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50/50 Custody in Virginia

  We get a lot of questions about custody and visitation in Virginia. Does the court assume 50/50 here? Does the court prefer mom? No, the court definitely prefers dad, right? Is there a standard custody arrangement that the court orders? Like, what happens in these cases, anyway? I hear you. It’s like most moms…

Blending Families After Divorce

There are very few easy situations when it comes to custody, visitation, child support, and blended families. It seems to me that, even in the cases that proceed fairly smoothly (or, at least, without litigation), there’s a fair amount of heartache and difficulty. I’ve said it before, but I think it bears mentioning again. A…

What is primary physical custody?

  Understanding custody isn’t easy. In fact, I often tell people that learning about custody first involves learning the vocabulary of custody, and understanding how the different forms of custody relate to each other. Though custody litigation is common, these disputes often center around similar themes. In general, child support is not a particular contentious…

Primary Physical Custody and Child Support

I’ve talked about custody every which way from Sunday, but often with more emphasis on shared physical custody than primary physical custody, even though moms almost always tell me, within minutes of our first meeting, that they want sole custody of their children. Failing that, of course, the next best thing is often primary physical…

I want sole legal and physical custody of our child

In a divorce and/or custody case, you can get whatever you and your soon-to-be ex/child’s father can agree to or whatever the judge is willing to award. In many cases, we’re really limited by what the judge will do. When the other side knows that, for example, the military retirement will be divided so that…

How do I get sole custody?

All moms want sole custody. Hey, I get it – I’m a mom, too. And let’s just say that I share your belief that no one can do it – that is, mom my child – better than I can. And, in your case, there may very well be other issues, too. There’s often domestic…

Determining Custody and Visitation

If you’re like me, you hate the idea of living with uncertainty. Even worse than uncertainty generally is uncertainty where your children are concerned. If you don’t have anything official regarding custody and visitation – no agreement or court order – then both you and your child’s father have custody. That sounds unpalatable to you?…

Amber Alerts, Parental Kidnapping, and Emma Grace Kennedy

When Emma Grace Kennedy was kidnapped last week by her sex offender father at a gas station, it seems like EVERYBODY knew about it right away. There were Amber Alert billboards, text messages, and stories on the news. It’s every mom’s worst nightmare, especially for moms who are separated from their children’s fathers, but especially…

We’ve been ordered to try mediation in our custody case. Is that okay?

Judges don’t love to decide cases, especially in family law. It’s not that they don’t care, it’s just that they know that they don’t really have the full scope of the situation (how can they?), and prefer, instead, for people to do all that they can to settle their disputes BEFORE coming to court. That…

What does shared custody even mean?

Custody cases are the worst, especially in terms of the levels of anxiety that moms feel as they begin to prepare for one. There’s a lot of fear there (and understandably so), and often that fear makes it difficult for moms to separate the horror stories from the actual, factual truth about what could happen…