qualify to receive alimony? Actually, these days, alimony is more commonly referred to as spousal support. Why? Well, mostly, because spousal support is considered a more “gender neutral” term. It used to be that it was always the women who received alimony from their ex-husbands; these days, a husband...
So, who keeps the house? In most divorces, this is a loaded question. Usually, there’s some sort of problem. Either both parties want it, neither wants it, or one wants it for far, far less than the other is willing to give it up for. I get it: the house is an important piece of...
We’ve all heard horror stories about terrible divorces that end up as full-fledged wars. In an effort to avoid those kinds of situations, more and more women come into my office asking about mediated and collaborative divorces. Collaborative divorce, especially, is really popular these days. What’s collaborative divorce? Collaborative divorce is an alternative to traditional...
A separation agreement is a legal contract between you and your husband that specifically sets forth the obligations of both parties after the dissolution of the marriage. It handles things like spousal support, child support, custody, and how the marital assets will be divided. I like to encourage my clients to think of these as...
It always surprises me that many normally rational women will come in to my office and say things like, “I know I don’t have a right to that; he told me so!” I really don’t understand why these same women will then tell me that he’s a habitual liar. “You can’t trust anything he says,”...
Divorce is difficult under the best of situations, but when children are involved, it’s an entirely different ball game. It means that you and your ex will never truly be free from one another, and that, at least for so long as your children are minors, you will have to work together to promote your...
If you’re considering a divorce, you should get to know the child custody laws in Virginia. Divorce is a difficult time for a family, particularly the children, and the courts take child custody matters very seriously. Because the best interests of the child are the priority when deciding child custody in Virginia, the law takes...