Video Library

Video Categories:

• Divorce
• Child Custody
• Military Divorce
• Spousal Support
• Property Dispute
• General

Divorce:

• Am I Separated or When am I separated in Virginia?
  Lawyer Kristen Hofheimer answers one of frequently asked question, "Am I Separated or When am I Separated in Virginia?"
• Evidence on proving Adultery
  Lawyer Kristen Hofheimer explains how to prove adultery in Virginia.
• What is Desertion?
  Lawyer Charlie Hofheimer explains what Desertion is in Virginia
• How long does it take for a divorce in Virginia
  Virginia Lawyer Charlie Hofheimer explains how to get a quick divorce in Virginia.
• Filing for Fault or No-Fault Divorce in Virginia
  Lawyer Charlie Hofheimer explains what a "No Fault" divorce means in Virginia.

Child Custody:

• Tetimony of Battered Mom's
  Unbelievable stories of real cases where the court system got it wrong.
• Free Virginia Custody Book
  If you are in a custody dispute or think you may be headed there, you will find this book invaluable. Chapter 1 through 3 explain the basics: what custody really means and how it is determined, as well as when and how custody and visitation can be changed. In discussing the various custody factors, this book will give you tips about what specific kinds of information the court will be looking for, what facts can help or hurt your case, and how to present evidence in your case in support of each custody factor.
• Types of Custody
  In Virginia, there's physical custody and there's legal custody. Legal custody has to do with decision-making authority. It has nothing to do with how much time the children spend with one parent or the other parent. Legal custody can be joint legal custody or sole legal custody and as I said it doesn't have to do with how much time the children spend with each parent, it has to do with making major decisions that are going to have a long-term effect on your children's lives, such as decisions over education, religion or non-emergency medical treatment. If you have sole legal custody then you can unilaterally make those decisions or you can make those decisions for yourself without having to consult with your spouse first. Joint legal custody, on the other hand, means that you have to converse with your spouse about the issues that are going to have a long-term impact on your children's lives and try to reach a resolution with your spouse on those issues.
• Types of Physical Custody
  In Virginia, we have primary physical custody; we have shared physical custody and we have split physical custody. Primary physical custody is what most people are traditionally accustomed to and that's where the children live primarily with one parent and have visitation with the other parent. Visitation schedule might look something like every other weekend and some visitation time during the week and then split holidays and extra time during the summer. Shared physical custody is something where it's not necessarily a 50/50 split of the children's time but the children are time sharing more than they would under a traditional primary physical custody model and so there are different ways that parents agree or the court orders that they share their time with their children but it's something more than a traditional custody, visitation schedule. Split custody is when some children live with one parent and some children live with the other parent. Typically when you see split custody it's when the parents have got together and they've decided between the two of them that based on the children's relationships with each parent that it's better for their family for some children to live with one parent and some children to live with the other parent. Courts sometimes will order split custody but usually the courts like to keep brothers and sisters together, so typically when you see a split custody arrangement it's because that's what the family decided for themselves was best for their family.

Military Divorce:

