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...
What happens after I file for VA custody and visitation?
A woman asked me this question the other day – am I likely to get a divorce on fault, or should I just negotiate an agreement – and I thought it was a good one. It’s one I’ve answered before, but never in those exact words, and I do think that its worth looking...
The other night – actually, at Girl’s Night Out – I sat and talked for awhile with a woman who is in the middle of an ongoing divorce and custody case. She didn’t hire an attorney from our firm, and I could tell that she was just desperate to talk about her situation. She wanted...
When tensions start to escalate, and it looks like you might be headed towards a divorce or custody case, it’s tempting to want to use whatever methods are available to you to gather the evidence you might need – up to and including recording conversations. But what’s legal varies pretty dramatically from state to state,...
My sister in law asked me a question the other day – for a friend of a friend – and it really irritated me. Not that she would ask me a question; that’s fine, we’re really pretty close. But the question itself irked me. Her friend had a friend, from a really long time ago,...
When you’re researching something new, the terminology can be confusing. The same can be said of divorce, and not only because so many Latin terms and phrases are used. “Contested” and “uncontested” aren’t words that come up very often in everyday life and, if you’re wondering what it means, you’re not alone. If you’re like...
How can I convince him to agree to my proposed distribution of assets? I’m continuing a conversation that I’ve been having all week, about a woman I met at a recent Second Saturday seminar monthly divorce seminar for Virginia women. On Monday, I discussed the kinds of records you should have to prepare for your...
I read an article the other day where, believe it or not, there was a divorce case where a husband challenged the wife (or, really, the wife’s lawyer) to trial by combat. (If you don’t believe me, click that hyperlink for the article on it!) Now, I’ve seen a lot of things, but trial by...