Being legally separated isn’t a comfortable place to be. Whether you’re living separate under the same roof or you’ve actually physically separated from your soon to be ex spouse, it’s not a period of time that many people look back on fondly. No matter what choices you’ve made, it’s a period of transition, and...
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The fact that, in English, the words ‘negotiation’, ‘mediation’, and ‘collaboration’ mean something close to the same thing creates confusion for a lot of women who are new to the world of divorce and the terms that people familiar with it use to describe certain parts of the practice. On Wednesday, we discussed negotiation, which...
There’s a lot of confusion about divorce options, especially because the words we use – negotiation, collaboration, and mediation, especially – sound the same to most non-lawyers. I find that people tend to have a lot of difficulty in using the words correctly, and in understanding the legal processes at work behind the scenes of...
Kids, even from a very young age, have very strong opinions about a lot of things. Some are logical and some, well, are not. If you’ve ever been around a small child, you’ve probably seen this firsthand. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cut a sandwich “the wrong way” (even if it was...
On Wednesday, we began to talk about your options in Virginia divorce. It’s really important to have an idea about the choices you can make, and how those choices will ultimately impact the outcome in your case. If you just go to an attorney, chances are good that you’ll hear primarily about litigated and negotiated...
One of the problems with divorce is that there are so few people out there who can actually help you find the actual best way forward for you in your unique case. Mediators preach mediation. Lawyers litigate. Those two are very narrow, in terms of options, don’t you think? It can feel really hard to...
I get it. If you’ve decided that your marriage is over and you’re ready to get a divorce, you want everything to be over as quickly as possible. Technically, in Virginia, you have to be separated for a year to get a divorce. There are just a couple of exceptions, but you have to...
Though spousal support typically takes a predictable shape, in the form of monthly payments over a certain period of time, it doesn’t have to be so. It’s probably true that, if you litigate your case in front of a judge in the Virginia circuit court, it will take that predictable form, assuming you’re awarded...