Divorce is a challenge, no matter what. There are, though, some cases that are even more difficult than normal. It can be hard, in the very early days, to accurately judge a case and determine whether *this* case will be one of the more difficult ones. One of the hardest things to navigate – in...
Why isn’t there any movement in my divorce case?
Virginia is restrictive when it comes to divorce, just because of the waiting period required before you can even file for a no fault divorce. Here in the Commonwealth, you have to be separated for ONE year before you can finalize a divorce using the fault based grounds of cruelty, apprehension of bodily hurt,...
The whole point of a legal contract – any contract – is to establish specific terms governing a certain situation. When we’re talking about divorce, we use a separation agreement. When it comes to custody and visitation, we’re either talking about an initial determination or a modification, but the same goal exists: to agree, rather...
Discovery – whether as part of a divorce or a child custody case – is essentially the same. It’s the legal process we use to determine and gain access to the information that we don’t have. In a divorce case, much of the information we’re looking for is financial, especially if our client has stayed...
If you don’t want to have a trial in your court case, you have to settle your case first. In a divorce or custody context, settlement is achieved when there is a signed agreement negotiated between the parties. In a divorce case, you would sign and negotiate a separation agreement – a legal contract that...
I’m biased. I’m a lawyer. I earn my living handling family law cases on behalf of the women who become my clients. Also, because I am a lawyer I also (1) see the people who can’t resolve things on their own (and very few of the people who can), and (2) deal, essentially, in worst-case...
Separation isn’t always the road to divorce. For some couples, probably for more couples than I even realize (because, let’s be honest, I have an unbalanced sampling), separation ultimately leads not to divorce but to reconciliation. That’s as it should be. I believe that women who want a divorce should be able to get one,...
I don’t want to mislead you, so I’ll tell you from the first sentence: I am not aware of any reputable Hampton Roads, Virginia-based family law attorneys that take payment plans. I know – hiring an attorney is expensive. Generally speaking, family law attorneys work on retainers, which means that you have to pay a...