Today's Latin lesson brings us the word “putativus,” which comes from a Latin stem meaning to believe or suspect. From this we get putative, as in Virginia's putative father registry. Lawyers love Latin. Putative means “generally considered or assumed to be.” As in, you are the child's putative father. How Virginia Birth Certificates Work We think of birth certificates as a legal magic wand, casting ...
You politely decline an invitation to have that second helping of banana pudding. That is not, legally, "right of first refusal," but nice try (and probably better for your pants). No, right of first refusal in child custody and parenting plans means the right for the non-custodial parent to be contacted when the custodial parent needs a babysitter, extended child care, and ...
The astounding military leader, Alexander the Great, marched into Gordium in 333 BCE, encountered the much-ballyhooed Gordian Knot1, and sliced it apart with one swift swipe of his sword. While plenty of military men "tie the knot," many also need a way to untie their own Gordian knots. Divorcing a military spouse is more complicated than you might think. Kids, ...
Why an "A" for Effort? Effort begins with E; the traditional grading system does not even have an E. You can thank Mount Holyoke College, circa 1897, for letter grades. We are certain most of our loyal readers were Straight-A students, but imagine getting a C- on something. Not too impressive, is it? Virginia's "Shared Parenting Report Card" earns the ...
She loved you, once. She loved her children, too, presumably. But for whatever reason — drugs, alcohol, mental illness, gambling addiction, criminality — she has become a threat to not only you but to your children. How can you cope? Priority One: Get Your Kids and Get Out As experts at Domestic Shelters states, getting yourself and your children to a safe ...
An old joke says the second prize in a contest is a two-week vacation in Philadelphia. The first prize is a one-week vacation in Philadelphia. Sometimes the prize is not always what it is cracked up to be. Take custodial care for your children, for example. You want to be a good parent. You want primary custody of them. Have you stopped ...
Grimm's Fairy Tales were, in their original 1812 compilation by the two brothers, rather, well, grim. A significant portion of the stories, says History.com1, entailed outright child abuse and wicked mothers. Originally told, Hansel and Gretel's mother talks the father into abandoning the kids. Snow White's mother, not a stepmother, was jealous enough in the original telling to banish the ...
Virginia has a drug addiction problem. According to The Commonwealth Fund1, our state suffered 17.1 drug-poisoning deaths per 100,000 Virginians in 2017 (the latest year for data). That may not sound like a lot, but it is significantly elevated above the 2013 rate of 10.2 deaths per 100,000. Your family law case — child custody, separation, divorce, spousal support — can be affected ...
They bite. They scratch. They kick. Kids and cats are similar, but we expect our children to outgrow angry outbursts and manage their anger. We expect nothing of cats, and even at that low bar, we are often disappointed. Still, if we cannot manage our felines, what can we do as parents to help our children? Set Your Expectations Correctly ...