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?
In case you haven’t heard, we just re-launched our super popular custody seminar, Custody Bootcamp for Moms, back in July – after a several year break because of the pandemic. Custody Bootcamp for Moms is an intense, all day seminar – taught by attorney Caitlin Walters, who has practiced family law in Virginia for...
Marriages of more than 30 years are sort of in their own category. Once you get to the point that you’ve spent three decades together, there’s no question that you’ve accumulated some joint assets. There are some things that are, generally speaking, easier. It’s unlikely, at this point, that you have minor children together –...
If you’re not familiar with the law – and, really, why would you be? – you probably find that there’s a lot in your potential upcoming divorce or custody case to confuse and overwhelm you, aside from just dealing with the regular transitions and upheaval that these types of cases can bring into your personal...
In the beginning stages of planning a divorce or custody case, things can be especially tricky. In addition to wanting to be respectful and tactful towards your partner, you want to plan strategically how you should move forward. You also want to stay safe. No matter what the particular circumstances of your case, you deserve...
It’s scary to break up with your child’s father. Not only does the breakup itself generally carry some challenges – like moving, separating finances, the possibility of dating again, and more – but knowing that, at some point, you’ll have to work out custody and visitation is also pretty daunting. Not every situation is highly...
There are not many things scarier than finding yourself in an abusive situation – except, of course, if you have minor children who are surrounded by it, too. Once you decide that it’s not getting better and it’s time to do something about it, you probably started researching protective orders. In Virginia, there are...
We talked the other day about how dating might impact an award of spousal support. I had originally intended to write about both child and spousal support in the same article, but it just ended up being too complicated, so I split into the two articles. You can check out the spousal support article here....