Can I go to the kid’s events during dad’s parenting time?

Question: My child’s father and I share custody.  Our child is involved in a number of activities and there are practices, games, recitals, meets, and more, all on a regular basis.  I’ve always taken the child to everything, and I’ve never missed a game or performance, but now that we’re divorced, my child’s father is...

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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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How to Argue Against 50/50 Custody

Even though Virginia does not assume 50/50 custody – the statute actually just says that the court must consider all forms of custody equally – it is still often the starting point in many custody cases, especially contested ones. I’m not a fan of automatic 50/50 custody; I think it creates a situation focused on...

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Going to court is – by almost any metric – the nuclear option in a family law case.  Literally everyone is scared of it and almost anyone would try to avoid it if there was any way at all.  Usually, though not always, it’s possible to negotiate outside of court.  In fact, most family law...

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When dad refuses to allow medical treatment

One of the most difficult forms of abuse – whether it’s an ongoing pattern of abuse or whether it’s post separation abuse – is when dad refuses to allow mom to seek appropriate medical care for the child(ren) in her care. He either says he doesn’t believe the diagnosis, he disagrees with the type of...

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Relocation – How Far Can I Go?

Not all relocation cases are the same because not all moves are the same.  Relocation is one thing if you and your child’s father are going to live across the country from each other; it’s another thing if you are going to be just on the other side of the HRBT. Generally speaking, when we’re...

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What does supervised visitation mean?

In most cases, both parents will have the opportunity to have uninterrupted, unsupervised parenting time with their minor children, whether by agreement between the parties or by court order. In extreme cases, though, it is possible that the court would order one party or the other to have supervised visitation.  This will usually be in...

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The legal process is not at all intuitive, so if you’re wondering what to expect – well, that makes a lot of sense.  Custody cases are some of the more challenging cases to navigate, too, because they’re handled in juvenile and domestic relations district courts, which – if you’ve had any run ins with the...

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