Depending on how long you’ve waited – and how soon your trial is – you won’t have all available options if you wait until the last minute. There is no specific legal right to assistance of counsel in family law cases (unlike in criminal cases) so, for the most part, if you can’t afford an...
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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...
In the last several years, there have been some major changes to Virginia family law. Just last year, in 2025, guideline child support amounts were raised. This year, in 2026, the two major changes for family law are (1) that post-separation adultery is no longer recognized as a cause of action and (2) that, even...
Divorce from bed and board is getting all of the hype this July, but it’s not the only change that Virginia has implemented this year. In case you hadn’t heard, Virginia is no longer recognizing post separation adultery as a cause of action. Let’s discuss. Pre v. Post Separation Adultery What is adultery? Adultery...
The murder of Cerina Fairfax – who was in the midst of a divorce in Northern Virginia at the time that her husband, a former Virginia lieutenant governor, killed her and then himself in the family home while the children were home – has made waves over the last few months, sparking renewed attention on...
Every case is unique and presents its own specific challenges. In every case, your family law attorney is looking for those little golden nuggets of information that will make all the difference in your case. The trouble is that, unless you know where to look, we may be just guessing. Oftentimes, of course, our guesses...
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...
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...