Part One Under Virginia law (well, under the law in every state, as far as I’m aware), both parents have an obligation to support their children. For many people, it’s a non issue – parents who are together tend to share expenses and mutually care for the children. For parents who are separated, divorced, or...
A Guide to Child Support for Virginia Moms: Part One
Women ask me all the time whether they can represent themselves in their custody cases. I get it – attorneys are expensive. And probably fairly intimidating, especially if you don’t have much experience with the process. Technically, the answer is yes. You are allowed to represent yourself in a divorce or custody case (because, of...
There is no shortage of ways that sly fathers will seek to avoid responsibility for their child support obligations. I’ve seen a lot of creative solutions – and even outright requests for downward deviations from the guideline amount of child support – over the years. One of the trickiest ways I’ve seen a child’s father...
Under the law, a child magically becomes an adult on their 18th birthday. But what does that mean, and how does it impact custody and visitation? When you have an older teenaged child, what options do you have? What does the court allow? These are all good questions, and, if you’re the parent of an...
Temporary Agreements are complicated issues in divorce and custody cases. If your husband (or child’s father) proposes one, you should proceed with extreme caution. That being said, we often use temporary agreements for all sorts of reasons. I’m working on one right now for a client who needs custody and spousal support determined on a...
Under Virginia law, you are free to elect to handle your own family law case in the Virginia courts. Depending on the complexity of your case and the issues involved, though, it may be more or less possible to do so. Family law cases cover several varieties – juvenile court cases (custody, visitation, child support,...
No way around it, dividing up parenting time with your child’s father is a scary task. For most moms, the thought that you won’t be able to be with your child any time you like is overwhelming. It’s especially overwhelming since July 1, since new legislation came down. I wrote a post awhile back updating...
Custody cases are about as common as…well, something that’s very common. We see them literally all the time, and they can come about in a bunch of different ways. Obviously, you don’t have to be married to have a custody case; you just have to share a child in common with your former partner. So,...