First of all, what exactly is an expungement? Expungement is the removal of a criminal charge from your record. After a Judge signs the Order to Expunge your criminal charge, it is removed from both your police record and the Court’s record. After this, you may...
Tips for Talking to Your Children About Your Divorce Sarah and John tried everything to save their marriage: counseling, vacations, even a trial separation. Yet the fights continued. So, after nights of one or the other sleeping in the guest room, after days of...
What is Child Support? Child support is the monetary obligation that a noncustodial parent/responsible party (parent who does not have physical custody of their child) pays to the parent who does (custodial parent). In Virginia, both parents are financially...
In recent years Courts have issued conflicting opinions about a citizen’s right to film the police. For example, one Federal Court held in 2011 that, although not unqualified, “a citizen’s right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers,...
In any legal dispute, to include divorces, Mediation is an option you can use to minimize your costs in terms of legal fees, to maintain more control over what happens to you, and to more likely get to a more satisfactory result. In a divorce, for example, a lot is at...
The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement plan for Federal employees and uniformed service members similar to a civilian “401(k)” plan. Why does it matter if I have a TSP account? During your divorce, your TSP matters because the Court may divide it during an...
The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is an annuity plan to provide an income source to a surviving spouse upon the death of a service member. The SBP is not a free program, in fact, you must pay a monthly premium based on the “base amount” or benefit level elected. When...
Spousal support, often known more commonly as alimony, is used not to punish one spouse, but to support a financially dependent spouse in the event of a pending divorce and/or after a divorce. Spousal support can be established either by an agreement between the...
A sentencing hearing is a separate proceeding from the traditionally known courtroom trial (where an individual is deemed guilty and convicted of a crime) and may be better understood as the punishment portion of the trial process. What happens at a sentencing...
In Virginia, minors are persons under the age of 18 years old. Is a minor treated differently than an adult if he/she gets a traffic ticket? Yes. Since minors in Virginia initially possess provisional driver’s licenses, there are additional punishments that may be...
