Finances inevitably come to the forefront of many Virginia divorces. Finances can impact issues such as child support, spousal support, and property division. The allocation of debt can be vital to ensuring a party can move forward after divorce with confidence in...
Credit card companies pursue consumers aggressively for delinquent or unmade payments. However, sometimes, consumers cheat businesses and one another, which seems to be happening more and more lately. Statistics reveal that “friendly fraud” increased by between 20 and...
When Virginia judges give custody orders, they are based on the circumstances of the parents and children at the time of the order. But, over the years, a child’s needs change. They may need more or less childcare, experience new medical needs, or attend different...
In June of 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States released decisions in two controversial cases, one putting into question the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and one challenging a California law better known as “Proposition 8” (or “Prop 8”) that prohibited same-sex marriage in the state. The Court overturned Prop 8 and declared that…
As more and more people invite social media into their lives, research increasingly shows that chatting, flirting and interacting with online friends is contributing to a growing number of divorces. According to Telegraph.co.uk, Facebook has become a “virtual third party” in divorce petitions. “Facebook is being blamed for an increasing number of marital breakdowns, and it is quite remarkable that all the…
Divorce and Arbitration in the Era of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic The pandemic has affected people’s lives in many ways. Anxiety permeates our present way of life. Much is uncertain. Accessing justice and obtaining relief does not need to be out of your reach. While future access to the courts is uncertain, access to justice and dispute resolution is not.…
A few decades ago, divorce used to be an issue that affected primarily young and middle-aged couples. In 1990, approximately 90 percent of all divorcees were under age 50. Recently, though, divorce rates among the baby boomer generation have skyrocketed – to the point that 25 percent of divorcees were age 50 or older in 2009. That year alone, more…
Financial problems can place strain on any marriage; this is not news to anyone who has been in a committed relationship. However, the marital effects of the nationwide economic strain caused by the Great Recession are just now becoming clear. For the “Survey of Marital Generosity, ” researchers collected data from a nationally representative sample of 1, 197 married Americans.…
By: Anne L. Roddy Takeaway points: If you want spousal support to be non-modifiable, state that affirmatively in your agreements. After the Stubblebine ruling, practitioners were unsure when a client could retire. Effective July 1, the answer is at maximum social security age (currently 67), and that age is a material change in circumstances sufficient to motion to modify support. Spousal Support in…
The stress of war takes its toll on even the most prepared service men and women and their spouses. Sadly, many of them find upon returning from an extended deployment (like those increasingly common for soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan) that their marital relationships have suffered irreparable damage in the interim. Sometimes the damage comes from the lengthy separation…
