Virginia Parenting Plans and Parenting Time

Virginia Parenting Plans and Parenting Time

Parenting Plans and Parenting Time These days, its probably safe to say that shared custody is more the norm than primary physical custody, except in cases where the parties agree otherwise.  There is no explicit, legal presumption for shared custody in Virginia, though; in fact, the law only provides that the judge should consider “all”...

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Virginia Divorce After 10 Years of Marriage

They say that marriages fall apart in increments of 7 – 7 years, 14 years, 21 years, and so on.  It’s where the whole “Seven Year Itch” thing came from.  In a lot of ways, I see it.  Even though the first year of marriage is sometimes tumultuous, people tend to settle into a groove...

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Virginia Divorce After 5 Years of Marriage

Marriage doesn’t always last forever, and that’s okay.  In fact, I generally think that, the shorter the marriage, the easier the divorce, mostly because there’s not often THAT much to divide.  Life changing money usually isn’t made in just a few years, which means the stakes are generally correspondingly smaller. Why is that good?  It...

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Spare the Child: Virginia Custody Disputes

As everyone always says, there’s no book on how to be a good parent.  The nurses at the hospital didn’t send you home with a manual.  There are books and online courses and old wives tales, but there’s no consensus on how to raise a child in the best way possible. We all screw up...

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Talking With Your Kids About Divorce

There’s not a roadmap that comes along with any part of having kids.  From the time you leave the hospital until, well, I’m not sure when it ends, there’s really nothing out there that provides any kind of authoritative advice for what to do when difficult things happen. Likewise, there’s no manual for helping your...

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Child Abuse Cases in Virginia

  I’ve said it before and, though it pains me, I’ll say it again. Where domestic violence and child abuse are concerned, the court is very, very jaded. It’s not just the courts, either. Attorneys, too, can become jaded. We hear terrible stories, day in and day out, and, sometimes, they’re not true, or they’re...

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Recording Custody Exchanges

Coparenting is hard. It’s probably especially hard when it’s new and when everyone is still reeling from the shock of the break up, separation, or divorce. It’s hard, too, when holidays are coming up, when a new significant other is introduced, or when big changes (like a move or a new job) are on the...

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Will my child have to testify in Virginia?

In almost every case where child custody is a component – which can be either a petition or a modification of child custody, visitation, and/or child support at the juvenile court level, or a divorce where there are minor children involved – the mothers tell me that their main concern is their children. On some...

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