Posted on May 29, 2020 in Trusts

There are many things that people in Virginia must plan for throughout their lives. These plans are important in order to ensure that things happen in accordance with how people want them to go or how they envision a certain outcome. While it is not something that people may want to think about all the time, it is also important that people plan for their death as well. This is important to ensure that people’s belongings and property end up with the people they want to have it.

There are a couple different methods that people can use to ensure this occurs. People can draft a basic will which states who they would like to receive the property. Wills can also appoint guardians who would care for any minor child if the parents pass away before the children are 18 years old. Another method people can use is a trust, which also state who will receive which property, but there are extra features of a trust which can make them very useful for estate planning purposes.

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 Posted on May 27, 2020 in Divorce

Divorce is a relatively common legal process that some couples choose to pursue in order to end the partners legal relationships. After a divorce two people who were once married under the law are returned to their single status and become free to marry other individuals. Getting a divorce in Virginia requires individuals to follow certain rules, and one of those rules involves satisfying the Commonwealth’s recognized grounds for divorce.

Both no-fault and fault grounds are recognized as bases to end marriages in Virginia. In order to pursue a no-fault divorce, the parties to the ending marriage must live separate and apart for a year with no periods of cohabitation during that time. Once they reach a year, they may file for divorce without claiming fault on the part of either party.

Virginia recognizes some divorce grounds based on fault, and those grounds include but are not limited to adultery, conviction of a felony, and cruelty. Use of a fault grounds for divorce may speed up the process in terms of when the divorce may be entered into and finalized, but not all individuals wish to present allegations of wrongdoing against their spouses in court. Knowing what grounds to use and how to begin the divorce process can be a good conversation for a person to have with their trusted family law and divorce attorney.

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 Posted on May 27, 2020 in Child Custody

Child custody and visitation matters in Virginia are often documented in unique agreements and orders. These documents are legal reports that outlines what rights each of a child’s parents has regarding the child’s care and physical support. In Virginia, child custody can be shared between the parents or may be given solely to one of the parents.

When a parent lacks physical custody over their child, they will not have the right to have their child to live in their home with them. This does not mean, however, that a parent will never have an opportunity to see their child. Non-custodial parents can secure visitation time based on the best interests of their kids.

Visitation options can range from extensive to limited. Many non-custodial parents are able to have extended periods of visitation with their children without the supervision of third parties. However, if a court determines that a child’s safety or health may be threatened during unsupervised visitation with their non-custodial parent then their visits may be required to happen in the presence of an appointed third party.

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 Posted on May 27, 2020 in Family Law

Blended families are a good example of how life moves forward after separations and divorce. When a Virginia resident has a child with a partner and then chooses to end their relationship with their co-parent, they may later find themselves in a position to enter a new marriage with a new spouse. That new partner will become their child’s stepparent and may live together with the child in a home shared by the child’s biological parent and the stepparent’s new spouse.

Stepparents and stepchildren can have fruitful, positive relationships, but some stepparents wish to formalize the connections between themselves and their spouses’ children. When possible and wanted, stepparents can choose to adopt their stepchildren and make them legal heirs to their estates.

The stepparent adoption process is relatively straightforward, but with all legal matters, it is important that individuals seek their own legal counsel from attorneys who work in the family law field. In order for a stepparent to adopt their stepchild, the legal relationship between the child and their other biological or adoptive parent must be severed.

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 Posted on May 19, 2020 in Divorce

Virginia law requires divorcing couples to divide their marital property in a way that meets standards of fairness. But first the parties have to figure out what the marital property is.

Marital property consists of all assets and debts that are owned jointly by the parties. This can include the family home and a car listed in the name of both spouses. It can also include a retirement account, even if it is listed in the name of only one spouse. As long as it accumulated value during the marriage, it is likely considered part of the marital property.

In fact, it may be more important to ask what property is not part of the marital property. Separate property generally consists of assets accumulated by either spouse before the marriage. It can also include certain types of property acquired during the marriage, depending upon the way they were acquired. Assets acquired through inheritance are generally considered to be separate property, as are gifts received from someone other than the spouse.

