Just because you want a divorce doesn’t necessarily mean that you really know what you are entitled to receive – or, even more than that, what it might look like after the ink is dry on your final divorce decree. Hey, that’s okay! You’ve probably never been in this position before and, heck, even if...
What can I ask for in my Virginia divorce?
I used to get lots of questions about common law marriage. Lately, well, not so much – until the other day. A woman asked me what, in my opinion, was a very perceptive question about whether marriage is designed to be a safeguard to protect spouses (and, in particular, lesser earning spouses). Most of the...
Spousal support is one of the more contentious topics in family law, as I’m sure you’re already aware. In Virginia, the law on spousal support is not at all like child support, which is established by a formula and applied across the board. No, spousal support is a lot more flexible on three points –...
Some things are easier to determine than others when it comes to resolving your divorce case and, unfortunately, spousal support is one of the trickier areas. Not only has the landscape changed dramatically in recent years – even in just the thirteen years I’ve been practicing, as of the date of this writing –...
By any reckoning, 15 years is a fairly lengthy marriage. At some point – and I’d theorize that’s somewhere along the ten year mark – there comes a time when, even if you break up, you and your soon-to-be ex owe something to each other. The longer the marriage, the more difficult it is to...
In virtually every case I’ve seen, spousal support is a specific amount of money paid each month from the higher earning spouse to the lower earning spouse. In virtually every case I’ve seen, the higher earning spouse hates this. Like, really, really hates this. In virtually every case I’ve seen, he (it’s usually a he)...
Spousal support is always – always – a hot button issue. There are very few things we can say ‘always’ about in family law, but the fact that spousal support is contentious is pretty much a given. No one wants to pay it. It’s also not something that is awarded in every case. There...
Historically, divorce has been a bit of taboo. Henry VIII’s legacy notwithstanding, even the British royal family has had its own issues with its various brushes with divorce. In fact, Princess Margaret was the first to divorce in the immediate royal family – in 1978 – since Henry VIII, when he divorced Anne of Cleves...