• What is a 20/20/20 spouse and why is this important?
  A 20/20/20 spouse refers to someone who has been married to a military member for over 20 years - and where the 20 years of marriage overlaps with 20 years of military service.
  Quite simply, the servicemember must have served for more than 20 years, your marriage must have been for more than 20 years - and there must be an overlap between the two (i.e. you were married for at least 20 years of the military service).
  This is important because if you are such a spouse, then you are entitled to full military medical care, including TRICARE, for the rest of your life - as long as you remain unremarried and as long as you are not enrolled in an employer-sponsored health plan. This also means that you are entitled to Commissary and Exchange privileges as well!
  A former spouse who qualifies for the above may apply for an ID card at a military ID card facility. You would need to fill out DD Form 1172 and bring a valid picture ID card, a copy of your marriage certificate, the court decree, a statement detailing te military spouse's service, and a statement documenting the fact that you are not remarried and that you are not participating in an employer-sponsored health plan.
  All of the above is EXTREMELY important if your soon-to-be ex-husband is approaching 20 years of military service. You may wish to defer, delay or negotiate an agreement that provides that no divorce will occur before you qualify for 20/20/20 status.
• Military 10-Year Rule
  One of the most callous lawyer tricks attempted by an opposing counsel was a letter sent to a servicemember's wife stating, "As you know, the government will not pay you any part of your husband's retirement pension because you have not been married to him for 10 years."
  The letter was a purposeful misinformation effort to make the wife believe that she was not entitled to any of his retirement pay.
  Here are the facts:
  1) State law determines what, if any, portion of your husband's retirement pension you are entitled to receive;
  2) Whether you have been married 2 years or 30 years, you have a right to ask for your marital share of his military pension.
  Here is where the 10-year rule applies:
  The government has a rule that it does not have to pay you "directly" your marital share of the pension unless you have been married to your husband for more than 10 years of his military career. Therefore, if you were married to him for 8 years of his military career, and the court awards you your marital share of his retirement, the payment will come from your husband - and not "directly" from the government.
  So - what can you do in that case to protect yourself? You can also seek a voluntary allotment - or, even better, a voluntary irrecoverable allotment from your husband, but you do not have the right to direct pay from the government unless you pass the 10-year marriage threshhold of military marriage.
• How Can I Have A Sense of Humor When My Husband Has No Sense of Humor?
  If you are a Military Spouse, you should know that a call to your Husband's Command can sometimes remedy your situation - particularly if you do it in the right way. I am certainly not suggesting that you call the Command each and every time you feel aggrieved or scorned by your spouse. I am suggesting, however, that in the most dire circumstances where you have been absolutely cut off by the service-member, that a call first to the Command Ombudsman or Representative can help. Failing that, a call to the Command's Senior Enlisted Advisor may also encourage a "conversation" with your servicemember husband that "encourages" him to support his family.
  
  

Spousal Support:

• Lump Sum
  Lump Sum Award is an agreement between you and your husband that he will pay you a specific amount of money or if you go to trial, a court could issue the amount.

Property Dispute:

• What is a Virginia co-habitation agreement and is it the same thing as a prenuptial agreement?
  

  Co-habitation agreements can help make a break-up go more smoothly. It can also save you money. Litigation can be expensive, and having a legal document that lays out your mutual decisions can be a big help.

   

General:

• Divorce Book for Military Wives
  "What Every Virginia Military Wife Needs to Know About Divorce" is an invaluable resource for military wives and female service members.  Penned by Virginia divorce attorneys Matt Hamel and Charlie Hofheimer-of Hofheimer/Ferrebee, P.C., a law firm that represents women only in divorce and custody matters.
  
  Click the image below to get a complimentary copy.
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
• How Will a Collaborative Divorce Benefit Me?
  Unlike traditional divorce, the collaborative divorce process takes place in a comfortable atmosphere-outside of the courtroom. In fact, you, your spouse and your lawyers all sign a document promising to create a divorce agreement without ever going to court. Right away, this sets the tone you're all here to work together.
• How Remarriage Affects Survivor Benefit Plan Coverage After a Virginia Divorce
  
  

  If you remarry before you turn 55, you'll no longer be eligible to receive SBP benefits. If your remarriage occurs after you turn 55, your survivor benefits will not be terminated. This is an important bit of information if you're contemplating remarriage around this time of life.

   

• Child Custody Concerns for Military Women during a Virginia Divorce
  Of all the difficult aspects of a Virginia divorce, child custody issues have the potential to be the most heartbreaking. If the parents can't agree to acceptable terms, or if there are extenuating circumstances, it makes the situation even more challenging.

  If you're a military woman seeking a divorce, you should be aware of custody issues unique to military life and how they may affect your Virginia child custody case.

• Am I A Virginia Resident For My Military Divorce?
  
  It's important to be aware of the residencey and domicile requirements of initiating a divorce action in Virginia. At the time the divorce suit is filed, either you or your husband must be and must have been an actual bona fide resident and domiciliary of Virginia for at least the preceding six months.
• Non-monetary contributions that can be factored into my Virginia divorce
  Considering all you've done to help build a family and maintain a home, you deserve to fight for spousal support in Virginia to help you start your new life. Your Virginia divorce attorney can explain what factors the courts consider, and how you can protect your personal property and your future after you Virginia divorce.
• Military Ten Year Myth
  Military Ten Year Myth

