Equitable distribution is the fancy way we describe how property is divided in the Virginia divorce process. Under equitable distribution, the court looks at all a couple’s assets (the things that are worth money) and liabilities (yes, your debt gets divided, too!) and makes a determination about what each former spouse should take away from...
Vacation Homes and Divorce
How much are you REALLY worth? What are you actually capable of earning? These questions are at the root of a lot of our spousal support cases. To determine a person’s worth or earning potential, we have to look at a lot of variables – education, work experience, age, physical condition, qualifications, licenses and professional...
Joint Legal Child Custody Everybody fusses about physical custody, because that has to do with where a child spends the majority of her time. Physical custody is a big deal; in fact, it’s what we litigate on most of the time, because everybody wants some kind of specific amount of time with the child. When...
Congratulations! You’re expecting! Having been there not too long ago myself, I remember how amazing pregnancy is. (Trust me: when it’s over, you’ll remember it being amazing. You won’t remember the morning sickness, the breathlessness, the insomnia, or any of the other negative side effects of pregnancy.) Having a baby is so exciting! But…if you’re...
On Monday, we talked about some financial steps women can take to begin to prepare for their divorce and custody cases. Though there aren’t perfect answers to these questions in many cases, there are things you can do (make sure you’ve read the article!) to help as you begin to think about your case strategy...
You can plan to buy a house. You can plan to get a new job. You can plan to go to school. For many of the major transitions in life, it’s possible to plan ahead. Most people, though, don’t really plan for divorce. For most women, they got married expecting it to last forever. When...
Spousal support is a pretty loosey goosey area of law anyway; though there are “guidelines” we can use to calculate an appropriate level of spousal support, those guidelines aren’t binding on any of the courts in Hampton Roads. So, unlike child support, spousal support amounts (and more than that, the duration of a spousal support...
Domestic violence is often a big part of a divorce case. It’s sad (and really, really scary) but true. We see these types of cases all the time. When I first started practicing family law, I was surprised at how many cases there were that involved some kind of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; maybe...