Family Law

Leaving an Abusive Marriage with Children

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 ...

By |March 9th, 2020|

NDAA 17: Fixing the Frozen Benefit Rule

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 ...

By |March 4th, 2020|

Can My Wife Get More Spousal Support By Quitting Her Job?

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 ...

By |March 2nd, 2020|

The Biggest Challenges of Being the Primary Custodian

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 ...

By |February 24th, 2020|

Tax Time: Filing Taxes While Separated in Virginia

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 ...

By |February 17th, 2020|

Can My Wife Be Charged with Child Abduction?

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 ...

By |February 10th, 2020|

Drug Addiction and Its Effects on Your Virginia Family Law Case

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 ...

By |February 3rd, 2020|

4 Tips for Helping Your Children Manage Their Anger

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 ...

By |January 27th, 2020|

The 5 Affirmative Defenses: What You Should Know

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, ...

By |January 20th, 2020|
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