  If you clicked on this link, it means you have a question about the ten-year myth. One of the most callous tricks we've heard is when a husband tries to tell his wife you're not entitled to any of my military pension because we haven't been married for ten years. That's just not true. The truth of the matter is you may be entitled to a portion of your husband's military retirement regardless of how long you've been married. What the ten-year rule means is that the United States Government will pay a military spouse directly her share of the marital portion of his retirement if they've been married for more than ten years of his active-duty service. So just because you may have only been married five years, six years, seven years, doesn't mean you're not entitled to a portion of your husband's retirement. It just means that the United States Government will not pay you directly and that your husband, your now ex-husband, will have to pay you directly. If you're interested in learning more about this topic or any other military-related benefit that you may be entitled to, please come to our web site, http://www.militarydivorcebook.com, and order a FREE copy of what every "Virginian Military Wife Needs to Know About Divorce. Thank you.

• Four Divorce Models. Which Runway Will You Walk?
  The four divorce models and which runway will you walk. Now you're looking at me, asking "What are you talking about?" Well, what I'm talking about are the four models of sort of how you can process or go through a divorce. There's a negotiation model, the mediation model, the collaboration model and the litigation model. Now most people go through the negotiation model where either they negotiate with their husband or they have an attorney negotiate on their behalf and the product of that negotiation would be a separation agreement. Now really when you look at negotiation, mediation and collaboration they're all three types of negotiation basically but they have different processes that they go through. If you go through mediation, usually you and your husband will meet with an objective mediator who's not on either side, whose efforts are to help get through negotiating with each other. Now if it's a really good mediator, they're not going to tell you what to do. They're going to help you through the process but basically you have to fend for yourself in mediation unless you have your attorney attending the mediation with you and presumably your husband would do likewise if he has an attorney and I would tell anybody who's going through negotiation, mediation or collaboration to always meet with an attorney first and sort of get an outline and the parameters that you would settle for with all the issues that would be impacted in your divorce. So, the next model after mediation is collaboration where it can be done either with attorneys only or it can be done with full teams involving attorneys, coaches for the husband and the wife showing them how to communicate with one another in a way that will be beneficial for the children. You may have a child specialist involved in the collaborative model. You may have a financial specialist involved in the model and basically the thought process is you don't go to court. You agree that there will be a full disclosure of all assets and all factors that would affect you obtaining a divorce and then you work through over a process of several meetings, you work through an agreement that works for your family and it's highly tailored to the special needs of your family. And then the next process after negotiation, mediation and collaboration is litigation. Obviously, well not obviously, but it is the most expensive ultimate way to get a divorce. You want somebody who's trial tested and somebody who's comfortable in the courtroom and so many people shy away from litigation as you rightfully should unless there are just some issues that can't be resolved and often times what you can do in litigation model is agree how you're going to resolve custody and child support and maybe leave the issue of spousal support, which you can't come to an agreement to that that be the only issue that's litigated. That would be a lot less expensive frankly then saying it's all or nothing. We either agree on everything or we litigate everything. That's not a good outcome because it's going to be expensive and take a lot of time. So, I don't know which runway that you're going to walk down but I can assure you that the best way to walk down them is with help. My daddy used to say, "If you're going walk through a mine field, follow someone" and I would strongly urge you to meet with a knowledgeable attorney so that they can walk you through these different models and assist you in accomplishing your goal of having a divorce that allows you to go forward to your own future, to your own destiny with the least difficulties in your life. So, thank you very much. I hope this has been helpful.
• Why Accomac Women Need a Virginia Beach Lawyer?
  As you well know, Glen Tyler, the Circuit Court Judge in Accomac has retired as of the first of this year. And accordingly, the judges, or that judgeship is open and vacant. So as a result, the judges in Virginia Beach, Virginia are going to cover the Accomac courthouse, meaning the judges are going to drive from Virginia Beach up to Accomac, hear cases and drive back, or spend the night or whatever he or she intends to do.
• reservation of rights
  Reservation of Right. If both couple makes the same amount of income. If one or both of the party request a Reservation of Right, the court shall grant it. Meaning, he/she hasn't ask for support right now however the right is reserved in the future.
