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...
Does Virginia recognize common law marriage?
Just because you and your child’s father share a child (or multiple children) does not mean that you agree about where you should live as you raise them. Divorce often has an immediate impact on a family unit in the sense that one (or both) or the child(ren)’s biological parents would prefer to live somewhere...
There are all sorts of different moms out there in the world and, as a mom, I know how important it is to feel recognized and appreciated for the decisions that you are trying to make to ensure that your children grow up to be the best, happiest, healthiest versions of themselves. Probably, when you’re...
Child and mother sabotage – or CAMS – is a different way to describe a form of coercive control where dads try to alienate children from their mothers. It’s sort of parental alienation adjacent, but it’s important to be careful when you use the words parental alienation. While I recognize that parents can and do...
In all too many child custody cases, the allegations made by the other side are complete and total lies. Or, maybe they’re not COMPLETE lies, but they’re based on one tiny little nugget of information that is conflated to mean something that it doesn’t. What’s the worst thing they could say about you? You definitely...
There has been so much – sooo much – discussion, especially online, about parental alienation that it’s easy to get confused. Some camps maintain that parental alienation isn’t a thing, while others hammer the point home; and, in any case, you may have seen stories about children in other states who have been sent...
Most of the time, even when their parents are going through a divorce, kids are wonderfully resilient. Sometimes, though, the issues exacerbated by the divorce – especially if their dad is a high conflict, mentally ill, abusive, obnoxious, or otherwise unstable – can create a perfect storm for a child. In some cases, kids...
There are all sorts of issues to work through when you’re navigating a new coparenting relationship – and not all of them are your issues specifically. If you have tiny humans depending on you, you’re going to have to help them navigate their new normal, all while it’s completely foreign to you, too. Not...