Posted on April 17, 2023 in Child Custody

You’re probably anticipating your child’s graduation from high school, college or graduate school with some mixture of joy and melancholy. It’s a time to celebrate your child’s achievement, but it also means they’re taking one more step toward adulthood and away from you.

If you’re recently separated or divorced, you may also be dreading having to be around your ex or soon-to-be ex, possibly their family and maybe their new significant other. Moreover, you’ll be around people you likely knew as a couple as well as strangers. How do you maneuver this event if your feelings about this person are still raw?

Focus on your child

First, remember that this is your child’s big day. If you both focus on them and not each other, things will go a lot more smoothly. You want your child to enjoy their day and not worry about whether their parents will get into a fight or otherwise make things uncomfortable for everyone. 

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on March 31, 2023 in Divorce

Divorce is a complex and life-changing process. Issues involving property division and child custody can be frustrating. During this time, determining how you will be able to spend quality time with your children and still keep your career can complicate things even more.

Historically, parents in Reston with less demanding careers or stay-at-home parents request more parenting time because they spend more time caring for the children. However, higher-income parents also have a right to meaningful parenting time. Keep reading to learn how to balance your children’s needs and your career.

Prioritize your children’s needs

If your career creates little time to be deeply involved with your kids, you need to be honest with yourself about how you will meet your children’s needs. This means not asking for more time than you can handle. Therefore, think about your routine and when you can commit time for your children.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on March 19, 2023 in Divorce

Not many life events are as stressful as the end of a marriage through divorce. It can open a floodgate of emotions and lead people to behave in extremely uncharacteristic ways. After all, divorce involves the future of things dearest to life – children, finances and, sometimes, relationships with friends and family. 

Divorce is, in and of itself, tough. But if the divorce involves a belligerent spouse, then you need to come up with a solid plan. Here are three tips that can help you keep your battles at a minimum when divorcing a narcissist in Ashburn. 

Remain calm and focused

No matter how much your spouse is getting under your skin, it is in your best interest that you keep a level head. Avoid the temptation to get into fights with them. Sure, narcissists thrive in chaos, but you should always make an effort to stay calm. 

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on March 14, 2023 in Wills

After efforts to repay a deceased individual’s creditors, their remaining property will pass to their closest family members, including spouses and children, unless they have designated others as the beneficiaries of this property.

Real property, including the home where someone lived, will often be the biggest asset that they will pass to their family members via their estate plan. Therefore, it is also the asset most likely to cause conflict along estate beneficiaries. There are many ways for someone who is thinking about their legacy and their loved ones to pass their home to others as part of their estate plan. These are some of the most common strategies for managing real property when someone dies.

1. Addressing the home in a will

The easiest means of arranging for real property to transfer to the next generation likely includes designating a specific beneficiary to inherit the home when someone dies. Including real property in a will makes it easy for the testator to either grant the property to a specific family member or to leave instructions for their executor to sell the property so that each of their family members will receive a portion of its value.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on March 06, 2023 in Trusts

When considering estate planning, the range of options available can quickly make the process seem overwhelming. How are you supposed to decide what you truly need and what is best for you, your family, and your possessions?

You might get recommendations from family and friends about why you ought to do this or that, but how can you know who to trust while trying to figure out what’s right for you? Someone may have suggested that you put your possessions into a trust before you pass away. What does this mean, and why do people do this?

It is a good option for estate planning

All of your possessions can be placed in a trust that you can modify or revoke at any stage throughout your lifetime. Even though your possessions are held in trust, you continue to enjoy all of your rights to them for the rest of your life. The trust’s named items will then automatically pass to the people named in the trust documents upon your death.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on February 21, 2023 in Child Custody

Going to jail can impact an individual’s life in a variety of ways. If a parent is convicted and incarcerated, one of their top concerns would be how this development will impact their parenting plan. Obviously, incarceration affects a parent’s ability to spend time with their child. 

Where parents share custody, the non-incarcerated parent would naturally assume full custody of the child while the other parent is in jail, although there are exceptions to that rule. If both parents go to jail or if the court establishes that living with the non-incarcerated parent would put the child at risk, then the court will definitely explore alternate custody arrangements for the child. 

The jailed parent might lose their parental rights

Incarceration, in and of itself, is not a reason for an Aldie parent to lose their parental rights. However, it can form the basis for terminating these rights if any of the following is true:

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on February 04, 2023 in Divorce

When people get divorced, they often have an understanding that they need to divide their assets. They know that the assets they purchased with their ex during the marriage are owned jointly and have to be split.

But what about debt? Do you still owe for debt that your ex accumulated? Is there any way that they could make financial decisions in the future that are going to mean you owe even more? There are some important things to consider.

Co-signed accounts

To start with, if you co-signed on any of these loans or accounts, then you are liable for that debt. Perhaps the most obvious example here is a home mortgage. Even if you get divorced, both you and your ex are still liable for those mortgage payments. This is one of the reasons that couples tend to sell their home when they get divorced. It allows them to end that mortgage and use money that they earn to take out a new mortgage in their own name alone.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on January 23, 2023 in Child Custody

Parents going through a divorce need to put their kids’ best interests first, and a parenting plan helps them achieve that. Divorce with kids involves many aspects, but this plan may make work more manageable. You and your ex-spouse will agree on a visitation schedule and each party’s responsibilities and rights.

Nonetheless, at times, this plan fails to work for some divorced parents in Herndon and throughout Virginia. Below are factors to consider to increase the success chances of your plan.

Age

A parenting plan for a toddler may not be practical for a teenager because the latter has school and extracurricular activities. Thus, regard your child’s age to make an appropriate plan. If you have kids of different ages, it may help to have individual plans for them.

Special needs

Children with special needs require a parenting plan that considers their medical, educational and developmental care. Their visitation schedule may also need to be modeled carefully to ensure they see both parents as often as possible.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on January 05, 2023 in Divorce

Deciding who gets what can be a huge area of contention in a divorce. If you and your spouse own a business in Ashburn, things could get complex. The business may be your most valuable asset, and both parties may want a share of it.

If you have pre or post-nuptial protecting the business, then the way forward may be clear. But what if you don’t? Here are some things to consider when business owners divorce:

#1. Can you continue to work together

If you simply drifted apart or fell out of love, then maybe you can continue working side by side. If one of you cheated on the other, or you are divorcing because you are sick of arguing or because one party was abusive toward the other, then continuing is probably not realistic.

#2. How important is the business income?

Let’s say your spouse is more involved in the business, and you just helped out occasionally. If your continued involvement will upset them, it may harm their ability to run the company effectively.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on January 05, 2023 in Divorce

January is one of the two times of the year (the other is around August) when there’s a spike in the number of new divorce filings. If you’re among the crowd that intends to make a new life for yourself in the new year, you already know that breaking the news to your spouse probably won’t be easy.

You want to put some thought into your approach, however, because the way you start your divorce process can heavily influence how you end it. If you’re hoping that you can have an amicable parting, here are some of the best tips to keep in mind:

1. Be clear, be direct and be kind.

There’s nothing to be gained by giving your spouse false hope that you’ll reconcile if you know you’re truly done – so don’t do it. Don’t agree to try a little longer or go to counseling together if your heart isn’t in it. That’s not productive or kind.

By the same token, you don’t need to enumerate all of your spouse’s failings in the relationship to justify your decision. Simply tell your spouse that this isn’t working and that you aren’t happy. If your spouse tries to go back over all of the battles you’ve had in your marriage, refocus them on the present. None of that matters now.

Continue Reading ››