• Ommited Property in Separation Agreement
  Omitted Property. What happens in an agreement when you fail to mention property that's been omitted in the agreement. Normally, if you fail to discuss it then it's probably going to the person who has title or ownership to the property. One of the clauses you might want to put in your Separation Agreement is an Omitted Property Clause. This clause will spell out what is going to happen to any property that was omitted purposely or by accident.
• Monetary Transfer in Separation Agreement
  Often times your husband may own an asset or business where you don't really want the asset but you would want the money representing your share of the asset. Let's assume that it's a Marital Asset and you have a 50/50 interest. So you gonna ask for a Monetary Award meaning you are going to ask you husband to pay you cash for you half of investment. When you do that in a Separation Agreement, you need to take precautions.
• General Waiver
  One of the options that you and your husband have when writing a Separation Agreement is the option to waive an interest in the others Retirement Plan. Frankly, most of the time, I don't recommend this to our clients because generally the husband's retirement is usually greater than our clients retirement. But that is not always true and sometimes particularly where our client, the wife, has greater income than her husband or has work longer. She would be better off to talk to him to waive his interest in her retirement.
• Survivor Benefit Plan
  Survivor Benefit or Joint Annuity, if your husband has a pension or Defined Contribution or Defined Benefit Plan. He is going to receive certain amount of money a month over his life. But upon his death that plan is discontinued unless you've taken an option called either Survivor Benefit Plan or Joint and Several Annuity. This means you would receive certain amount of money during his lifetime and upon his death.You would continue to receive money possibly at a lesser amount base on what you contracted with the insurance company who holds the annuity under which the pension is paid.
• Defined Contribution Plan in Separation Agreement
  Defined Contribution Plan, this could be a 401 K Plan, a Deferred Compensation Plan, a money purchased pension plan but essentially there is a specific amount of money that is contributed each year. That is the Defined Contribution part of the plan.In Virginia Law, there are formulas in which this plans are divided. It's called the Marital Share of the Plan. It is determined as follows, you take the number of years you are married while your husband was employed over the number of years of his employment times 50% times the benefit received.
• Defined Benefit Plan in Separation Agreement
  Defined Benefit Plan says upon retirement there is a defined benefit paid out to either you or your spouse.Take the number of years you are married while you were employed over the number of years of employment times 50% times the benefit received.
• Admission in the Divorce Process
  Today, I am going to discuss with you another effective tool in Discovery Process which are Admissions. Once a complaint for divorce was filed by you or by your husband, at some point during the process, you are going to have Discovery served on you and you will also served Discovery. That would include Interrogatories and Request for the Production of Documents. Another useful tool is Admissions, this are allegation that they are need to be admitted or denied that are served on your husband mailed to his attorney which need to be responded to within 21 days.
• Debt in Separation Agreement
  List all of your debts! Notes, Loans, Mortgages, Credit Cards, etc. The Court does not want you to put your account numbers in an agreement because of identity theft. Instead write, for example, VISA card ending in 0048.You would also need to say how much is the balance of each card is and Who's going to be responsible of what amount in the card.
• Introduction to Separation Agreement
  There are so many areas of Separation Agreement we have to cover. There is spousal/child support, custody and visitation, assets, property, insurance, and all of sorts of properties. Most important thing is to see a attorney.
• Canadian Hockey Team
  charlie meets brenda
• What is a Subpoena Duces Tecum?
  Hi, I’m Charlie Hofheimer and today we’re going to talk about subpoena duces tecums; that’s subpoena duces tecums. They are the stealth weapons in the divorce process in my opinion. Sheera Herrell of our office loves that expression and uses it frequently, but what subpoena duces tecum does it is allows us to serve a company, say a bank or investment company and ask them for any and all documents related to your husband, or to you and your husband if you don’t have copies of them. So we subpoena the company that generates the documents and ask them for copies to make sure that we have all of the documents that are relevant to your case, and it’s very helpful because sometimes under a request for production of documents to your husband, he doesn’t necessarily give us all the documents, but by using a subpoena duces tecum we can go around him and go to his employer, or go to wherever he has accounts and get the information directly from them. So it’s a powerful weapon and oftentimes we will find information that was not volunteered to us by reviewing those documents and really help our clients. So that’s a subpoena duces tecum; a very savvy and helpful tool and another arrow in your quiver of weapons to use to get information during a divorce case.
• What is Depositions?
