Death, Remarriage, Cohabitation: Termination of VA Spousal Support

Though the laws vary (sometimes dramatically!) from state-to-state, the law in Virginia is that spousal support terminates in three specific circumstances: (1) the death of either party, (2) the remarriage of the recipient party, and (3) the continued cohabitation of the recipient party in a relationship analogous to marriage for a period of one year...

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Virginia Separate Debt in Divorce

We talked the other day about debt when it is marital and how it is often divided in a divorce.  But marital ASSETS are categorized as either separate or marital before they are divided – so what happens in the event that debt is separate?  It’s a good question. Typically, separate property is anything that...

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Virginia Marital versus Separate Debt

Though we talk a lot about division of the assets, we often spend a lot less time talking about division of debt.  Even though dividing debt is always an important part of a divorce, it tends to take a backseat – not because it’s not important, but probably more because it’s a whole lot less...

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We talked the other day about how dating might impact an award of spousal support.  I had originally intended to write about both child and spousal support in the same article, but it just ended up being too complicated, so I split into the two articles.  You can check out the spousal support article here....

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Will you firm work with me?

I was talking to a woman the other day who sort of surprised me. “I have ADHD and Asperger’s,” she said. “I know it’s not always easy, and people get frustrated with me. Would you firm be able to work with me?” I was surprised she asked, for one thing. Though many of us have...

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Separate, Reconcile, or Divorce?

Relationships are complicated. I’m sure you already know that. But it does bear mentioning, in any case, because it gets to the root of what we do here. Sometimes, it seems as though it doesn’t make any sense, least of all to us, who know one party only a little and the other not at...

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In the law, we like to use terms that other people don’t understand. “Manifest injustice,” “best interests of the child,” “continued cohabitation in a relationship analogous to marriage,” “material change of circumstances,” on and on, ad nauseum. Oh, right – and the Latin! Pendente lite, habeas corpus, pro bono, a mensa et thoro, ad litem,...

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I was reading a quote the other day that said that the best thing you can do for a narcissist is to give him a child. That was it – that was the end of the quote – but it really did get me thinking. It probably is the best thing you can do, because...

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