If you’re here, you probably already know that you have to be separated for one year to get a divorce in Virginia. The only two exceptions are if (1) you have a signed separation agreement, and (2) you have no minor children born or adopted by the parties of the marriage, and if (and this...
What happens before you’ve been separated a year in Virginia?
Virginia is restrictive when it comes to divorce, just because of the waiting period required before you can even file for a no fault divorce. Here in the Commonwealth, you have to be separated for ONE year before you can finalize a divorce using the fault based grounds of cruelty, apprehension of bodily hurt,...
Once you (and your spouse) have made the decision to divorce, you start to worry. How long is it going to take? How much is it going to cost? Will I have enough money to survive on after this is all done? In most cases, the tensions escalate before they deescalate, and there’s a...
It’s important to hire a Virginia family law attorney with whom you can be completely truthful in your conversations because, all too often, we touch on issues that are embarrassing or uncomfortable. Among those things, in some cases, is the fact that a husband can pass an STD/STI on to his partner. This can...
You might be surprised to hear that I have scads of clients who, when I email, don’t respond for a week or more. I have clients who retain and, in a flurry of activity, work with me to prepare a first draft of a separation agreement, which goes untouched (on their part, mind you) for...
Sometimes, I feel really technical when I talk about adultery. I say when someone “commits” adultery, and I always feel weird about it, because that’s not how people talk. And I often get questions about exactly what it means, which is understandable – it’s a technical term, like cohabitation and equitable distribution. Lawyers use it...
Cohabitation is a key component of legal separation in Virginia. For a lot of reasons – chief among them being the fact that separation is a sort of loosey goosey concept here in Virginia – we get lots of questions about separation. When are you separated? Am I separated? Do we have to sign something to...
In Virginia, you have to be separated to get a divorce. In fact, you have to be separated for a year for most types of divorce. (The notable exception to this rule is divorce when you’re using adultery as your grounds, but you should read up on this, and its specific limitations, HERE if that’s something...