It’s not superficial to be concerned with the way you present in public and, whether fortunately or unfortunately, the sartorial choices you’re making matter. They matter across the board, but it definitely matters if you’re going to court in your family law case. Full disclosure: Virginia doesn’t technically have “family court,” or, at least, that’s...
Family Court Dress Code
If you, like everyone else, are reading Belle Burden’s memoir on marriage, Strangers, you probably noticed that prenups feature dramatically in the storyline. I have made no secret of the fact that, over the years, I do not have a strong positive opinion of prenups. In fact, my experience with prenuptial agreements throughout the years...
There are questions that no one else can answer for you – and this is definitely one of them. Though, over the course of our careers, each of us have counseled hundreds (thousands?) of women, telling a woman that she should absolutely leave her husband is … not something that we do. In most cases,...
Divorce and child custody are complicated and, especially in the very early days of your case, you may feel like you’re standing on quicksand. Things are constantly changing and evolving between you and your soon-to-be ex, so it’s hard to have one conversation with an attorney that covers everything and, even if it did, you...
It happens all the time. He just wants to be a dad, he says, so he asks for 50/50 – only for you to find out that his version of 50/50 means that he puts the kids in childcare, tries to lump this cost into the child support guideline, and doesn’t care that you are...
In general, custody and visitation for grandparents and other non-parent third parties (aunts, uncles, family friends, stepparents, etc.) is pretty well established. Though they can petition the court for custody and visitation, they have to meet a different standard than parents. Between two biological or adoptive parents, the standard is the best interests of the...
Social media is a way of life for most people anymore, so it’s really no wonder that a lot of details about a lot of people’s divorce and child custody cases wind up online. On the one hand, I get it. I am a millennial and I vividly remember signing up for a Facebook account...
Even though I am well and truly sick and tired of “groundbreaking” family law legislation being named after kids who were murdered in contested custody cases, the Alec and Lydia Act – recently passed in the state of Arizona – is, I hope, the beginning of a new era. Though I am not licensed in...