In Virginia, there is no requirement that you hire an attorney to represent you in a divorce or custody case, whether at the juvenile or circuit court level (or even beyond, if your case merits an appeal). If you choose not to hire an attorney, you represent yourself. We call people who represent themselves pro...
How do I know if I need a VA family law attorney?
Does it matter who files first in Virginia divorce or custody? I was recently reading a book, “The Respondent”, about a dad who faced a divorce and ongoing custody battle in California, allegedly as a result of the lies his wife told about his relationship with his two young boys. I have a lot of...
Domestic violence is a very real issue in family law cases; it’s one we brush up against all the time. It was something that surprised me when I first started, because even in the most otherwise normal cases, there were undercurrents of domestic violence. A friend of mine from law school is a prosecutor,...
I’ve been practicing family law for close to a decade now, and, even in that time, I’ve seen a lot of major changes to how we do things that (I think, anyway!) are really interesting. One of the biggest changes I’ve seen is that, instead of doing uncontested divorce hearings regularly, almost all of our...
I talk a lot about separation agreements – those legal contracts negotiated between husbands and wives that divide up the marital assets and liabilities between the parties so that they can get an uncontested divorce without even going to court. But not every divorce follows this familiar path. Sometimes, for one reason or another, one...
If carrying his name after divorce really gets under your skin, I have good news for you. It’s super easy to petition the court for a name change to resume a former or maiden name during the divorce process. Of course, for many people, keeping the same name as the kids is important, even if...
To cut to the chase and state the obvious as simply as possible: if there’s no custody order in place (as in, you and your child’s father have never (1) been to court to let a judge determine custody, and (2) you’ve never signed an agreement related to custody and visitation), both you and your...
I find there’s often a lot of confusion about what it means to serve someone and at what point you have someone served in a divorce case. There’s so much confusion, and it’s really almost nearly universal, that I feel like service of process is something worthy of the devotion of an entire article. What...