Death and taxes, according to Christopher Bullock in 1716, are the only two things of which we can be sure. With the 21st century, we might add student debt and child support to those certainties. They are also two of the obligations nearly impossible to shirk without consequences. Garnishment for Child Support If you owe child support payments in Virginia, ...
The retractable dog leash was first patented in 1908, by Mary Delaney. With child custody and visitation, many a Virginia man feels like he is walking around on a leash. If you assign full physical and legal custody of your children to your former wife, how far can you stray from home? How Short is Your Leash? Back in the ...
One challenge we eagerly accept every day is interpreting complex case law for our clients. These blogs exist to educate the many Virginia men in need of wise counsel. Consider this mouthful: tortious interference with parental rights. Stay with us now, as we head deep into the weeds. Words, Words, Words We will roll out the exact case in just ...
The judge assigned her. The state pays her. Your child custody issues hinges on her word. Face it: you have a lot at stake when a guardian ad litem (GAL) drops by for a home visit. She (or he — the Supreme Court of Virginia keeps a list of qualified GALs of both genders) is not your attorney; she is ...
When, not if. When is a far more compelling word than if. If is conditional; it may or may not happen. When is not conditional: it announces something as inevitable. When you go to jail for failure to pay child support in Virginia, you invite a whole lotta hurt. If you can bear to read about it, when you get ...
Heritage seems to be a watchword in Virginia these days. Heritage symbolized in statues, or flags, or skin tone. Our American justice system has its heritage, too. It is a roughly equal mix of ancient Roman law, British Common Law, and American innovation. Parental rights have walked the long path from Roman custom through British ancestry to today’s completely American ...
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a safety net provided by federal tax dollars to prevent low-income elderly or disabled individuals, including blind or disabled children, from living on canned cat food. That may be a bit of hyperbole, but the poor (literally) folks getting SSI must have almost no other assets. So how does SSI figure in child support calculations? ...
Child support payments in Virginia are neither reward nor punishment. They are intended to keep children happily living the lives they came to expect before Mom and Dad went their separate ways. If both parents want to put a halt to child support, is Virginia okay with that? Okay, Why Child Support? Virginia requires child support payments so that Virginia’s ...
Parental alienation syndrome first got its label back in 1985, when Dr. Richard Gardner first described distinctive behaviors in children that included extreme (unwarranted) fear, disrespect or hostility towards a parent. That was 35 years ago, meaning we have had time to see and study the corrosive effects of this emotional abuse. What do we find in adults who had parental ...