What does supervised visitation mean?

What does supervised visitation mean?

In most cases, both parents will have the opportunity to have uninterrupted, unsupervised parenting time with their minor children, whether by agreement between the parties or by court order. In extreme cases, though, it is possible that the court would order one party or the other to have supervised visitation.  This will usually be in...

Read More

The kids live with me. Do I have sole custody?

Custody and visitation can be sort of a tricky subject and, if you look on the internet or poll friends on social media, you can get a wide range of (not necessarily correct) answers.  It’s always wise to at least talk to an attorney when you have legal questions, rather than relying on (well-meaning) non-attorneys,...

Read More

Custody cases are some of the most dramatic, contentious, and stressful cases.  I’ve written on this before, and I’ll say it again: Virginia is NOT one of the states in this country that mandates 50/50 custody as a starting point. In Virginia, we use the ‘best interests of the child’ factors, established by statute, as...

Read More

Can I draft my own custody agreement?

If you don’t want to have a trial in your court case, you have to settle your case first.  In a divorce or custody context, settlement is achieved when there is a signed agreement negotiated between the parties.  In a divorce case, you would sign and negotiate a separation agreement – a legal contract that...

Read More

Kids keep you busy.  If it’s not one season, it’s another.  And between the after-school events, social activities, birthday parties, sports, summer camps, classes, and other activities, it can be overwhelming shuttling the kids to and from all of it. Keeping up with the calendar alone can be challenging enough, but for separated and divorced...

Read More

  When it comes to coparenting, there are a lot of issues that can come up. Of course, in some cases, there are a lot of issues that DON’T come up, because they’re already foregone conclusions that both parents take for granted. It seems like school enrollment is one of those issues that can find...

Read More

50/50 Custody in Virginia

  We get a lot of questions about custody and visitation in Virginia. Does the court assume 50/50 here? Does the court prefer mom? No, the court definitely prefers dad, right? Is there a standard custody arrangement that the court orders? Like, what happens in these cases, anyway? I hear you. It’s like most moms...

Read More

Mother’s Rights v. Father’s Rights

You’ve probably heard a lot about father’s rights groups. They’re all over the place, campaigning for 50/50 custody, and arguing that dads should have more of a role in raising their children. You probably haven’t heard a lot about mother’s rights groups. They…don’t really exist. Though there may, in fact, be a need for them...

Read More