Knowing which court does what and where to file your petitions is anything but easy, especially in family law. Our cases are handled both in the juvenile courts AND the circuit courts, and there can be some interplay between the two, depending on the specifics of each case. Let’s talk about it. What petitions do...
Juvenile Court v. Circuit Court: Where Do I File?
We’re all used to the idea that, by virtue of the Constitution, we have these certain, unalienable rights. And it’s true – we do. But the reality of what those rights are, and what they mean, and how and when they apply is a little bit more complicated. In a lot of ways, family court...
Does it matter who files first in Virginia divorce or custody? I was recently reading a book, “The Respondent”, about a dad who faced a divorce and ongoing custody battle in California, allegedly as a result of the lies his wife told about his relationship with his two young boys. I have a lot of...
There’s a lot of Latin in the law and, what with it being a dead language and all, there are very few people who speak or understand Latin, beyond the obvious ‘habeas corpus’ stuff. It’s kind of interesting how often we come up against Latin terms and phrases to describe things in the law;...
There are very few easy situations when it comes to custody, visitation, child support, and blended families. It seems to me that, even in the cases that proceed fairly smoothly (or, at least, without litigation), there’s a fair amount of heartache and difficulty. I’ve said it before, but I think it bears mentioning again. A...
Facing a complicated legal issue is really scary, especially when you’ve started to do the research and you realize that it’s looking worse than you maybe even expected. Then, you check your bank account balance and, well, it looks even worse. We’ve talked before about how lawyers, or at least family lawyers, typically work on...
Divorce is a trauma. It’s a trauma for you, and, in many cases, it’s a trauma for your children, too. But, then again, probably many of the events leading up to your divorce and/or custody case were pretty traumatic, too. It’s not like you just showed up at a divorce attorney’s office unscathed, and suddenly...
Cases where we know – or suspect – that there’s abuse happening are some of the worst for about a million different reasons. If you just take them at face value, there’s the obvious issue that we’re concerned that a child is suffering physical, emotional, or sexual abuse at the hands of their other parent....