Going to court is – by almost any metric – the nuclear option in a family law case. Literally everyone is scared of it and almost anyone would try to avoid it if there was any way at all. Usually, though not always, it’s possible to negotiate outside of court. In fact, most family law...
Court Order v. Negotiated Agreement – What’s Best?
A major misconception about annulments is that they’re easily granted when the marriage has only lasted a short period of time. A marriage of a few hours – or even a few weeks or months – doesn’t necessarily qualify for an annulment. By contrast, even, a longer term marriage could, potentially, qualify for an annulment...
Everyone wants a “ballpark” estimate for how much their family law case is going to cost and – who am I kidding? – I can completely understand. It’s awful to feel like your divorce or custody case, and the corresponding legal representation, is some kind of terrifying blank check. It could cost $5,000; it could...
Discovery – whether as part of a divorce or a child custody case – is essentially the same. It’s the legal process we use to determine and gain access to the information that we don’t have. In a divorce case, much of the information we’re looking for is financial, especially if our client has stayed...
I’m biased. I’m a lawyer. I earn my living handling family law cases on behalf of the women who become my clients. Also, because I am a lawyer I also (1) see the people who can’t resolve things on their own (and very few of the people who can), and (2) deal, essentially, in worst-case...
I don’t want to mislead you, so I’ll tell you from the first sentence: I am not aware of any reputable Hampton Roads, Virginia-based family law attorneys that take payment plans. I know – hiring an attorney is expensive. Generally speaking, family law attorneys work on retainers, which means that you have to pay a...
Eeks – the word bulldog! I hate it. I really do. But still, time and time again, that’s what people ask for. A shark. A bulldog. A pitbull. A no-nonsense, take-no-names, kick-ass lawyer. I get it. The stakes are high. They’re high in any legal case, but they may be especially high in family law. ...
Though the laws vary (sometimes dramatically!) from state-to-state, the law in Virginia is that spousal support terminates in three specific circumstances: (1) the death of either party, (2) the remarriage of the recipient party, and (3) the continued cohabitation of the recipient party in a relationship analogous to marriage for a period of one year...