You might be surprised to hear that I have scads of clients who, when I email, don’t respond for a week or more. I have clients who retain and, in a flurry of activity, work with me to prepare a first draft of a separation agreement, which goes untouched (on their part, mind you) for...
How quickly can I get divorced?
Though I’ve only ever practiced family law in Virginia, I’m pretty sure that everywhere – Virginia included – requires grounds in order to finalize a divorce. In Virginia, those grounds can be either fault based or no fault based. Whether you choose to file on fault or no fault depends, of course, on the facts;...
In many cases, it’s not necessary to use fault based grounds for divorce. After all, if you file on fault, you’ll have to litigate to prove to the judge that your grounds exist. Because, depending on the grounds, different civil and criminal penalties apply, you’ll have to meet a specific burden of proof, and that...
I’ve written about tax consequences in divorce before, but alas – the law has changed again! It happens, from time to time, which is part of why it’s so important to be sure of where you’re getting information when you search for it online. You need to make sure that you’re not blindly trusting nameless,...
After you’ve decided to separate, but before you reach an agreement about how all the assets and liabilities should be divided (or, alternatively, before a judge has a chance to hear the case and render a verdict), there’s a fair bit of gray. What happens with everything – but, probably, most specifically, what happens with...
In divorce cases, nastiness abounds. Some cases surprise me by the levels to which the participants will sink in the name of revenge, but most follow a fairly predictable pattern. Though it’s certainly scary and unsettling to be caught in the middle of it, in most cases, rest assured – it all works itself out....
In many cases, couples both agree that the marriage isn’t working and that they want out. I’ve had several, though, where one party or the other doesn’t agree, and consistently insists that he or she wants to stay married. The reality is that you really can’t FORCE someone to stay married; whether you like it...
Probably one of my absolute least favorite things in the entire world is when I have a consultation, and she tells me that she has court next week (or tomorrow, or in two days). So, yeah, next week is always kind of tricky – especially if your court hearing would require any kind of preparation...