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? You want to do something about it to ensure that you have the type of custody that you feel you should have given the level … [Read more...]
Will my child’s father get visitation if I’m breastfeeding?
Will my child’s father get visitation if I’m breastfeeding? Breastfeeding is something that comes up pretty often when we’re talking about custody and visitation of infants – and sometimes even toddlers and beyond! With the wealth of information that is available to us nowadays, most people are aware of the fact that the benefits of breastfeeding extend for as long as mom and child continue to nurse. For a lot of moms (myself included), establishing breastfeeding is difficult and fraught … [Read more...]
Shared Custody: The New Rules
Shared Custody: The new rules In July of 2018, the law regarding custody was revised. The statute now specifically provides that “[t]here shall be no presumption in favor of any form of custody.” Based on wording alone, I’m not sure that this represents any real legal change at all. I was actually already under the impression that judges considered all the different kinds of custodial arrangements more or less equally, and applied whatever they believed to be appropriate to the case at … [Read more...]
Moving Away With the Children: Virginia Child Custody Issues
Moving Away with the Children Over time, the law changes and evolves. I see trends – even just in the 8 or so years that I’ve been practicing – come and go. It’s funny how that can happen, but, in custody cases, so much is left up to the judge’s discretion. These things really can be different year over year, and there can be seismic shifts in judge’s viewpoints. And not necessarily in just one court, either; sometimes, it seems like all the judges get a particular memo at the same time, while … [Read more...]
Emergency Petitions for Custody in Virginia
Emergency Petitions for Custody in Virginia When I was a kid, I took the whole “boy who cried wolf” story a little too seriously. I vividly remember being told about 911, and how it was only to be used in emergencies. I vaguely remember a terrible impression that bad things happened to people who called 911 when it wasn’t an emergency. As an adult, I have a really difficult time, even now, classifying things as an emergency. I’m not sure if I’m scared I’ll appear melodramatic, or if someone … [Read more...]
When coparents are petty
When coparents are petty I heard a new one the other day. It doesn’t happen all that often, at this stage in the game, but yesterday it did. I was talking to a woman who told me that her child’s father, after their divorce, tried to one-up her in every single way imaginable – even with the tooth fairy! My son is only two, so I don’t have to deal with the whole tooth fairy thing yet. It’s my understanding, though, that the going rate for teeth has increased since my childhood. When I was a … [Read more...]
Know Your Judge: Virginia Custody Cases
Know Your Judge: Virginia Custody Cases Judges – like all of us normal, regular people – are different. They bring to their job different opinions, and different interpretations of the law. They are subject to different moods, based on what is happening in their own personal lives. This probably isn’t shocking information. But it is pretty scary, to think that you could wait months and months to meet with someone who could be making decisions about you and your family on a day where he or she … [Read more...]
I want him to pay for my divorce attorney’s fees
I want him to pay for my divorce attorney’s fees Here we are again – talking about attorney’s fees. It’s really one of the biggest issues, because everyone wants an attorney, but no one wants to pay what it costs. In almost ever case I’ve ever worked on, there has been a point where my client has asked me what she needs to do to get her husband to pay for her attorney’s fees. The thing is… It really almost never happens. It could – it’s possible, at least theoretically – and we often DO list … [Read more...]
Can we keep the house jointly after Virginia divorce?
Can we keep the house jointly after divorce? Real estate is – sometimes – complicated. I started practicing law actively after the big crash in 2008, but I have been told by several other practitioners who were working at the time that property values meant that people who would otherwise have gotten divorced stayed together. When houses plummeted in value, it meant that people could no longer afford to get out of their homes, let alone find two new places for them to live afterwards. Lots of … [Read more...]
Girl’s Night Out at Beachside Social
Girl’s Night Out at Beachside Social If you’ve paid any attention to us over the last couple of months as you try to decide whether or not to move forward with a divorce or custody case, you’ve probably heard about our Girl’s Night Out event series. It’s a lot of fun and, if you haven’t been yet, I definitely encourage you to join us at our upcoming event at Beachside Social in Virginia Beach. It’s right on the oceanfront, and should be a really great time. The venue has indoor shuffleboard … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 12
- Next Page »
