Family law is a broad and vital branch of the law that addresses those legal issues that affect families and married couples. If you are facing a family law concern, it is an important matter that deserves the professional legal counsel of an experienced Chesapeake family law attorney.Â
The issues addressed by family law are wide-ranging, but some of the most common include:
The one constant of family law matters is that there is an emotional component that makes them that much more complicated.Â
When the family law matter involves your children, it is naturally of paramount importance, and child custody and visitation are prime examples. The State of Virginia addresses both physical and legal custody. Legal custody relates to who will make the big, important decisions on your children’s behalf, including those related to the following:
Legal custody can be either sole or joint. Physical custody refers to how the children will split their time between the two of you. While physical custody can also be either sole or joint, the court will not deny a parent’s right to visitation with his or her children without a very compelling reason for doing so. The court bases all decisions that relate to children on the best interests of those children.Â
Virginia holds both parents responsible for supporting their children financially, and child support payments are the mechanism for ensuring this happens when parents are either divorced or were never married, to begin with. If one parent is the primary custodial parent with whom the children primarily live, he or she typically receives child support from the other parent.Â
Even if you and your children’s other parent, however, have a schedule that splits your time exactly equally with the children, the higher earner will likely pay child support to the other. This is because child support is based on each parent’s financial ability to support his or her children, which translates to contributing a specific percentage of one’s earnings to their support (and not perfectly balancing the dollar amount paid by each parent).Â
Family law concerns are some of the most complex legal matters, and this is why the compassionate Chesapeake family law attorneys at Mahoney Richmond Thurston, PLLC, are committed to harnessing their impressive experience and legal skill in pursuit of your case’s most beneficial resolution. Your parental and financial rights are too important to leave to chance, and our trusted legal team is both well-prepared and well-positioned to help you protect them. We are in your corner, so please do not hesitate to contact us for more information about what we can do to help you today.