In the movies, children are often asked to decide which parent they want to live with after a divorce. In popular culture, too, I think the understanding is there that, at a certain point, a kid can make decisions for himself about where he’ll spend the majority of his time.In the movies, children are often...
When can a child decide which parent to live with in a Virginia custody case?
Everyone hates their Guardian ad litem. Everyone. And, at some point, almost everyone asks how they can have their Guardian ad litem removed. I hear all the time that they’re totally biased. That the GAL is probably sleeping with the child’s father. (True story, I’ve heard that!) That they aren’t doing their job. That they...
Whether you or your child’s father originally filed custody petitions, it’s a pretty scary process. If he has an attorney and you don’t, it’s probably especially scary. Though there’s no rule that says you have to have an attorney in any divorce or custody cases in Virginia, navigating the system on your own can be...
In Virginia, as in most states, the standard we use for custody cases is the best interests of the child. In Virginia, as in most states, we have a number of factors that comprise, basically, what factors we believe account for what types of choices, when it comes to custody and visitation, are in a...
Trials are tough. They’re really intimidating and, at the end of the day, it’s really hard to know how the cookie is going to crumble, so to speak. There’s a lot of risk inherent in leaving everything (especially when “everything” is as important as custody of your children!) up to a judge—the one person in...
Sometimes it seems like the types of cases we see come in waves. We don’t have many cases of a particular type or with a specific theme and then (bam!) all of a sudden we have five or six, and we’re all grappling with similar issues. Of course, especially in custody, no two cases are...
Understanding custody cases has a lot to do with understanding the vocabulary of custody cases. It’s not very complicated, but learning about custody vocabulary does require a little bit of background information before you can quickly and easily understand exactly what’s happening in your case—or what you’re even asking for! Most people talk about custody...