Divorce & Custody Law Library
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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What is an answer and counterclaim?
It can be confusing to know and understand all the steps in the Virginia divorce process, much less what timelines are associated or how the court requires you to respond. I’m tempted to say, “Hey, that’s what I went to law school for,” but that’s not actually true. That kind of thing isn’t taught…
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What does a notary do? Do I need a notary?
I often find that there is a lot of confusion about the role of a notary in a divorce and/or custody case. We use notaries ALL the time; in fact, notaries often are involved in our agreements, affidavits, and other important documents that go to the court. For that reason, many of our staff…
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Can I refuse to send my kids to visitation?
I first started writing articles about COVID-19 related concerns back in March of 2020, never expecting that an entire year later I’d still be dealing with concerns related to the ongoing pandemic. Custody and visitation issues are some of the biggest that we face in family law, especially when parents share children between two different…
Filled under: Child Custody
Tag with: best interests of the child | child custody | child support | coparenting | court order | custody agreement | DAD | factor 6 | MOM | parenting plan | parenting time | refuse visitation
Harassment during Virginia Divorce
My sister in law asked me a question the other day – for a friend of a friend – and it really irritated me. Not that she would ask me a question; that’s fine, we’re really pretty close. But the question itself irked me. Her friend had a friend, from a really long time ago,…
Filled under: Divorce
Tag with: affidavits | criminal | custody | divorce | evidence | family law | family law lawyer | harrassment | notarized | protective order | spousal support | trial | virginia | witness
What does uncontested divorce mean?
On Wednesday, we discussed what a contested divorce means. We touched a little bit, too, on uncontested divorce – because it’s hard to understand one without the other. Contested refers to a divorce where the parties have not reached an agreement about how the assets and liabilities will be divided; in an uncontested divorce, on…
Filled under: Divorce
Tag with: affidavit | circuit court | contested | court | divorce | paperwork | qdro | retainer | uncontested | virginia
How far ahead of my trial date do I need to retain a family law attorney?
I get a lot of questions about cost in family law cases. I get questions about attorney’s fees, retainers, how to save money, how to pay for the case, and even how to get pro bono help (seriously, though, don’t count on it). It really runs the gamut. And I get it. It’s a…
Filled under: Divorce
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What’s in your divorce seminar that I can’t find on Google?
I got this question the other day – what’s in the divorce seminar that I can’t find on Google – and it made me laugh a little. In one sense, of course, literally everything you need to know about divorce in Virginia probably IS already in Google. In fact, as you probably are also already…
Filled under: Divorce
Tag with: attorney | custody | divorce | free divorce book | lawyer | seminar | separation | women only
What if my pay barely covers daycare costs: The Virginia Child Support Guidelines, Part 2
On Monday, I wrote about Virginia’s child support guideline calculations, and what might happen to child support in a situation where a mom, who previously stayed at home, re-entered the workforce. I wrote the article for a couple of reasons, but mostly because I’ve recently encountered two different attitudes. One was a woman, telling me…
Filled under: Child Support
Tag with: child support | divorce | parenting time | primary physical custody | separation | shared physical custody | virginia support guidelines
How does going back to work impact the child support I receive? Part 1
There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the child support guidelines. Though I often hear from women that they don’t know how they’re going to support themselves post separation and, ultimately, post divorce, I don’t think there’s a lot of really robust conversation surrounding that topic, which can make it hard for women to know how…
Filled under: Child Support
Tag with: calculation | child support | divorce | primary physical custody | separation | spousal support | stay at home mom | virginia child support
What NOT to Wear To Divorce and Custody Court
Going to court is intimidating. Especially in this day in age, when it’s not only a question of facing your husband and/or child’s father, but a pretty significant COVID-19 risk. There are a lot of things about court – and contested cases – that we can’t control. But there are some things we can…
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Tag with: court | divorce | dress | june cleaver | kate middleton | pant suit | pearls | pink hair | separation | skirt | tattoos | testimony | witness
Clever Provisions to Consider in Your Virginia Custody and Visitation Agreement
As you can probably imagine, in a coparenting relationship, all sorts of issues come up. Some of them are just related to the myriad challenges parents face in raising children, and the inherent differences between partners (even loving, respectful, happy partners!). When the coparenting relationship isn’t very good to begin with, all sorts of…
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Saving Money in Your Virginia Custody Case
Divorce and custody cases can be expensive. In fact, they usually are. Though we have cases every so often where we propose and sign an agreement within a couple of weeks, with minimal expense to the client, there are also cases where we negotiate and litigate for months – and sometimes longer – on…
Filled under: Child Custody
Tag with: adultery | breastfeeding | child custody | contested | custody | deadbeat | deployment | divorce | military | separation | special needs | spousal support | uncontested | visitation
Can you send me a quote for attorney’s fees in my family law case?
Everyone is concerned about money, especially now. But, really, in my line of business, I feel the same sense of urgency where finances are concerned regardless of whether there’s a global pandemic. Attorneys are expensive. And family law attorneys are different from other kinds of attorneys – specifically, personal injury attorneys – so some…
Filled under: Divorce
Tag with: custody | custody cases | discovery | divorce | paralegal | pro bono | saving money | separation | uncontested divorce
Will your paralegal do the work on my divorce case?
I often get questions about the division of work between an attorney and a paralegal. Though I may be reading more into these questions than is necessary (and though, I admit, am broadly generalizing here), the sense that I get is that most people want the work in their case to be done by their…
Filled under: Divorce
Tag with: attorney's fees | cost | custody | divorce | paralegal
What is a retainer agreement and what does it do?
If you’ve never hired an attorney before – and, let’s face it, few of us have – you probably have a lot of questions about what to expect and how it all works. I hired an attorney once for a personal injury case, and, even as an attorney myself, I felt a little bit like…
Filled under: Frequently Asked Questions
Tag with: attorney client relationship | divorce attorney | escrow account | hiring an attorney | legal contract | payment plans | pro bono | retainer agreement | retainer fee | trust account | your attorney
Does your firm accept payment plans?
One of the biggest questions in any divorce and custody case is “How will I pay for it?” For almost anyone, no matter how high or low of an earner they are, it’s a bit of a stretch financially. I look at a lot of people’s various account information, so, I can tell you, almost…
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Tag with: attorney's fees | collaborative | custody | custody book | custody seminar | divorce | divorce book | divorce seminar | free legal advice | mediation | negotiation | retainer
If I fear for my safety, can I take my child and go?
Domestic violence is a very real issue in family law cases; it’s one we brush up against all the time. It was something that surprised me when I first started, because even in the most otherwise normal cases, there were undercurrents of domestic violence. A friend of mine from law school is a prosecutor,…
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Tag with: child support | complaint | custody | domestic violence | fault based grounds for divorce | pendente lite | protective order | visitation
What is a parenting plan?
In terms of vocabulary, there are all sorts of things that we say when it comes to custody and visitation that may seem new to you. I’ve written extensively on legal and physical custody, the different types (primary, shared, and split), coparenting, parenting education seminars, and many other topics related to custody and visitation that…
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Tag with: child support | coparenting | custody | holiday | joint legal | parenting plan | parenting time | primary physical | right of first refusal | schedule | shared physical split physical | sole custody | vacation | visitation