Perhaps as a way to make ourselves feel better, humans unscientifically invented the notion of “compensation” for deficits. We tell ourselves, for instance, that blind people have more acute hearing, or that hearing-impaired people are excellent lip readers (neither of which is true, says Michigan’s Community Service Commission). Often we drape the same socially comfortable cover over fatherlessness, trying to ...
Virginia’s laws of evidence are described and organized in great detail in the Rules of Supreme Court of Virginia (616 pages and no pictures!). Thumb through to page 95 and you get to the Good Part, the Virginia Rules of Evidence, which continue along to page 175, a tedious and tiresome 80 pages. Clearly, if the ancients wished to hide ...
Though they may appear to never step down from their lofty perches behind the judge’s bench, Virginia’s judges really are just regular folks, aware of how little time other Virginians have for the often drawn-out pomp and procedures of a family law courtroom. A shortage of time is part of the reason for the 2003 creation of Virginia’s Judicial Settlement Conference ...
After your divorce, who owns your home? Though financially and legally you or ex-wife may own it, you do have the option to let your kids have the house. Not unsupervised, like some 21st century version of The Little Rascals, but by having each parent take turns living in the family home during their parenting time. This technique, in which the ...
Some surprises are happily wonderful, like U.S. Army soldier Brent Mount, fresh out of Afghanistan, surprising his nine-year-old daughter1 at her Virginia school. Some surprises are best kept under wraps because the news is not welcome, like you wanting to divorce your wife. Try these suggestions for keeping the word from spreading until you have everything arranged as you need for ...
The character Roger “Verbal” Kint in Usual Suspects is a charade, disguising the evil genius of (spoiler alert) Keyser Söze in the same body. He is called “Verbal” because he can talk your ears off. He should, technically, be called “Oral,” but the connotation is a bit racey for the role, so Verbal it is. Verbal vs. Oral You see, ...
Sometimes treasures hide in plain sight. What was true of Edgar Allen Poe’s Purloined Letter (you can read it courtesy of the University of Virginia)1 held true in the recent discovery of a genuine, multi-million-dollar Auguste Rodin sculpture2 sitting unrecognized for years in the Madison, New Jersey municipal building. The same is true in legal circles; important, valuable information for ...
The New Year has brought with it many householders determined to stay on budgets, so they sit down in earnest and divvy up paychecks to be spent on housing, food, and so on. If, like Virginia’s legislators, they do this without regard to actual income and expenses, their budgets are doomed. In similar fashion, Virginia’s lawmakers often stipulate programs but do not provide ...
Virginia in the 21st century retains much of its Southern grace and charm in many little ways, like its paternalistic approach to caring for Virginia’s children. Vested in the Code of Virginia is, repeatedly, “the best interest of the child.” In child custody, the Commonwealth of Virginia stands second to none in defending what is best and right and just ...