Can I just go watch a court hearing in Virginia?

Can I just go watch a court hearing in Virginia?

If your divorce or custody case is coming up soon and you’re in Virginia, it’s not a bad idea to consider going to court to watch a case in action – maybe even a case run by the judge who’ll be presiding over your case, if you know who that will be already. But –...

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Family Court Dress Code

It’s not superficial to be concerned with the way you present in public and, whether fortunately or unfortunately, the sartorial choices you’re making matter.  They matter across the board, but it definitely matters if you’re going to court in your family law case. Full disclosure: Virginia doesn’t technically have “family court,” or, at least, that’s...

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Welcome, Brittany Hudgens!

  This month, we’re giving the warmest welcome to Brittany Hudgens, the newest attorney in our Virginia Beach office!  Brittany is a graduate of Regent University and, most recently, practiced family law (among a few other things) with two other local area law firms.  She also worked for a time with the Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney...

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Depending on how long you’ve waited – and how soon your trial is –  you won’t have all available options if you wait until the last minute.  There is no specific legal right to assistance of counsel in family law cases (unlike in criminal cases) so, for the most part, if you can’t afford an...

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Who – or what – is a Guardian ad litem?

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...

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Whether you want to check the status of your own ongoing case – especially if you are not represented by an attorney – or you’re trying to check up on someone else’s divorce records, it’s relatively easy to get this information in Virginia. Where are divorces filed in Virginia? We have the Circuit Court Information...

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Relocation is one of the trickiest areas of child custody litigation in part because there are no hard and fast answers.  Whether you and your child’s father were married and are not separated and/or divorcing, or whether you were unmarried but share children in common, you will find that your ability to move wherever you...

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Everyone – and I do mean everyone – always wants to ask whether they need an attorney for such-and-such kind of a case.  And, while it’s true that you don’t ALWAYS need to hire an attorney, sometimes it can be hard to tell from the outside looking in, especially if your exposure to the case...

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