  I do depositions all the time. We use them in very few cases because frankly they are expensive but a deposition is where I bring your husband in to our office and we question him under oath about anything relevant to the divorce and to the marriage and thus he would come to our office with is attorney. There would be a court reporter present. You would be present. I would be present and we would question your husband about any relevant topic to the divorce; fault, income, assets, custody, anything that we wanted to get information from your husband or from other witnesses. I mean if he has a girlfriend we would probably want to do her deposition or we might have an expert witness regarding the value of his company, his expert witness that is. So a deposition is a pretty valuable tool though it is more expensive and certainly we don’t use them in every divorce case by any stretch but there they are probably used in five percent of the divorce cases, particularly and obviously if there are contested cases and there is information that we don’t know that we need to know so that’s the real value of a deposition.
• What is Motion To Compel?
  What is a motion to compel? Basically, let's say that we've served your husband a request for production of documents and he hasn't responded at all. He hasn't done anything. Then what we would do is we would file a motion to compel with the court and in that motion to compel, we would ask the court to compel him to answer those questions within 10 days or 20 days or within some time period, and furthermore to pay your attorney's fees for having to come to court to get the court to compel him to respond, and if he fails to respond then the court might decide that he will not be allowed to put on any evidence on that topic because he failed to give us the information that he had or that he was capable of getting. So, a motion to compel is a powerful tool to force the other side, in this case, your husband, to give us the information we desire, and if he doesn't, it could harm his case later on when this case goes to trial if in fact it does go to trial. So, that's the power of a motion to compel.
• Request for the Production of Documents
  The RPD—that’s the short term for request for production of documents. That’s asking your husband for copies of statements of his bank account, his credit card statements, his investment statements, retirement statements, perhaps his benefit statements that he gets from work. In other words, what we’re doing is trying to ascertain exactly what assets he has and we’re asking him for copies of any documents that are in his possession or that he has likely access to in order to make sure that we know what he possesses. Now, let’s say that he says that he has thrown them all away or destroyed them, we do have other weapons at our disposal, however, the request for production of documents particularly for parties work together is the least expensive way to get the information that’s required in order to make sure that our clients are getting what they were entitled to. So, the request for production of documents like interrogatories are another weapon in your quiver of arrows as we go through the divorce process. Thank you. ****************************************************
• Divorce Interrogatories
  The interrogatories are up to 30 questions that the other party can ask their husband or wife in a divorce case and these 30 questions are usually very thorough. They go into employment—anything to do with finances, the house, assets in terms of investment accounts, annuities, insurance policies, retirements. The point of the interrogatories are to see if there are any assets that the other party may not know of and you're required to answer these questions under oath. Now, initially, a party can serve up to 30 interrogatories on the other party, however, a person can go to court and ask to be able to inquire more things having a greater number than 30 if necessary and often times, the court will award that if the court believes that it would be helpful to resolving the litigation, but interrogatories are merely questions that are being asked. Frankly, we do a lot of interrogatories on behalf of women who perhaps don’t know all of the investments of their husband and we’re trying to get information that we can later confirm through other sources of discovery and I might add that discovery is also a CYA for attorneys because we want to make sure, as your representative that we’ve done our best to get all of the information that we can for you and to make sure that we haven’t left ourselves liable for not seeking the information that we should’ve on behalf of our clients. So interrogatories are important, but you can only serve interrogatories if a divorce action has actually been filed. So if you're working on an agreement between the parties, you can't file interrogatories unless the divorce is filed so you can't use that powerful source of information.
• What is Pendente Lite Hearing?
  What is a Pendente Lite Hearing? It is a temporary support meeting where the courts awards temporary custody, temporary support pending the outcome of the final divorce. And the Pendente Lite ruling or order can often time be in effect for a year or two before the divorce is finalized. Now, what happens in a pendente lite hearing, the court normally establishes child support, spousal support, whose gonna live in the marital residence, there maybe injunctions against wasting of assets, no harrasment in any party, no overnight visitors of the opposite sex while the children are in your care and health insurance coverage if you are already covering your children.
• Living Separate In The Same House
  