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 Posted on May 19, 2020 in Divorce

Alimony, also known as spousal support or spousal maintenance, is not as common as it once was, but can still be a necessary part of an equitable divorce.

In previous generations, spousal support was practically a given in any divorce. Because women did not have the career opportunities they have today, courts expected that after the dissolution of a marriage, an ex-husband would continue earning a living while his ex-wife would have to settle for low-paying jobs, or perhaps be forced to stay home with the children without earning any money at all. To address this unfair situation, courts routinely ordered men to make regular payments to their ex-wives to help them maintain a lifestyle similar to the one they would have enjoyed had the marriage lasted.

A lot has changed since those days, but there are still cases where courts determine that spousal support is necessary in the interest of fairness. This happens especially in cases where only one Courts consider factors such as: a non-working spouse’s ability to re-enter the workforce; the couple’s lifestyle during the marriage; and contributions a non-working spouse made to the working spouse’s career.

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 Posted on April 23, 2020 in Divorce

Divorce can be an emotional, frustrating and challenging time for everyone involved. Those intense emotions can make it extra difficult to comprehend or focus on the legal considerations, which can keep some from making smart decisions.

Negative emotions can lead to heightened stress, and when the process becomes contentious, mistakes can be made over crucial decisions involving new living arrangements, financial issues and parenting schedules as well as other adjustments.

Understand these factors before you file

While divorce is never easy, even when spouses get along and work together to settle their differences, the process can be less complicated if you understand some fundamental information, including:

• Don’t focus on winning or losing: Rather than trying to defeat a spouse by going to court, understand that divorce involves complex topics, such as asset division, child custody, child support and spousal support. Rarely does either party come away with everything they wanted.

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 Posted on April 02, 2020 in Child Custody

Deciding what to do with the marital home is a big issue in divorce cases – especially if you have minor children. Providing continuity for them can help alleviate their stress at a time when it feels like their entire lives are being uprooted. One way to do that is through a “nesting” approach to child custody.

What is it?

With nesting, instead of rotating the children between two different homes, the children stay in the marital home that they’ve always known. It’s the parents who rotate in and out. One might stay with the children on weekdays, for example, while the other “moves back in” for weekends. Or they might take a “week on, week off” schedule. There are countless possibilities.

The pros

Nesting offers many advantages, particularly for the kids. It eliminates the upheavals that come with moving to a new place. With nesting, kids can keep their same rooms, go to the same school, have the same neighborhood friends and enjoy a greater sense of stability. The home is about them. It functions like a birdnest, and it stays a safe place for them.

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 Posted on March 24, 2020 in Trusts

Providing for your loved ones is a foundational part of estate planning. You want them to have financial security long after you’re gone. But deciding how to leave your legacy is just as important as determining what to leave (and to whom).

For family members with special needs, that question is even more complicated. Your loved one may rely on need-based public assistance – such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid – which have strict income limits. By giving your loved one a gift or inheritance outright, you might disqualify them from these benefits, causing more harm than good.

A better way

Fortunately, you can still provide for a loved one with disabilities. A special needs trust is designed to fulfill this purpose. When properly set up, it can offer financial support without impacting your loved one’s eligibility for public benefits.

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 Posted on March 12, 2020 in Child Custody

Few legal issues are more emotional than child custody. Custody-related disputes tend to bring out the worst in people. Desperate not to lose their children, parents may resort to extreme or inappropriate tactics to turn their kids against the other parent – a move that can quickly backfire, harming both the children and the instigating parent’s custody prospects.

What is parental alienation?

The term “parental alienation” refers to one parent’s efforts to alienate the child (or children) from the other parent. These efforts include a wide range of behaviors, such as:

• “Talking trash” about the other parent in front of the kids
• Pressuring the children to choose between parents
• Failing to honor the other parent’s custody rights
• Refusing to communicate or cooperate with the other parent
• Limiting the children’s contact with the other parent’s extended family
• Emotionally manipulating the children to turn them against the other parent

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