The worst days are the days when we lose. And, look, the truth is that, sometimes, we all lose. In fact, I’d say that, in most cases, we feel like we almost always lose at least a little bit; that’s just the nature of divorce and custody. Few cases are ones where the outcome is...
When good moms lose custody
Going through a custody case is harrowing in the best circumstances (is that an oxymoron?) but it’s even worse when your soon-to-be ex is an alcoholic or struggles with substance abuse issues. And you know what’s worse than that? Knowing he’s an alcoholic but without having information or evidence to back it up. You’ve seen...
Every case is unique and presents its own specific challenges. In every case, your family law attorney is looking for those little golden nuggets of information that will make all the difference in your case. The trouble is that, unless you know where to look, we may be just guessing. Oftentimes, of course, our guesses...
The other day, I got a family law question I had never gotten before. “Can I ask you about my parent’s divorce?” it read. I had commented on a local moms group, identified myself as a lawyer (hopefully not in an obnoxious, know-it-all kind of way), and this was one of the comments. “Yes,” I...
One of the most difficult forms of abuse – whether it’s an ongoing pattern of abuse or whether it’s post separation abuse – is when dad refuses to allow mom to seek appropriate medical care for the child(ren) in her care. He either says he doesn’t believe the diagnosis, he disagrees with the type of...
For most people, there is a period of time between separation and divorce where the soon-to-be divorcing parties live together under the same roof, often with their children. This is not so much a desirable situation – in fact, I think you could easily argue that it is anything BUT desirable – but it is...
One disservice that I think fault-based divorce does for people who live in states – like Virginia – that allow for fault-based divorce is that it puts them in a frame of mind where proving that someone is to blame for the marriage ending is somehow important. I’ll be clear, right up front: divorce is...
Child and mother sabotage – or CAMS – is a different way to describe a form of coercive control where dads try to alienate children from their mothers. It’s sort of parental alienation adjacent, but it’s important to be careful when you use the words parental alienation. While I recognize that parents can and do...