There are very few easy situations when it comes to custody, visitation, child support, and blended families. It seems to me that, even in the cases that proceed fairly smoothly (or, at least, without litigation), there’s a fair amount of heartache and difficulty. I’ve said it before, but I think it bears mentioning again. A...
Blending Families After Divorce
Cases where we know – or suspect – that there’s abuse happening are some of the worst for about a million different reasons. If you just take them at face value, there’s the obvious issue that we’re concerned that a child is suffering physical, emotional, or sexual abuse at the hands of their other parent....
A friend of mine is getting a divorce. Just like everyone else, it happens from time to time, but an occupational hazard of mine is that they all reach out to me for advice and general support. It’s just the way it goes. It’s a time of crisis, especially in the beginning. And though...
You’ve probably heard a lot about father’s rights groups. They’re all over the place, campaigning for 50/50 custody, and arguing that dads should have more of a role in raising their children. You probably haven’t heard a lot about mother’s rights groups. They…don’t really exist. Though there may, in fact, be a need for them...
When, exactly, to file for custody and visitation is going to depend a lot on what your goals are. Are you looking to deal with school enrollment, trying to secure a relocation before the new school year starts, trying to resolve something related to holiday visitation, or something totally different? There are a lot of...
Child custody is complicated, especially because it’s really never absolutely final. Under Virginia law, anything related to the children, including child custody, visitation, and child support, are always modifiable based on a material change in circumstances, up until the time the child turns 18 and is no longer legally considered a child. School enrollment...
Custody litigation presents a million different ways for mothers to be caught in a potentially devastating catch-22, especially in cases where the non-custodial parent seems to be at something of a disadvantage. Lately, I’ve seen several different cases where, for example, a mother was granted sole legal and primary physical custody, with very narrow...
It’s probably not what you envisioned when you thought about what life would be like as an adult. The marriage, the home, the 2.5 kids, the golden retriever… but, then again, so many things are different than what we envisioned, and that doesn’t necessarily make them any less wonderful (or, conversely, make them less...