Is it better to file first for divorce or custody?

It feels better to operate offensively than defensively, doesn’t it? One of the worst things about divorce and custody cases for many of my clients is that they just don’t know what their husbands/children’s fathers are up to. Things aren’t going well, and there are some major disagreements, so you’re worried that something bigger is...

Read More

Over time, the law changes and evolves. I see trends – even just in the 8 or so years that I’ve been practicing – come and go. It’s funny how that can happen, but, in custody cases, so much is left up to the judge’s discretion. These things really can be different year over year,...

Read More

Emergency Petitions for Custody in Virginia

When I was a kid, I took the whole “boy who cried wolf” story a little too seriously. I vividly remember being told about 911, and how it was only to be used in emergencies. I vaguely remember a terrible impression that bad things happened to people who called 911 when it wasn’t an emergency....

Read More

When coparents are petty

I heard a new one the other day. It doesn’t happen all that often, at this stage in the game, but yesterday it did. I was talking to a woman who told me that her child’s father, after their divorce, tried to one-up her in every single way imaginable – even with the tooth fairy!...

Read More

Know Your Judge: Virginia Custody Cases

Judges – like all of us normal, regular people – are different. They bring to their job different opinions, and different interpretations of the law. They are subject to different moods, based on what is happening in their own personal lives. This probably isn’t shocking information. But it is pretty scary, to think that you...

Read More

Know Your Judge: Virginia Custody Cases

Judges – like all of us normal, regular people – are different. They bring to their job different opinions, and different interpretations of the law. They are subject to different moods, based on what is happening in their own personal lives. This probably isn’t shocking information. But it is pretty scary, to think that you...

Read More

When Virginia Moms Lose Custody

The worst has happened. You went to court, and a judge ordered custody to your child’s father. You lost custody. You can’t believe it. You. Lost. Custody. You want to throw up. You’re panicked and terrified. What happens next? How do you get your kids back? What should you do now, and who do you...

Read More

My juvenile court case got appealed! What now?

The downside of the juvenile court is definitely the appeals situation. Well, that’s the downside if you won in the juvenile court, anyway. If you lost at the juvenile court level, well, then, it’s absolutely your right to appeal! (Funny how there are two sides to every coin, right?) But, today, I’m really talking about...

Read More