If you’re expecting, especially if it’s your first child (and even if it’s not), you’re experiencing a lot of emotions. You’ve probably heard of it (or even experienced it) before; you know what they say about the pregnancy brain! You’re feeling all the feels, and you’re a little extra emotional, and if you add to that the stress of wondering whether your relationship is going to last, you’ve got a pretty crazy combination. Whether you’ve just found out that you’re pregnant or you’re about … [Read more...]
Preparing for a Virginia custody case when you can’t afford an attorney: Custody Bootcamp for Moms
A custody case is bad enough, but preparing to face a custody case when you know full well you don’t have the money to hire an attorney is gut wrenching, especially if you know your child’s father has hired an attorney to represent him in court. It’s intimidating. If you’ve ever been to court before (even on a different kind of issue, like a traffic violation), you know that it’s not the kindest, most user friendly venue imaginable. In fact, it’s kind of the opposite. Clerks don’t know the … [Read more...]
Hofheimer Family Law Mother’s Day Promo
If you’re a mom, you’ve made a lot of sacrifices for the sake of your kids. It started from the moment you found out you were pregnant, and started eating insane amounts of broccoli and discussing the benefits of folic acid to anyone who would listen. It carried through your pregnancy, to every single glass of wine, cigarette, or sugar laden dessert you turned down in order to keep your body as healthy as possible for your growing baby. You thought you worked hard then, but then the baby came. … [Read more...]
What to expect in your Virginia custody case
There’s no such thing as a one size fits all custody case, so it’s often difficult to give an answer when a woman asks me what she can expect in an upcoming custody case. Still, I know how frustrating it can be when you ask a lawyer a question and the answer you get is “it depends.” Even though the answer often does depend on a lot of different factors, “it depends” isn’t enough to help you figure out what you’re up against. I do always try to give answers, even when they’re fairly complicated … [Read more...]
April Custody Bootcamp for Moms
There are very few things quite as terrifying as a pending custody case. Not knowing what is going to happen to your children (and knowing full well that whatever does happen is almost entirely out of your control) is anxiety inducing, to say the very least. Most moms have a (healthy?) dose of momma bear inside them, and custody cases bring it out in full force. It’s totally understandable, but it definitely makes putting on an effective, persuasive, and concise custody case difficult. The … [Read more...]
Virginia Custody and Visitation Agreements
Even though not all parents stay together forever, not all parents need to go to court to have a custody and visitation arrangement set in stone, either. In fact, lots of parents are ultimately able to decide among themselves (or just let things work out on the fly). Of course, there's no right or wrong way to parent, and it can often be an evolving process. What worked when your child was an infant might not always work and, at some point, you may be grateful for the intervention of a judge … [Read more...]
Child Support and Deployment
Most of the time, child support is easy peasy. It’s based on a formula, so, basically, we just fill in the blanks and the number pops up. Of course, if yours is a shared custody situation, it can be a little more complicated than in a traditional primary physical custody type situation. How so? Well, with primary physical custody, the non custodial parent has 89 or fewer days with the child in a calendar year. As far as it relates to child support, with primary physical custody, it doesn’t … [Read more...]
A BIG Virginia Custody and Visitation Mistake
I talked to someone a couple weeks ago who had an interesting case, and I thought I’d write a little about it. Of course, I can’t divulge any confidential information, and, really, I don’t want to share anything with you other than the situation she found herself in—and the innocent way she almost made a pretty big mistake with respect to custody and visitation of her son. Let’s call her Susan. Susan and her former husband, let’s call him George (because I watched Seinfeld re-runs last night), … [Read more...]
Can’t I just move with my kids? Relocation cases in Virginia
Relocation cases are hard cases to win, and, sometimes, even harder for moms to understand. For someone who has constantly made the children the priority, and who has earned the money needed to provide exceptional care to the children ever since the day they were born, it’s difficult to imagine why you wouldn’t be permitted to make a move, even if it means that you can’t stay near the child’s father anymore. Whether you want to move for a new job or just better opportunities, or you’ve got … [Read more...]
Custody Bootcamp for Moms
Are you worried that the attorney you hired to handle your custody case isn’t doing what he is supposed to be doing? Are you considering handling your custody and visitation case in the juvenile courts on your own? Whether you’re considering doing it yourself or you just want to know a little more about how custody works in Virginia so that you can check up on your attorney, you’re not alone. There are very few types of cases that are as scary and as potentially life altering as a custody … [Read more...]
