Holiday Visitation

Holiday Visitation Custody

Holiday and summer schedules can often be a source of conflict between divorcing parties. The following are some common issues that can arise in crafting custody and visitation agreements, and potential solutions for them.

1. Thanksgiving and the issue of three weekends in a row

Where parties have a regular schedule that involves alternating weekends and the custody schedule provides that Thanksgiving encompasses both the holiday and the weekend immediately following it, one party or the other can end up having three weekends in a row with the children. This happens if Parent A’s Thanksgiving falls on Parent B’s weekend. Sometimes parents are fine with this. However if they are not, this issue can be solved in several ways. One way is to make Thanksgiving encompass only the Wednesday through Friday of the holiday and not the weekend. This solves the problem of three weekends in a row, but this may not be desirable when one or both parents customarily travel over the holiday and want the entire weekend to do so. Another option is to “reset” the schedule if it were to result in one parent having three weekends in a row, such that the weekend immediately following Thanksgiving weekend would “reset,” or switch to the parent who did not have the children over Thanksgiving weekend and the weekend immediately prior to it.

Equitable Distribution of Property in Virginia: What is “Hybrid” Property, and How is it Divided?

Do the words “Brandenburg,” “Keeling,” or “reasonable rate of return,” mean anything to you? Probably not — but if you’re going through a divorce, they had better mean something to your attorney! Each is a different method that has been used by Virginia courts to divide hybrid property between spouses.

First of all, what is property?

“Property” is a general term that includes everything of value owned by two married people. It can include real estate, bank and investment accounts, retirement accounts, pensions, stock options – even “intangible property,” like the right to profit from patents or books written by a party.

Ok, so what is hybrid property?

In a Virginia divorce case, property owned by either party, or both parties together, can be classified by a court in one of three ways: marital, separate, or a combination of the two, known as “hybrid.” Marital property is generally any property acquired during the marriage, by either party individually or by both parties together, regardless of how the property is titled. Separate property is generally any property acquired by a party before the marriage; acquired during the marriage if by gift from a third party, inheritance, or other source outside the marriage; or acquired after separation.
Hybrid property is a combination of marital and separate property. It can occur in many forms, for example:

Division of Military Retired Pay in Virginia

Divorce when one or both spouses are current or former members of the military can be quite a bit different than a civilian divorce. One of the main differences is the existence of a servicemember’s military retired pay. Issues such as the logistics of dividing the retired pay, the impact of disability pay, and survivor’s benefits must all be considered. The following are five issues that can arise in a military divorce.

Military Retired Pay in General and Divorce

Virginia courts have the ability to divide a military member’s “disposable retired pay” between the member and his or her spouse.  Courts in some other states do not have this ability, and courts in foreign countries do not have this ability, so where the divorce takes place can have a major impact on the division of military retired pay, which can often be a large asset.

Could Living With a Friend Cut Off Spousal Support?

In the recent case of Brennan v. Albertson, Sheila Brennan had her spousal support (also referred to as alimony) terminated when she was found by a Court to have been living with a partner in a relationship analogous to marriage for more than one year. What made the case unique was that Ms. Brennan’s partner was female — and there was no evidence that the two had any sort of romantic or sexual relationship.

In Virginia law, a typical spousal support award terminates upon one of the following things occurring:

1) the death of either party;

2) the remarriage of the recipient spouse; or

3) if it is proven that the recipient spouse has been habitually cohabiting with another person in a relationship analogous to marriage for one year or more.

While death and remarriage are pretty straightforward, cohabitation is often far less so.

Brennan met her friend, Lisa Baker, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in 2006, around the time Brennan was going through divorce proceedings with her then-husband, Paul Albertson. Shortly after Brennan and her husband divorced, she purchased a large home with a significant amount of her own money, and Baker moved in with her. Baker paid the mortgage and utility bills. They ate meals together, watched each other’s children, attended extended family functions together, and contributed financially to each other’s children. However, they maintained separate bank accounts, car titles, and had no romantic or sexual relationship. They characterized their relationship as being very close friends, and “like sisters.”

No single factor can determine whether individuals are cohabiting in a relationship analogous to marriage. As a result, cases involving cohabitation are highly fact-specific, as was this case. After a thorough review of the evidence, the trial court terminated support, holding essentially that the financial and other support provided each party constituted a relationship analogous to marriage. The trial court was affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

What does this mean moving forward?

The Court of Appeals took great pains to paint the case at issue as one-of-a-kind, involving a rare set of circumstances that was not likely to be the basis for an explosion of other, similar cases. The Court also specifically exempted people living with family members as being eligible to have their support cut off, as a relationship between family members “differs intrinsically” from a relationship between unrelated persons. It remains to be seen whether this case will be a “one-hit wonder,” or whether it will have a larger impact across the domestic relations field in Virginia.

If you have questions about spousal support in Virginia, or whether cohabitation may be applicable to your situation, call the experienced Fairfax Family Law attorneys at Curran|Moher P.C. at (571) 328-5020.

6 Myths About Separation and Divorce in Virginia

Often, clients who see me for an initial consultation arrive with information they may have learned from friends, family, or the internet – information which may not be accurate. The following are six common myths I have heard regarding separation and divorce, and the facts about each.

Myth # 1: “If we can’t agree on everything, we have to go to court.”

Fact: Although some divorce cases end up in a final hearing before a judge, the vast majority of cases are resolved beforehand — even cases that start out being very contentious.  Someone has to make decisions on issues regarding children, support, and property.  The people in the best position to make these decisions are the parties themselves, although many need help getting there.