Articles

The internet is a dangerous place.  It’s a place where its difficult to tell an expert from a novice, and where each freely, generously, and emphatically give their own opinions.  Sometimes, the two coexist side by side, and it can be hard to determine which is correct. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve...

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Virginia Parenting Plans and Parenting Time

Parenting Plans and Parenting Time These days, its probably safe to say that shared custody is more the norm than primary physical custody, except in cases where the parties agree otherwise.  There is no explicit, legal presumption for shared custody in Virginia, though; in fact, the law only provides that the judge should consider “all”...

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Virginia Divorce After 20 Years of Marriage

  You’ve been married a really long time.  At this point, probably almost every asset (or liability) you can think of is one that was earned, purchased, or acquired during the marriage.  While it doesn’t have to be harder to end a longer marriage as opposed to a shorter one, there are often a lot...

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Virginia Divorce After 15 Years of Marriage

By any reckoning, 15 years is a fairly lengthy marriage.  At some point – and I’d theorize that’s somewhere along the ten year mark – there comes a time when, even if you break up, you and your soon-to-be ex owe something to each other. The longer the marriage, the more difficult it is to...

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Virginia Divorce After 10 Years of Marriage

They say that marriages fall apart in increments of 7 – 7 years, 14 years, 21 years, and so on.  It’s where the whole “Seven Year Itch” thing came from.  In a lot of ways, I see it.  Even though the first year of marriage is sometimes tumultuous, people tend to settle into a groove...

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Virginia Divorce After 5 Years of Marriage

Marriage doesn’t always last forever, and that’s okay.  In fact, I generally think that, the shorter the marriage, the easier the divorce, mostly because there’s not often THAT much to divide.  Life changing money usually isn’t made in just a few years, which means the stakes are generally correspondingly smaller. Why is that good?  It...

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Hey, it’s okay!  If you only recently got married, and you’ve started to think that maybe it was a mistake, I can tell you that you’re definitely not alone.  In fact, I think you’re one of the luckier ones.  After a year or less, there’s often very little to divide, and no one is so...

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What is parental kidnapping?

It might not seem possible, but, under the law, a parent can kidnap his or her own child.  It’s not common – in fact, it’s actually quite rare – but its something that can and does happen, and that you should be aware of.   Parental kidnapping happens when a parent takes a child in...

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