How do I protect myself in Virginia divorce?

Posted on Jul 10, 2017 by Katie Carter

There are a lot of unknowns in life.  When you got married, you probably didn’t think you’d eventually find yourself thinking about heading down the path towards divorce.  And yet – here you are.  You’re in the right place, of course, and you’re certainly asking the right questions.  It’s important that, before things go too far, you get a sense of what you can expect.  There are a lot of unknowns in life.  When you got married, you probably didn’t think you’d eventually find yourself thinking about heading down the path towards divorce.  And yet – here you are.

You’re in the right place, of course, and you’re certainly asking the right questions.  It’s important that, before things go too far, you get a sense of what you can expect.   You need to know what your rights are.  You need to know what the law allows.  You even need to know the little lies husbands tell their wives (and that their wives tend to believe!) when they start to head down this road.  You need to know what’s true and what’s not, so that you can begin to make decisions and plan for the future.  It’s not just about you (it never is, is it?) it’s about everyone impacted by your potential split – your parents, your children, your friends, and, in many cases, even your pets.

Whether you’re feeling like you wish the best for your soon to be ex husband, or whether you, in your weaker moments, sometimes wish terrible things would befall him, you’ve got to do your due diligence here.  It’s just too important.   Remember how you felt when you bought your first car or house?  Well, I guess I can’t speak for everyone, but I know I felt overwhelmed with all the adulting I was doing.  Signing my name here and there, over and over, signing away my life…  Well, it felt like a big deal.  It was a lot of money I was promising to pay.  And interest rates and APRs and PMI and all these other things I had never even considered before were suddenly huge issues.  They were all decisions I had to make, and they impacted me – financially at least – pretty profoundly.  I made some good decisions and some bad ones, mostly out of youth and inexperience, but I learned a lot.

You think buying a house or a car was a big deal?  A divorce is even bigger.  Huge, really.  Why?  Well, because, when you bought a house, that’s all you did.  Whether you spent $100,000, or $1,000,000, it was just the house you were dealing with.  The divorce deals with the house…and everything else that has made up your marriage.  It’s not just a house.  It’s cars.  It’s personal property.  It’s other real estate.  It’s investments and retirement accounts.  It’s bank accounts. And, even worse, it’s custody.  It’s things you can’t even begin to put a value on because they’re just that important. You don’t have the luxury of being young and inexperienced when it comes to your divorce.

Divorce is a huge deal if you view it as a financial transaction, and you should be making choices that show that you appreciate the seriousness of the situation.  I don’t mean to scare you, I just mean to impress upon you the seriousness of the decisions you’re making.  At this point, the decisions that you make can have a tremendous impact on you for the rest of your adult life.

Don’t you want to be sure you’re making the best decisions possible?

Well, like I said, you’re in the right place.  And I can help you make sure that you’re getting the answers to the questions that you’ll need to know to structure your divorce as efficiently and effectively as possible.  You need to make sure you, and everyone else impacted by your divorce, are taken care of as well as possible.  You need to know all those things that you don’t know right this minute, so that you can understand the ripple effect of all your decisions.

You may want to hire a lawyer or you may decide to go at it alone; either way, it’s totally up to you.  But, either way, you’ll want to make sure you really understand your choices, so that you can make the best ones possible.

Thinking about where to start?  Look no further.

Here’s what you should do, in order.

1. Request a copy of our free divorce book.

In fact, we have two.  We have one for Virginia divorce, and another for Virginia military divorce.  Did I mention it’s free?  And, also, that each was written by our women-only divorce attorneys?You’ll learn all about the divorce process in Virginia, and begin to start understanding what you can expect.  There’s information about Virginia law, including how different types of assets are divided, how spousal support is determined, and how custody is handled in the Virginia courts.

Not much of a reader?  Or just have a specific question you want answered?  Move along to step number 2…

2. Attend one of our monthly divorce seminars.

Each seminar is taught by one of our licensed and experienced women-only divorce and custody attorneys, and you’re encouraged to ask questions.  (It’s not a confidential forum, though, so we do ask that your questions be more generally related to the law than specifically related to the details of your individual case.)

The cost to attend is just $40 if you pre-register, or $50 at the door.  Even better, if you want to come back again, you’re welcome to—just bring your seminar workbook (provided for you at the door), and you can attend again and again at no additional cost to you.

3. Get our free report, “20 Immediate Actions.”

You need to protect yourself.  Do you know how?  Find out what steps you should be taking to protect yourself now by requesting a free copy of our free divorce report.

4. Attend Girl’s Night Out.

Okay, so this one isn’t substantive, but it’s important all the same.  You need to connect with other women, and forge new relationships.  A divorce or custody case is not required, of course, but you’ll find that a lot of the women who show up are going through one or the other—which is a nice way to find other people who can sympathize with what you’re going through.

Girl’s Night Out is fun and totally free to you.  For more information, or to go ahead and register for our next event, click here.   We’d love to see you there!

Divorce is intimidating, but you don’t have to go through it blindly.  Get the information you need now to make sure that you’re protecting yourself—you won’t regret it!  And, really, what do you have to lose?  We’ve tried to make as much information available for free and very, very low cost as possible so that nothing stands in the way of you getting the divorce information you need.For more information, or to schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys, give our office a call at (757) 425-5200.