Divorce & Custody Law Library

There’s a lot of dignity in divorce. Or, at least, there can be. It probably goes without saying that I think about divorce a lot. I think about it at work, of course, and in all the ways that I deal with my clients. I think about it a fair bit in my own personal…

  Everyone wants a free consultation – or, at least, they think they do. My experience, though, is that, in general, you get what you pay for. Family law attorneys, at least the reputable ones I know of in Hampton Roads, don’t generally offer free consultations. Why? For a lot of reasons, but, first and…

One of the first questions we normally get in a divorce case is, “how much will it cost?” While it’s generally impossible to provide a ballpark estimate that satisfies a potential client, there are some generalizations we can make. On a phone call the other day, we were asked whether a divorce would cost more…

  In family law, there are things that are pretty well established in black and white. And there are lots of other areas that offer various shades of gray. Most areas, in fact, are gray and are ultimately heavily dependent on the specific facts involved. It’s what makes answering just a ‘simple’ legal question so…

When it comes to understanding family law, a lot comes down to understanding the specific vocabulary that we – attorneys, judges, Guardians ad litem, custody evaluators, and others – use to describe them. Some of that is actual legal language. The worst of it is literally in Latin – yes, Latin! – but there’s plenty…

In the majority of cases, it’s clear where a divorce or custody case should take place. For people who separate and live under the same roof, or for people who’ve always lived in Virginia, whose children go to schools in Virginia, or whatever, it’s probably pretty clear that the case is going to be handled…

Are you nervous to make calls when you don’t know what the person on the other end of the phone will ask you? I’ll admit it: sometimes I am. I’ve tried to combat this in my seasoned old age, but sometimes it still creeps in and gets to me. “Am I going to look stupid?…

If you’re reading this article in the actual week it was published (April 11, 2022), I’m out on vacation. I’m writing this, in advance, so that, while I’m gone, interesting legal questions will continue to be answered for any Virginia women searching for the answers. But my vacation – which will have me out of…

Lots of people get married, and, of those people who marry, a good number will ultimately – eventually – divorce. People who suffer from mental or intellectual disabilities also marry and, as a result, get divorced, too. It doesn’t come up that often, but it does come up. In fact, the reason I write today…

One of my favorite questions to ask professionals – doctors, financial advisors, whoever – is what they’d do in my situation if they were me. So it sort of surprises me, frankly, that I haven’t written an article where I tell you what I’d do if I was in your shoes. Of course, it’s a…