Happy Memorial Day! If you’re an old school sort of girl, now’s the time to wear white and open toed shoes – it’s officially summer! I’ve been waiting for this for ages, and I’m so glad it’s finally here! I’m a Virginia girl through and through, so the hotter and more humid the weather gets,...
GNO at the OVFP in June
You’re probably familiar with the idea that you have to separate from your husband before divorce – not just in Virginia, but in most places. Every state (and indeed every country!) handles this a little bit differently, and the required period of separation differs from one to the next. Sometimes, separation of longer duration is...
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...
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...