I drafted a Separation Agreement, but he won’t sign. What next? You’ve agonized over the decision for months – sometimes, even years. After reflection and prayer and therapy and everything else you could think of to try, you’re ready to move forward with your divorce. I’ve seen it so many times! The initial consultation is often filled with tears, but, by the end, the woman walks out of our office a little taller, a little straighter, a little bit more confident. By the end of the process? … [Read more...]
Come to Girl’s Night Out!
Facing a divorce or custody case is difficult. It’s difficult for many reasons, but it’s especially so because it often becomes difficult to maintain friendships. That’s especially true for your “his and hers” couple friends, but it can be true of your own separate friends, too. It’s hard for friends to listen nonstop to a narrative about your divorce; it can be difficult for you, too, to NOT talk about your divorce nonstop. For happily married friends, it can be difficult for you to confide, … [Read more...]
When Virginia divorce and custody litigation becomes abusive
When Virginia divorce and custody litigation becomes abusive For the most part, the court system exists to help people reach resolution in their cases, especially when they’re unable to agree on a resolution between themselves. We use the courts for all types of reasons – when one party is unresponsive, when our client isn’t familiar enough with the assets and liabilities in the marriage to really participate fully in negotiations, when one party behaves unfairly (like by withdrawing all … [Read more...]
Adultery, Spousal Support, and Custody
Adultery, Spousal Support, and Custody We talked Monday about adultery, and the difference between filing a divorce (which is a civil case) using adultery as your grounds and an actual criminal prosecution on adultery (which is a level IV misdemeanor in Virginia). The purpose of that article was to alleviate concerns I see around adultery cases. I received a call just the other day from a woman who was worrying about the potential impact to her career stemming from a divorce action that … [Read more...]
Petitions to Modify Virginia Child Custody
Petitions to Modify Virginia Child Custody As you probably are already aware, once you have a child with someone, they never really go away. In a divorce or a breakup where there are no children, the parties are free to go their own separate ways and never see each other again. It’s not only desirable but encouraged. There’s no reason for them to have any future contact. A divorce is seamless; it completely, totally, and permanently separates the two former partners. With kids, it just … [Read more...]
Special Issues in Virginia Child Custody Cases
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...]
Divorce Life Hacks and Support
Going through a divorce isn’t easy. It isn’t easy for anyone, no matter what specific issues brought you to where you are today. No matter what you’re going through, you don’t want to be defined by your divorce. You, like any woman facing adversity, want to come out on the other side, better, stronger, and happier than you were before. Getting there—to that magical end point—can be difficult, though. Even though you have friends and family members who have been there before and can likely offer … [Read more...]
What does primary physical custody mean in Virginia?
The other day, I had a debate with a couple of the attorneys in the office. It’s interesting; we’ve been practicing so long, side by side, and yet, in some ways, our experiences (and, as a result, our professional judgment) are completely different. Okay, so here’s the issue. Mom and dad have joint physical custody, and mom wants to enroll their child in therapy. Dad says no. The order of the court (vis a vis the separation agreement, which was incorporated as an order of the court in the final … [Read more...]
Can I hire an out of area attorney to represent me in Virginia?
We get calls all the time from the northern part of the state, from women living in Fairfax, Alexandria, and Fredericksburg, and also from the western part of the state, from women living in Roanoke, or Christiansburg. Usually, they’re calling because they found us on the internet, and saw that our website was chock full of really valuable divorce and custody related information. Information that, frankly, they weren’t able to find quickly and easily anywhere else. For women with questions … [Read more...]
Virginia Custody Laws: Can I move with my child?
We see it all the time. When things don’t work out between a woman and the father of her children, her first impulse is to pack up and move back home. Without the support provided by the child’s father, there seems no reason, to mom at least, to stick around. In fact, the thing that seems the most logical is to just head back home, wherever that is. Whether it’s halfway across the world, on the other side of the country, or in the next city over, relocation can present a lot of different … [Read more...]
