Custody cases are messy, and sometimes it really starts to feel like anything goes. Allegations fly back and forth, and it quickly becomes a battle of he said/she said. Parents understand, usually, that it’ll be difficult for a judge or a guardian ad litem to really get to the meat of the case because there...
Kids as Witnesses in Virginia Custody Case
It happens semi regularly that we end up with a client who has moved with her child (or children) to another state over dad’s objection. If dad doesn’t care, it’s not a really big deal. If he does, though, and he files an emergency petition for custody, you could find yourself up the proverbial creek...
In the movies, children are often asked to decide which parent they want to live with after a divorce. In popular culture, too, I think the understanding is there that, at a certain point, a kid can make decisions for himself about where he’ll spend the majority of his time.In the movies, children are often...
One of the questions I get all the time is, “What if my child doesn’t want to go to visitation?” Or, “if she’s sick, do I have to make her go?” In general, “Do I have to make my child go?” is a big one, and it can crop up in all sorts of different...
When things don’t work out between you and your child’s father, it often leads to a tumultuous transitional period. Whether you were married or not, separating often means finding a new place to live. Depending on your socioeconomic and employment status, finding somewhere new may be a more difficult proposition for you than for others...
When it comes to custody and visitation of minor children in Virginia, not very many things are set in stone, especially if the parents are able to reach an agreement about how they plan to work together to co parent their children. There aren’t a lot of hard and fast rules when it comes to...
Divorce and custody cases do all sorts of things to people. Things that, before the case were on the horizon, would have seemed unthinkable—in both good ways and bad. One of the most annoying things that happens is when a formerly deadbeat dad decides that he now wants custody, or at least wants more parenting...
Trials are tough. They’re really intimidating and, at the end of the day, it’s really hard to know how the cookie is going to crumble, so to speak. There’s a lot of risk inherent in leaving everything (especially when “everything” is as important as custody of your children!) up to a judge—the one person in...