Articles Posted in Family Law

Posted by Andrei J. Kublan

Since contested divorce cases can take approximately a year (and in certain cases even longer) to be fully adjudicated in court, each party to the litigation has a right to request certain temporary relief from the court while their case is pending in court.  As a party to a divorce litigation, you can request, among other things, the court to order your spouse to provide the following pendente lite (i.e., temporary) relief: (a) spousal support, (b) provision of health insurance coverage, (c) payment of certain marital debts, (d)  advancement of attorney’s fees to enable you to continue with litigation, (e) determination of child custody*, (f) child support, and (g) exclusive possession of the marital home.  See Va. Code Section 20-103.

In the Fairfax County Circuit Court, in order to obtain this temporary relief, you would need to file a motion (essentially a request) with the Court and schedule it to be head on a Friday at 11:30 a.m. during the Domestic Relations Docket.  Provided you properly accomplished the above two tasks, you will now need to prepare for the pendente lite hearing, which normally cannot exceed 30 minutes and must be in accordance with the following strict procedural requirements:

Posted by Elena Iuga

In my practice of domestic relations law, I have frequently encountered this question: “Will I be guilty of desertion if I leave my abusive spouse?”.  Both male and female clients have asked this question.

The answer, as with almost everything in the law, is “it depends.”  First, in Virginia, the grounds for divorce are provided in the statute.

Posted by J. Garrett Kizer

If you’re worried about being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because you’re living in the United States without immigration documents or if you overstayed a Visa, it’s reasonable to be careful—many people in this situation spend a lot of time looking over their shoulder.

If you have a civil court date you’re supposed to attend, you might also be very concerned that ICE will arrest you at or outside the courthouse. To be fair, the news has had plenty of stories of this happening, so you might be thinking about skipping your hearing altogether. Skipping your hearing, however, could have serious consequences for you personally and even make your immigration situation worse.

I am separated from my spouse for six months and I have no children, Can I get a divorce now?

In Virginia, if you are separated from your spouse for more than six months and you have no children then you can get a no-fault divorce only if you and your spouse have entered into a written Property Settlement Agreement. This means, if you and spouse have already worked on all the financial issues arising out of your marriage and ready to formalize that understanding into a written document then Contact Us and we will take it from there. Neither you nor your spouse will have to appear in court and we will work for you to obtain a divorce. For pricing of such uncontested divorce, please click here.