Richmond Family Lawyers

Providing Legal Guidance on Family Issues

If you’re considering making significant life changes that will affect your family, you should seek legal advice from an experienced family law attorney first. Whether you’re preparing to file for divorce or want to change an existing child custody agreement, you’ll likely encounter legal details that are too complex to handle alone. Letting a family law lawyer advise you on your legal needs will give you peace of mind, especially in matters involving your children.

When you contact Jurach, Tacey & Quitiquit, PLC for our legal services, you can talk to a team with years of experience helping clients with complicated, emotional family law issues. Whether you’re getting divorced, adopting a child, escaping domestic abuse, or trying to resolve child support issues, you deserve quality legal advice from lawyers who care about your case. Call our Richmond, VA law office as soon as you’re ready to take the first step toward a better future for your family.

How Does the Virginia Divorce Process Work?

One of the most common legal issues for a family law attorney to assist with is divorce. As you prepare to speak with a lawyer about this legal matter, it’s helpful to learn about the divorce laws in this state.

To initiate a divorce, you or your spouse must have lived in Virginia for at least six months. If you meet this requirement, the next step is determining if you want a fault-based or no-fault divorce, as Virginia allows both.

If you want to pursue a no-fault divorce and you do not have children with your spouse, you must be separated for at least six months. You must also have a written agreement on the division of property before you can file. If you and your spouse have minor children together, you must be separated for at least one year before you file for this type of divorce.

Your other option is fault-based divorce, which means you must choose a specific reason for divorce. Examples of grounds for divorce in Virginia include:

• Cruelty through physical, mental, or emotional abuse
• Willful abandonment or desertion for at least one year
• Adultery, buggery, or sodomy within the last five years
• Conviction of a crime resulting in more than one year of prison time

If you need guidance choosing the type of divorce that’s right for your situation, contact our Richmond family law firm. We have handled a variety of family law matters for clients over the years, so we’re confident we can help your divorce case go as smoothly as possible.

What Are the Types of Child Custody in Virginia?

If you and your spouse have minor children together, you will have to agree to child custody arrangements. First, you’ll need to determine who gets legal custody, which refers to the ability to make decisions on where the child will attend school, which religion they practice, and which medical procedures they get. Parents can share this responsibility through joint legal custody, or one parent can handle it through sole legal custody.

The other type of child custody is physical custody, which determines which parent the child lives with and spends most of their time with. When both parents want the child to live with them, they’ll pursue joint physical custody. In this case, the child has two households they can call home, though they might spend more time at one than the other since joint custody isn’t always evenly split.

If it’s determined that it’s best for the child to live with one parent, that parent has sole physical custody. The other parent usually gets visitation, which is time they’re entitled to spend with the child. Visitation often takes place on a regular schedule, such as every other weekend, every other holiday, and a portion of school breaks.

Determining child custody and visitation can be a difficult legal issue, since both parents usually want to remain involved in their child’s life in some way. If you can’t negotiate an agreement on these issues, a judge will decide for you based on the child’s best interests. A skilled Virginia family lawyer can guide you through your custody case to give you the best chance of getting the results you want. Contact our Richmond family law firm to learn more.

Who Pays Spousal or Child Support?

Whether or not you have children, there’s a chance you will pay or receive monthly payments from your spouse once the marriage ends. This is because many divorces involve child or spousal support. Your family law attorney will let you know what to expect based on your situation.

The point of spousal support, also called alimony, is to ensure that one spouse is not financially harmed by the divorce. This might occur when one spouse has made a lot more money than the other for several years. If the sudden loss of the main provider’s income would leave the spouse unable to pay their bills, alimony may be required. The types of alimony include:

• Pendente lite, which is temporary support to be paid until the divorce is final
• Rehabilitative alimony, which must be paid until the recipient of the money finds a job that pays enough for them to support themselves
• Permanent alimony, which must be paid for the rest of the recipient’s life, or at least until they remarry

The judge will consider several factors when determining who gets this type of support and for how long. Your family law attorney can tell you what to expect during your case.

If you have minor children, you might pay or receive child support, which is money paid by the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent. If you’re curious to know how much this will be, consider some factors that determine the amount:

• How much time each parent spends with the child
• How much money both parents earn
• The monthly cost of daycare, school tuition, or other education expenses
• The monthly cost of health insurance
• The standard of living the child had while the parents were together
• Any extra costs of raising the child due to a mental or physical condition

If you expect to pay or be paid alimony or child support, you should talk to an experienced family law lawyer. They can help you with these and other legal matters you’ll deal with during a contested divorce. Contact Jurach, Tacey & Quitiquit, PLC to talk to a skilled lawyer who will gladly take a personal approach to any divorce issues that arise during your case.

How Does Division of Property Work in Virginia?

Property division is another legal issue that must be resolved in your divorce. This is an equitable distribution state, so your marital assets will be divided fairly, not equally. This means the court will consider the needs of both spouses, including their standards of living, earning capacity, and contributions to the marriage. These and other factors will determine how you and your spouse divide your shared assets and debts.

Note that you will only split the assets and debts accrued during the marriage. This means if you accumulated debt before you got married, this will be your responsibility to pay off. Additionally, any items you bought before you got married will continue to belong to you. Of course, it can be difficult to remember when you bought certain items, making the division of marital property complicated. A lawyer in the Richmond metropolitan area can assist with family matters like this one.

Certain assets can be challenging to equitably divide. For instance, if you or your spouse have a retirement plan, pension, or business, you’ll need help from an experienced legal team to divide these assets. Similarly, if you own a home with your spouse, you’ll have to decide whether to sell it and split the profits or buy out your spouse so you can keep living there. A trusted legal practice will help you understand the laws regarding property interests and other asset division details. Call our Richmond, VA law office to learn more.

How Can Richmond Family Lawyers Assist You?

Making informed decisions regarding your divorce requires you to know the family law basics and understand the legal jargon you’ll encounter during your case. That’s why you should talk to family law attorneys who have your best interests in mind as you prepare to make significant changes to your life.

At Jurach, Tacey & Quitiquit, PLC, we have experience handling family law cases involving a wide range of legal matters including child support, custody, domestic violence, child abuse, protective orders, and numerous other issues. We can also help clients with prenuptial agreements, separation agreements, estate planning, and more. If you’re looking for client-focused representation for your family law case in the Richmond area, call 804-531-5524 for a free consultation.