To put him on child support or to NOT put him on child support – that is the question! It’s a legitimate question, too, because filing a petition for child support can open the door to more custody litigation. Let’s talk about it. Filing petitions for child custody, visitation, and child support In Virginia, if...
Do I need to put my child’s father on child support?
Online, you’ll find any number of so-called (self-proclaimed) experts in family law. From divorce coaches to mediators to regular parents who’ve just been through a (usually high conflict) divorce or custody case themselves. This is often great. Divorce coaches can do things – and give advice – that I can’t in the sense that it...
Navigating a new – or even a long term – coparenting relationship is challenging no matter what, but it’s especially challenging when you know (or suspect) that your child’s father does not have all the things in his home that he really needs to welcome the kids on his parenting time. So, what do you...
It’s a tale as old as time, I’m afraid. Ever since child support guidelines have been tied to the amount of parenting time that each parent gets, all sorts of disputes have come up about who gets what time and what, exactly, that time looks like. The other day, I shared an article about how...
It happens all the time. He just wants to be a dad, he says, so he asks for 50/50 – only for you to find out that his version of 50/50 means that he puts the kids in childcare, tries to lump this cost into the child support guideline, and doesn’t care that you are...
This July 1 will mark a big change for Virginia law – and we want you to be among the first to hear about it. Actually, it’s important that you not just hear about it, but you actually understand what the law is trying to do. Virginia has always recognized both a divorce from bed...
The summer vacation can bring all sorts of changes to your regularly scheduled programming – and that can be good, bad, incredibly stressful, and wildly expensive, especially for working parents with little flexibility. Even though the school year has its own challenging moments – sick days, snow or other inclement weather days (even ones, like...
A GAL is a Guardian ad litem. A Guardian ad litem is an attorney appointed by the court to represent a person who, legally at least, is considered unable to represent themselves. In Virginia, we see GALs appointed in a couple of different scenarios – in cases where a party is incarcerated or where they...