On the page below you can find links to documents, reports, publications and discussions provided by Hofheimer Family Law Firm.
The documents below are available to the public to gain a better understanding of the legal challenges facing them, and why an experienced attorney is so important for success.
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By Katie Carter
It should come as no surprise to you that husbands pretty much hate spousal support. No matter what our personal situation or the choices you and your husband made during your marriage, he’s going to say that he doesn’t think you need or deserve to receive spousal support. And, if he files for divorce first, he’s going to ask for spousal support himself. Don’t freak out, though; that’s totally normal. In fact, regardless of whether he could actually legally qualify to receive spousal … [Read more...]
By Katie Carter
Things always get more difficult around the holidays. People who are thinking about divorce don’t really tend to take action at this point; for the most part, they keep it together for their families through the holiday season. But for the people who have an existing divorce or custody case, it tends to become more emotionally charged as parents face the possibility (or the probability?) of spending at least one major holiday without their children. It’s a daunting thought. As a mom myself, I … [Read more...]
By Katie Carter
Women ask me all the time whether they should just get custody handled first, and then come back and handle the divorce itself. In a sense, I think I get what they’re saying – custody is the more pressing concern immediately, and needing to have that handled is clouding everybody’s judgment about everything. Maybe they feel that if they could just get custody determined, everything else would work itself out a little more easily. I get that. That makes sense. But to me, from a practical … [Read more...]
By Katie Carter
If there’s anything that’s lagging behind the times in divorce and custody, it’s child support guidelines. (Just kidding. This is Virginia. We’re lagging behind in a lot of places, I’m just choosing to talk about one area that, in my opinion, is particularly behind the times.) It’s kind of like no one has any idea what it costs to raise a child in this day and age. For a lot of moms, the amount of child support is a little like a slap in the face. Or a lot like a slap in the face, … [Read more...]
By Katie Carter
Every divorce is a little bit different, and the assets (and, it must be said, the liabilities) are different, too. Usually, it’s some kind of version of the same; a divorce set of “usual suspects”, as it were, but in some cases, it’s more complicated. My least favorite cases are the ones where my client tells me she has no idea what there is to divide. It’s not my least favorite in the sense that then I don’t know what to do, or I worry that my client won’t get what she deserves; it’s just … [Read more...]
By Katie Carter
Custody cases are tricky. It’s not like divorce which, although difficult, is more or less a financial transaction where both parties walk away with some of the assets and some of the liabilities in the marriage. It’s pretty much understood that you won’t walk away with it all, because your spouse legally deserves a portion of both the benefit and the burden of your accumulated marital wealth or debt. In custody…it’s different. There’s no way to actually split the baby, so, in the absence … [Read more...]
By Katie Carter
For moms facing a custody case, nothing strikes fear into their hearts quite like the possibility of working with a Guardian ad litem. As a mom myself, I can understand the fear. A lawyer (yes—a lawyer!) will have the opportunity to talk to you and your child’s father and even your child (without you present!) and, ultimately, make a recommendation to the judge about what is in the child’s best interests. I agree – that’s tough. Infuriating, even. Especially when the Guardian ad litem … [Read more...]
By Katie Carter
Custody cases are tricky. Like divorce, custody is one of those areas of law that varies pretty dramatically from state to state. There’s not a lot of standardization from place to place. Though almost all states have some iteration of the “best interests of the child” factors (here are Virginia’s ten best interests of the child factors), how those factors are interpreted and applied can be really different from state to state. (And, even within Virginia, from court to court – because the … [Read more...]
By Katie Carter
In a divorce, or for women facing a divorce, the potential cost is one of the scariest parts. People tell me literally every single day that they’re afraid they can’t afford to get a divorce. I won’t lie to you and tell you that divorce is inexpensive. I won’t tell you that I haven’t seen very, very expensive divorces. But I also won’t tell you that you don’t have any control over the cost of your divorce because, ultimately, you do. …Wait, what? You have control over the costs in your … [Read more...]
By Katie Carter
It can be hard, in many cases, for women to know what sort of decisions they ought to be making at the beginning of the divorce process. It can all seem so shrouded in mystery that it’s hard to know which way is up. It’s often compounded by the fact that many husbands seem all to willing to tell their soon to be ex wives lies or half truths about how divorce law in Virginia really operates, which makes even the most independent, free thinking women terrified about the possible … [Read more...]
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