Separation isn’t always the road to divorce. For some couples, probably for more couples than I even realize (because, let’s be honest, I have an unbalanced sampling), separation ultimately leads not to divorce but to reconciliation. That’s as it should be. I believe that women who want a divorce should be able to get one,...
Reconciling After Separation
In order to qualify for the benefits associated with marriage in Virginia, you’re going to need to actually walk down the aisle and get formally, legally married. Common Law marriage is a concept that has more or less fallen out of fashion and most states don’t recognize any kind of common law marriage designation. Though...
You’ve been married a long time – at least 20 years – and your partner is in the military. How do you know if you qualify as one of the elusive 20/20/20 spouses? Goodness knows you can’t ask your husband, a JAG attorney, or really anyone associated with the military! What is a 20/20/20 spouse?...
Hey, it’s okay! If you only recently got married, and you’ve started to think that maybe it was a mistake, I can tell you that you’re definitely not alone. In fact, I think you’re one of the luckier ones. After a year or less, there’s often very little to divide, and no one is so...
I’m always surprised when people say to me that no one takes marriage seriously anymore. It’s usually either from someone really old or someone who is (generally) happily married. The old people, it seems to me, have a different view of marriage. Basically, that it’s to be endured, no matter what. Because you said vows,...
I talk about adultery a lot. To be fair, it comes up a lot. As far as fault based grounds for divorce go, adultery is probably the single most common. There’s no one, single, specific path that “every” divorcing woman takes. A divorce is a journey, and it’s one that can take a LOT...
I talked last week about cases where a prenup is already signed (spoiler alert: YES, it IS a big deal!). The gist of it is that, in any case, a legal contract like a prenuptial agreement or a separation agreement exists in order to modify the law, and to make specific conditions apply to the case...
I got this question for the first time the other day – how do I prepare for an initial consultation – and I realized it’s something that I hadn’t specifically written on before. I’ve written about whether you can bring someone with you, what documents you should bring, what to expect, and so on,...