Have you ever been to a Virginia civil court proceeding? It’s truly wild, with fans shouting and a court clerk wandering the crowded aisles shouting, “Fresh laws! Get your fresh, new laws here!” No. It’s not like that at all, even when a law is straight out of the sausage factory in Richmond. The law we’re thinking of was newly ...
Montgomery Gentry wrote a song about it. “I’ll Keep the Kids” tells of the whole package: separation, divorce, child custody. But what happens outside of a Nashville recording studio, out here in the real world, when your wife up and leaves, and you have the house, the dog, and the kids to care for? This Little Thing We Like to ...
To have and to hold. Those are part of many traditional wedding vows. That word, “hold,” is directly related to another word: tenant. Tenants — folks renting a space from a landlord — are named from the Latin word tenere, “to hold.” Unless your wife is a tenant in your marital home, you have no legal right to kick her ...
Open communication is key to a good marriage. Communicating openly and privately with your family law attorney is key to a good separation and eventual divorce. Privacy Matters During Divorce When you buy your ticket on the emotional roller coaster that is separation and divorce, you need to change some of your behaviors. You are no longer partners with your ...
The phrase, “legal separation” is a Virginia myth on par with the Richmond Vampire. Like the Vampire, it seems never to die, it changes over time, and it has a tiny kernel of truth at its core. First of All, There’s No Such Thing Nothing in Virginia law enshrines “legal separation” as a concept. In Virginia, you are either: ...
You and your spouse have decided to separate. You both realize this is the best thing for your future happiness. You agree on all the details — spousal support, child custody, property division — and sign off on the property settlement agreement. Only … a few months later, you reconcile. Now what? What protections remain in place? What Marital Separation ...
A property settlement agreement or divorce settlement agreement is the final word in just about every facet of your divorce. The terms laid down in the agreement allow you and your ex-wife to stay in your lanes, avoid future court battles, and find a level of peace you may not have known in marriage. What if, though, she violates the ...
ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan. Since 1963, the U.S. Postal Service has assigned those five-digit numbers to areas to speed up mail delivery. If you know someone’s address, you can serve them divorce papers. That is one of seven ways to serve process. I Know Where You Live The law requires a person who is the subject of a ...
Good news! Adultery no longer exists in the military. Well, okay, they renamed it “extramarital sexual conduct” in the latest revisions to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), but still, it doesn’t say adultery! Performing the Poking Polka is still illegal and likely to get you in a whole lot of trouble, but only under some very specific circumstances. ...