He’s taking money out of our IRA! What should I do?

All sorts of different things spur women to take action in their divorce cases. One of the more common things I hear is that a husband has taken a withdrawal from an investment account, usually without wife’s knowledge. Usually, these women come in, panicked, thinking that because of their husband’s sneaky behavior that there’ll be...

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Inconvenient Forum: Divorce Filed Far Away

Technically, any court anywhere in Virginia has jurisdiction over your divorce. So, even if you live in Virginia Beach, your husband could file for divorce in Fairfax, if he wanted to—just to be difficult. Usually it doesn’t happen just because someone wants to be difficult (because he’d have to drive to and from Fairfax for...

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Can I date now that I’m separated?

Some women swear that, after divorce, they’ll never date again. Others seem to find love again quickly and easily without really trying. Whatever your feelings are regarding love and relationships after divorce (though I can tell you that, statistically, you will find love again), you should also know that, before divorce, there are some issues....

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Use numbers: when settlement isn’t settling Mike and Karen are getting a divorce. In Karen’s initial consultation, I discovered that they owned a $300,000 house with $100,000 in equity. They each had 401(k) accounts, earned entirely during the marriage, worth about $125,000 each. They had about $60,000 in savings, and $5,000 in their checking account....

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Divorce Paperwork

You’ve Googled, and still you’ve found nowhere reputable that offers anything even close to approximating the kind of divorce paperwork you’d need to file for divorce on your own – without the help of a divorce and family law attorney – in Virginia. There’s Legal Aid, but, of course, they won’t help unless you’re really...

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When most attorneys talk about divorce, they give the impression that there are all sorts of different “types” of divorce—negotiation, collaboration, mediation, litigation—but the reality is that there are really only three real choices. You either (1) negotiate your divorce by signing a separation agreement and decide for yourself how your things will be divided,...

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Sometimes, my job isn’t fun, because sometimes I have to tell people things that they don’t want to hear. I like to give only good answers that make people (women specifically) feel happy and hopeful. That isn’t always possible, though. Sometimes, there aren’t great, exciting, happy, hopeful answers to give. And part of me doing...

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“I want a legal separation. How much will that cost?” It’s a common question, and I definitely understand why. For any couples who are on their way to a full fledged divorce in Virginia, a separation is the first stop. Divorce is one of those areas of law where things vary dramatically from state to...

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