  One of the questions I’m asked frequently about women is whether they can live with their husband, separate and apart in the marital residence as they await the waiting period before they can get divorced and that’s a pretty serious question and generally, in the past, the answer would be no!

  But actually, there are cases in Virginia that have permitted living under the same roof while separated to count towards that time period you must live apart before you can get a divorce and to help you determine or to qualify for being able to do that and those courts that permit it, I have in my book written guidelines for separation while living under the same roof and those guidelines and this won't be all of them, but they're clearly obvious ones.

  One, don’t sleep in the same bedroom at night, live preferably in different parts of the house.  If you cannot share a bathroom, that would be helpful.  Don’t fix food for your spouse.  Don’t accept him fixing food for you and in other words, you really do have to live separately and apart.  You need to have separate phones and that’s not a big deal in this day and time with cell phones, but you truly need to live completely separate and apart and you need to let people know about it.

  This is a little extreme, but I have people take out classified ads in the newspaper saying, my husband and I are living separate and apart and that’s kind of like notifying the public.  In addition, you can't be sneakily separated, meaning and that’s a good word, sneakily, what I mean by that is, you can't try and impress your neighbors that everything is fine when in fact you're trying to establish that you're living separate and apart.

  So you need to let your neighbors know, you need to let people at your church know, you shouldn’t be going to church together.  Now what about your children?  What about activities with your children? I would say that while you probably shouldn’t do every activity together and most couples don’t anyway, there are certain things that you can do obviously at Christmas time, you can both be present to celebrate the children’s Christmas or birthdays or special holidays, or go to the school counseling meeting.  These things you would do whether you were married or divorced.  You would still be involved in your children’s lives.

  So there’s nothing wrong or impermissible about that, but I probably wouldn’t be giving birthday gifts to each other or Christmas gifts at this point meaning not to your spouse and basically, you should do everything that you can to try and live separate and apart and you should have some objective third parties come to your house every couple of months to see that you really are following through and living separate and apart.  They can see that you have one bedroom, your husband has another, that the meals are prepared separately et cetera.

  So I hope this was helpful.  It’s very important and the court in Virginia Beach for instance even have a special hearing to determine for people who attempt to show that they're living separate and apart.  They have a special hearing to establish whether sufficient precautions were taken by a couple to in fact establish that they were living separate and apart under the same roof.

   

• Does It Matter Who Leaves The Home First?
  

  Does It Matter Who Leaves The Home First?

  The truth of the matter is, it does matter.The reason it matters is that if you leave without a good reason, you could well be guilty of desertion and we have produced a video tape on desertion that goes into great detail,but the message I want to pass on today is leaving your house without a plan without checking with an attorney could cause you to be in a position where you may not get spousal support because you left or you deserted, you may lose your custody rights to the children as a result of leaving and perhaps leaving the children behind or even if you take the children.

  So before you make the decision to leave,you need to talk with an attorney and make sure that there is sufficient evidence or sufficient reasons that are acceptable to the court for your leaving.I hope this helps you.We certainly would be glad to speak with you about it. 

