Having exclusive possession of the home – the marital residence – is a big deal for a lot of women facing divorce and custody cases. Many couples ultimately decide to live separate under the same roof for their period of legal separation up until their divorce, but, for others, that may seem like a complete...
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One of the first questions we normally get in a divorce case is, “how much will it cost?” While it’s generally impossible to provide a ballpark estimate that satisfies a potential client, there are some generalizations we can make. On a phone call the other day, we were asked whether a divorce would cost more...
Money is often at the top of the list of questions that most women have when it comes to hiring a family law attorney. It’s also one of the hardest questions to answer, even as a divorce attorney with over a decade of experience representing women exclusively in Virginia. The truth is, it depends....
In family law, there are things that are pretty well established in black and white. And there are lots of other areas that offer various shades of gray. Most areas, in fact, are gray and are ultimately heavily dependent on the specific facts involved. It’s what makes answering just a ‘simple’ legal question so...
On Wednesday, we talked about ‘parenting time’ and what that means in a custody and visitation case in Virginia. Essentially, what it all boils down to is finding more correct – and less alienating – ways to describe the way families parent their children. Though some of the more negative language is still in our...
When it comes to understanding family law, a lot comes down to understanding the specific vocabulary that we – attorneys, judges, Guardians ad litem, custody evaluators, and others – use to describe them. Some of that is actual legal language. The worst of it is literally in Latin – yes, Latin! – but there’s plenty...
Everyone – yes, everyone – comes to us with ‘just a little’ question they want answered. While the question may seem little to you, to a divorce attorney it’s probably anything but. Lawyers famously answer questions with two little words: “It depends.” And you can probably get that answer, at least, for free. In...
In the majority of cases, it’s clear where a divorce or custody case should take place. For people who separate and live under the same roof, or for people who’ve always lived in Virginia, whose children go to schools in Virginia, or whatever, it’s probably pretty clear that the case is going to be handled...