Drug or Alcohol Use and My Virginia Custody Case Drug or alcohol use can pose problems in a Virginia child custody case, as you can probably pretty well imagine. Judges – who are notoriously conservative, especially in Virginia, and especially when it comes to things like drug use – don’t like it. In Virginia (as in pretty much everywhere), custody cases always comes down to what’s in the best interests of the child. Is living with (or riding in a car with) a person with substance abuse issues … [Read more...]
Does my family law judge hate me? Will he remember me?
Does the judge hate me? Will my judge remember me? In family law cases, it seems to happen fairly often that, in litigated cases, you come before the same judge several times. Most courts, of course, do this on purpose – in order to minimize the amount of time needed at each hearing that the judge needs to familiarize himself with the facts of the case. It’s efficient, it’s consistent – and, really, it makes sense, especially if you think about the need to conserve judicial resources (like, the … [Read more...]
Involving the Police in Custody and Visitation
Involving the police in custody and visitation At some point, the issues you face may be less a question for a divorce and custody attorney and more a question for a child psychologist. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if everything between you and your child’s father is highly contentious, there are very few things an attorney, a guardian ad litem, or a judge can do to minimize the damage that you’re doing to your coparenting relationship and, more importantly, to your … [Read more...]
Will I have to give up on things I want in my Virginia divorce?
In many ways, contested or uncontested, your divorce is a negotiation. In most cases, regardless of whether you initially file on fault, your divorce will ultimately be settled. That’s not a dig; in fact, it’s an ideal situation. Rather than leaving it up to a judge, you and your husband can reach an agreement about how your assets and liabilities will be divided. Taking your divorce out of the hands of a judge serves a couple different (but important) purposes. For one thing, it allows … [Read more...]
What to expect at a judicial settlement conference
What to expect at a judicial settlement conference Judicial settlement conferences can happen for a couple of different reasons. If your divorce is contested, oftentimes courts require that you have a judicial settlement conference before your trial, in an attempt to encourage the parties to settle on their own without the judge’s involvement. (If your divorce is contested, you may find there are a great many procedural road blocks in place designed to help facilitate settlement and keep your … [Read more...]