• How Do I Keep Her From Being Around The Children?
  In this case, the her is your husband’s new girlfriend. Generally, any judge in Virginia will enter an order prohibiting any contact between you and your boyfriend or your husband and his girlfriend and those orders are almost exclusively mutual. The different judges in different circumstances may require different language for those orders. It may be as simple as no contact at all with any person and who you or your husband have a romantic interest. It maybe be much more detailed. It may state for example that this person not be present when the children are there between the hours of 11PM and 6AM or some other timeframe. It may just say that there will be no overnight visits with the paramour in the presence of the children. This is probably the most common language and it has been granted in my experience in 99.99% of the cases in which it sought. The ongoing, in the future obviously is not going to be a realistic endeavor. The children will at some point preferably, after a divorce is final be allowed to meet other person’s in whom you and your then ex-spouse may have a romantic interest. It is the overnight visitation during the child’s formative years that the court is going to be looking to enforce the public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which would prohibit the cohabitation between the unmarried parties.
• Can I Get Him To Pay For The Divorce?
  The law in Virginia certainly allows the court to make an award of attorney’s fees in favor of either party. It is an issue for the court, it may be done in a preliminary stage of the proceeding or it may have to go forward at a final hearing or in some circumstances, maybe reserved for a hearing after the conclusion of the divorce litigation itself. In the circumstance where the parties have come to an agreement, it is quite common that both parties will agree that they will pay their own attorney’s fees and this is part of the agreement and negotiation process. There is case law in Virginia that reflects that if a party is awarded spousal support that the court should make some provision for the payment of attorney’s fees by the support paying party.That law has been in effect in Virginia for about 30 years and while it has obviously had some bits of pieces and circumstances in which the court found it inappropriate, the general proposition is still good law. The court will usually consider the reasonableness of the parties and whether or not issues that ultimately are litigated have in fact been properly litigated, that is to say that there is such either a complex issue or that the matter has to be dealt with by the court as a matter of complexity that the matter would then have to be determined. If that court makes that finding that the matter needed to be determined by the court, then the court will generally not award either party attorney’s fees. If the court thinks the one party is trying to utilize the system to increase cost or create delay in the process, then the court will be more likely to award the innocent party some portion of their attorney’s fees.
• How Long Does It Take For A Divorce in Virginia?
  A contested case takes somewhere between 18 and 24 months. It generally depends on how soon after the person leaves the home compared to when they file. So someone who leaves the home and files immediately, that case would generally take between 18 and 24 months if it's contested. If a person leaves right at the one-year separation the case could probably be completed in about 6 to 8 months. Those are for contested cases. For uncontested cases generally once the time period is past the one-year or the 6-month separation, a divorce can take about six to eight weeks and then it will be complete.
• What is the difference between Uncontested and No-Fault Divorce?
  An uncontested divorce means that all issues between you and your husband are resolved. There are no disputes as they relate to money, the children, the house, the debt, everything is settled preferably in a written separation agreement. A no-fault divorce simply means that there are no fault grounds. It simply means that you're not filing on adultery or desertion, cruelty and so forth but issues relating to the children, support, retirement, the house could still be at issue. So while all uncontested divorces are no fault, no-fault divorces are not necessarily uncontested.
• Am I Separated or When am I separated in Virginia?
  Am I Separated or How do I become Separated in Virginia ? One of the questions that I'm frequently asked when women come in for consultations is "Am I separated?" or "How do I become separated?". In Virginia, unlike some other states, you don't go down to the courthouse and file for separation and you do not have to have signed a separation agreement in order to become separated. In Virginia, the way to become separated is to simply stop living together as "husband and wife" with your spouse and as long as at least one of you intends to end the marriage at that point, you simply are separated. It's not a status that you need to file for in court and it's not something you have to sign an agreement for to attain "separation" status. You can in fact live separate and apart under the same roof, but there are certain precautions that you need to take (which we'll discuss with you at another time) to ensure that the court knows that you are in fact living separate and apart. But, once you're no longer living together as husband and wife and at least one of you intends to end the marriage, you are separated. It's as easy as that. For more information go to www.freedivorcebook.com where you can obtain the book "What Every Virginia Woman Should Know About Divorce
• Can I get a Divorce if my spouse does not want one?
  The short answer to that is yes. It only takes one person to want a divorce and to complete a divorce in Virginia, and although it may take a little bit longer or may be a little bit more expensive because the other person isn't cooperating or not responding, if one person wants to get a divorce that person can file the appropriate motions and set the appropriate hearings and complete the case.
• Happy Valentine's Day from a Divorce Attorney--Are you Kidding ?
  You know, not every spouse who comes to see a divorce attorney gets divorced. Even folks who have filed for divorce often change their mind .Why ? Because love is a powerful force that is magical and healing,especially in the worst of times. A divorce attorney's life is not just about break-ups. It is also about family healings and love overcoming the shortcomings and frailties of relationships. When you deeply love your spouse, you sometimes have to stretch the boundries of the acceptable to persevere and rebuild your marriage.As a Divorce attorney, I can tell you I have seen the depths of love during the earliest stages of reconciliation. I have witnessed great courage displayed by forgiving spouses who step back from the abyss of despair to forge a stronger and better relationship with their life partner. Helping couples save their relationship, when appropriate, is as fulfilling as helping to end an inappropriate relationship. So on this Valentine's weekend, I want to wish friends and family, clients and colleagues a wonderful Valentine's weekend and a Happy Valentine's day. And to my wife Diane, I love you and Happy Valentine's Day !
• Battered Mothers Custody Conference
  This conference hosts professionals, advocates, attorneys, battered women and abused children all of whom are concerned not only about abuse of women and children; but also, about junk science like Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) being accepted by our courts. This conference focuses on the plight of women who are losing custody of their children by trying to protect them from further abuse from an abusive father or family member.

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