A cornerstone of the Constitution enshrines states' rights, saying anything not specifically laid out in the Constitution by default falls to the states. This is why we have state control of education, fair housing, the death penalty, and marijuana laws. Sometimes we have conflict between federal and state law, and sometimes federal laws are enacted specifically to overrule states' laws. ...
Thomas Aquinas, medieval philosopher, offered two sides of one argument when he said, "It would seem that several angels can be at the same time in the same place. For several bodies cannot be at the same time in the same place, because they fill the place. But the angels do not fill a place..."1 This has morphed into the idiomatic ...
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, ...
We are going to do you the courtesy of avoiding any reference to a certain Disney animated movie that begins with F and has r-o-z-e in the middle and ends in n, even if its name appears in our title. I think most Dads are a bit ... worn out? ... by that particular cinematic gem. But we do need ...
Let's be clear: very few of our readers are actual elected officials with the federal government. We apparently have almost no U.S. Representatives or U.S. Senators among our readers, so when we say "fixing the frozen benefit rule," we are really talking about a workaround. Because, unless you are a member of Congress, you cannot ignore or change the law ...
In a nation with 50-year record low unemployment1, the idea of choosing to be unemployed seems ... odd. Whether underemployed or unemployed by choice, the spouse who connives to get by with less may be buying herself a world of misery. If she tries this strategy attempting to get more spousal support, let her know you have her number. She’s Too ...
When you announced to your friends that you and your wife were separating, we're guessing several of your friends told you, "You're crazy!" If you existed only in the realm of movies, your fast response would, of course, be, "So crazy, it just might work!" After separating from your wife, so many things seem crazy. Childcare. Spousal support. Taxes. And ...
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 ...
In a Virginia divorce, you may be accused of being at fault, or responsible for the divorce. You and your highly skilled family law attorney can fight charges of being at fault through affirmative defenses. Five typical affirmative defenses in divorce cases are condonation, insanity, collusion, recrimination, and connivance. Let's take a closer look at each. Condonation Under Virginia Code § 20-91, ...