Protecting Self-Harming Children in Virginia Divorce

  Most of the time, even when their parents are going through a divorce, kids are wonderfully resilient.  Sometimes, though, the issues exacerbated by the divorce – especially if their dad is a high conflict, mentally ill, abusive, obnoxious, or otherwise unstable – can create a perfect storm for a child. In some cases, kids...

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  Emotionally, going through a divorce or custody case (or, worse, a divorce AND custody case) is easily one of the most difficult things that you will face in your adult life.  Many therapists even liken the experience of going through divorce to a death – it’s just that traumatic. Even a good divorce –...

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Virginia Divorce After 30+ Years of Marriage

Marriages of more than 30 years are sort of in their own category. Once you get to the point that you’ve spent three decades together, there’s no question that you’ve accumulated some joint assets. There are some things that are, generally speaking, easier.  It’s unlikely, at this point, that you have minor children together –...

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Divorce Coach or Therapist?

If you’re hoping to navigate a divorce while suffering the least amount of stress possible, you’re smart.  Though I think we can all recognize the difficulty, few people give that much thought to how they can divorce better.  When it comes down to it, there ARE choices you can make that will minimize the suffering...

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Custody and Visitation of Grown Children

As you’re probably more or less already aware, custody and visitation of children – whether as a standalone custody case or part of an underlying divorce action – really only deals with minor children.  In Virginia, child support ends when a child turns 19 or graduates from high school, whichever occurs first, and you lose...

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Your Boundaries and Virginia Divorce

Boundaries are a hard thing for women everywhere. There are a million reasons, but I think that most of us feel essentially required to take care of the feelings of everyone around us. The feeling that we’ve disappointed someone is almost physically painful, and we take a lot of abuse – we’re programmed, in a...

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I was reading a quote the other day that said that the best thing you can do for a narcissist is to give him a child. That was it – that was the end of the quote – but it really did get me thinking. It probably is the best thing you can do, because...

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I got this question for the first time the other day – how do I prepare for an initial consultation – and I realized it’s something that I hadn’t specifically written on before. I’ve written about whether you can bring someone with you, what documents you should bring, what to expect, and so on, but...

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