Prenuptial agreements are pretty commonly misunderstood. I often hear that someone should may consider a prenup if they had substantial assets before the marriage that they wanted to protect. Under Virginia law, though, property that you earned or owned prior to marriage is already separate – it’s already yours, it stays yours, and it doesn’t...
Should I sign this prenup?
Women sometimes look for an out of area lawyer for a number of reasons. Distrust in the system generally is sometimes one. Another might be that you come from a smaller community, and your husband has already sought out and maybe interviewed with the most prominent attorneys there. (Because of attorney ethical rules, if an...
I heard a new one the other day. It doesn’t happen all that often, at this stage in the game, but yesterday it did. I was talking to a woman who told me that her child’s father, after their divorce, tried to one-up her in every single way imaginable – even with the tooth fairy!...
Leases and Divorce If you and your soon-to-be ex husband don’t own real estate together, well, then, that’s one less thing to fight over or worry about. Whether one of you buys out the interest of the other or you decide to sell your home, there are almost always some difficulties. If you sell the...
Probably one of my absolute least favorite things in the entire world is when I have a consultation, and she tells me that she has court next week (or tomorrow, or in two days). So, yeah, next week is always kind of tricky – especially if your court hearing would require any kind of preparation...
Sometimes, women come to me and ask me my opinion – not on a legal issue or point of law, but my personal opinion about their personal situation. I get it; I’ve been there, too. I often ask professionals, “What would you do, in my position?” so I can understand why this question would come...
Some of the most frequently asked questions we get are about money, and how it all works when you hire a divorce lawyer. It’s a little extra confusing because different attorneys handle money differently, so, if you’re not already fairly familiar with how law firms do things, it can look a little wonky. There are...
On Monday, we discussed common situations that we see in divorce and custody cases, and when a person’s decisions can have unintended consequences. Most people realize that, when you talk with a lawyer, they’ll give you advice. Most people don’t think beyond that word – advice – to the fact that what the attorney...