Welcome To The Law Office Of Tatiana Mendez

Relocation cases can be very tricky! There are two main things you need to prove, per case law: 1) the move is in the child’s independent best interest and 2) the move won’t negatively affect the relationship between the non-moving parent and the child. If you can continue to maintain the visitation despite the distance, you’re off to a good start. This is the type of case, however, that requires an attorney to help you analyze the ins and outs to determine any potential pitfalls and address the weaknesses in your case. Find someone familiar with relocation cases!

No, it would not be abandonment and I’d love to see him try to tell the court that it was with those facts. Get out ASAP and find yourself a safe place to stay while you can find an attorney.

The governor of VA issued an Order asking everyone to stay at home but included an exception for parents driving to and from parenting time exchanges. I completely understand the concern of wanting to keep your child safe during these times but it would certainly be a violation of your custody order not to comply with the father’s parenting time, and the governor’s order doesn’t help your justification one bit.

Basically, anything that either party acquires during the marriage is considered to be marital property. This includes income, as well as anything purchased, such as homes and vehicles. There are some possible exceptions to this, such as if one party receives an inheritance and never mixes it with any other marital property (the money must be able to be traced back to the inheritance, which isn’t possible once it is put into a joint account). Obviously it isn’t always simple because there will be situations where one party owned something before the marriage, such as a house, and then both parties live in the house after the marriage. How the house is titled does not matter for purposes of whether it is considered marital property. Again, anything acquired during the marriage is marital, so the income being used to pay the mortgage after the marriage counts as marital and goes into the equity. I’ve had cases where someone put down a significant amount of money on a house before the marriage and asked to be credited that amount back from the equity because it was easily traceable to their separate property, but then the equity on the house after that amount was considered marital and subject to equitable distribution. Also, if either party made any improvements to the house through their own labor that they can prove improved the value, that improvement in value would be considered separate property of the improver. It can certainly get very complicated but that’s why a good attorney is important in a divorce with a lot of assets on the line!

If there is already a court order in place then your ex must give the court (and you) 30 days notice before she can relocate with the kids. This gives you the opportunity to essentially object to the move and then she would only be given permission to relocate the kids if she can prove 1) the move is in their independent best interest and 2) the move would not negatively affect visitation with you. If you are regularly seeing the kids, this standard is extremely difficult to reach. As for the meeting halfway issue - If your ex is not complying with the terms, you can file a Show Cause, which will require her to appear in court and explain why she is not complying with the order. If there is no court order in place, the first step is to get one in place so that she cannot move without permission!