I’ve heard so many different versions of the same story – a deadbeat dad, an abusive dad, a homeless dad, a narcissistic dad, an addicted dad – and desperate, terrified moms wanting to know what their options are. For one reason or another, many have asked me whether they’d get sole custody, whether they could...
Will my child’s father get parenting time?
Because of the tie to child support, it’s pretty common that dads will ask for more parenting time than they intend to exercise. Sometimes, they just won’t show up at all. In other cases, though, they’ll take their parenting time, only to ask someone else (usually, their mother or a new girlfriend) to watch the...
Question: My marriage has been over for years and I’m ready to end it. The problem is, my kids – now teenagers – are refusing to come with me. They want to be near their school and their friends. What happens if they don’t come? I need to start this separation so I can move...
For most moms going through a divorce or separation, their kids are their first, last, and pretty much only concern. Especially in the early days, they wonder how to talk to their kids about their divorce or separation (particularly when they don’t know and don’t have all of the answers themselves), how to help them...
There are always some growing pains – to put it mildly – when you go from one family unit to two, and this is often especially true in a family where one spouse has stayed at home to care for the children. There are lots of benefits for a working parent to have a stay...
From the beginning, let me be clear: in Virginia, there is no law requiring that custody start out at 50/50. Though that is the law in some states, that is not the law here. Here, the law is that the judge has to consider all forms of custody – primary, shared, and split physical custody...
One of the most difficult parts of child custody litigation is that it can be virtually never ending. Since custody, visitation, and child support are modifiable based on a material change in circumstances, you can – theoretically, at least – find yourself in court again and again, at least until you children turn 18 and...
Coparenting is not easy. No one ever said it was. And, to make matters worse, parenting isn’t easy, either, so not only do you have an already difficult job – parenting your child – you also add on top of that the fact that you and your child’s father are not necessarily on the same...