Mom is a special word. For months, I couldn’t wait until my babies said it back to me – though, to be honest, at this point, I wish they’d use it a little less often over the course of the day. Still, there’s no question that it’s a special thing to be called. It’s a...
Help! My child calls stepmom ‘mom’ now!
Up until the court formally decides custody and visitation – or, alternatively, the parties enter into a signed custody agreement – there’s no formal child custody, visitation, or child support. For many couples, especially the ones that stay together (regardless of whether they’re married), that’s enough and it doesn’t go further than that. Even for...
Even if you’ve been unhappy for a really long time, it’s sometimes hard to put a label on your relationship, especially if that label is “abusive.” Its kind of like rape. We all understand what it is, but, at the end of the day, often have a hard time describing our own experiences in these...
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?...
Sometimes I think that the military loves mystery. That has to be the reason for all those annoying acronyms, right? TSP, BAH, PCS, LES – is it just fun for them? And then, rather than trying to explain to someone who might not know what they’re talking about, they just mix in the acronyms to...
Marriage doesn’t always last forever, and that’s okay. In fact, I generally think that, the shorter the marriage, the easier the divorce, mostly because there’s not often THAT much to divide. Life changing money usually isn’t made in just a few years, which means the stakes are generally correspondingly smaller. Why is that good? It...
I like to learn things. I admit it; I do. Back in the days when I was in school, I used to love the day that the teacher handed out the syllabus and I got to see all the things I was going to get to learn over the course of the semester. I...
Because of the sheer number of military families in our area, we get a lot of questions about military divorce. Also because of the sheer number of military families in our area, we handle a lot of military divorces. In short, it’s safe to say that all six of us can and have handled military...