All sorts of different things spur women to take action in their divorce cases. One of the more common things I hear is that a husband has taken a withdrawal from an investment account, usually without wife’s knowledge. Usually, these women come in, panicked, thinking that because of their husband’s sneaky behavior that there’ll be less to distribute in the divorce. In some situations, that can be the case. It is possible that he has wasted enough of the assets, over a long enough period of … [Read more...]
What Mistakes am I Making on Social Media?
We’re all on social media. And we’re all sharing information with the world at large at an alarming rate. Sometimes, when I think about it, (and usually, if I’m being honest, I try NOT to think about it) I feel pretty nervous. I’m not all that young anymore, but I’ve had a Facebook account since my sophomore year of college. (In those days, only college kids could have Facebook—that’s how old I am!) Before that, I had a MySpace account (originally, it wasn’t only for hook ups; it was all we … [Read more...]
Getting a Job After Divorce: Will I Have to?
Let me say, before I go too far, that no judge can FORCE you to go back to work. At least, there's no way he (or she) can issue any kind of order that will require you to return to work if you don't want to. Getting a job after divorce isn't something that someone else can actually force you to do. That being said, though, there are things that can happen that might force your hand a little. Even though the judge can't specifically require that you will return to work, the reality of your … [Read more...]
Divorce for Virginia Business Owners
A lot of divorcing couples own a business--something that tends to complicate equitable distribution. Equitable distribution is a fancy word we use to describe how property is divided in Virginia. Equitable distribution, unlike community property, doesn't necessarily assume that property will be divided 50/50, but that negative and positive monetary and non monetary contributions can affect the way a judge would divide property between the parties. Things like adultery (a negative non monetary … [Read more...]
Your Divorce, Your Words
Every so often, I meet someone who thinks he (well, usually it’s a he) knows more about the divorce than the woman who is supposed to become my client. They try to strong arm the conversation, to steer it in their direction, and to do everything in their power to “help” the divorcing woman. A lot of times, that woman is coming out of an abusive relationship—and, frankly, it looks to me like she’s planning on jumping into the next one! Maybe it’s not a potential boyfriend (for her sake, I hope … [Read more...]
Dealing with an unreasonable husband in Virginia divorce
Something ridiculous happened to me the other day. In a case that I’m working on, I got an email from opposing counsel. She advised me that my client was “financially irresponsible,” and said that this was the reason why she wouldn’t agree to a number of things that we were requesting in the separation agreement. She attached something. When I opened it, I realized it was a list of demands for repayment from my client’s husband. It was written pretty poorly, but I studied it for awhile and … [Read more...]
Negotiating Your Virginia Divorce
Most of the time, divorce is a negotiating process. It’s like haggling and, if you’re like me, and haggling always made you super uncomfortable, don’t worry. It’s really not so bad. There is a lot of posturing, though, and oftentimes the first offer isn’t a very good offer (so the tendency is for some women to freak out very early on). The point, of course, is that if you put your best offer on the table at the beginning, you’d have no point from which to begin your negotiations. Besides, over … [Read more...]
New Year = Divorce
Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to start thinking about 2017, and how you’ll make it a better year than 2016. If you’ve been unhappy in your marriage, you’re probably thinking about the changes you could make in your personal life that would make you happier, more fulfilled, or a better parent moving forward. There aren’t really a whole lot of things that are worse than feeling trapped in a marriage. No matter what has gone wrong, all the worry and wondering and stressing about what … [Read more...]
