Sometimes in these pages we joke around a bit, get a little weird, or push a few buttons. Yet one area is always off-limits to those attitudes: children. Virginia's children are among the most helpless, fragile and innocent among us. Virginia's adults, and even more so Virginia's attorneys, have a high calling to protect Virginia's kids. Emergency custody hearings are ...
Who is a reasonable person? A reasonable person, simply put, can make commonsense decisions just as you or we would. We have handed the American legal system that legacy, in the form of a standard of behavior: what would a "reasonable person" do in this legal dilemma or that situation? What would that same "reasonable person" consider to be a "reasonable and ...
In Virginia, some parents have an interesting (if inaccurate) view of court documents. Apparently, they feel they are optional, as in, the parent can ignore the specific directions of a court. These same parents may feel "Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat" is a little bossy, or that advice not to look at solar eclipses is just fear-mongering. Imagine their surprise, then, to ...
The clothes wringer was invented in the 1880s by a woman, Ellen Elgin, and is still sold today. We mention it in passing because many of our clients feel as though their divorce has put them through the wringer, at least figuratively. After divorce, if you feel wrung out, twisted in knots, and a bit soggy, could counseling help? Counseling ...
You can be forgiven for thinking lawyers could write a 180-page handbook for using shampoo. Legal "briefs" tend to be anything but brief, and legal pads are deliberately three inches longer than regular pads because, well, words, words, words. So, when you examine a Virginia court's child support order, you may be surprised at how much is left out, considering ...
Kevin Walter, Virginia turkey hunter, most definitely did not have custody of the charging bobcat1. The word "custody" means "immediate charge and control exercised by a person or an authority." While the bobcat may have charged, and while Kevin was clearly not in control, a bobcat is not an animal anyone wants to take into custody. Your children, though, are another ...
You don't usually think of children as property, but in a strange legal sense, they are. If you and your wife have children, you have a legal right to see, be with, and enjoy the company of your children. That simple legal fact means your wife cannot legally deprive you of them by taking them from you. Your children also ...
Parents have exactly one legal requirement regarding public education: compulsory attendance, under Virginia Code § 22.1-254. What does that mean? Parents must send their children to school1. Just about anything beyond that is good parenting but not legally binding. How much information you provide your children's teachers is up to you, but consider why, in the case of separation, more information is ...
Some parents struggle more than others with shared custody of their children after divorce. Ashburn, Virginia resident Kirk D. Holland recently lost control during a child custody drop-off and now faces domestic assault and other charges, according to The Patch. For most parents, though, shared or joint physical custody is preferable to sole physical custody, and small distinctions separate shared ...