Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes 25 seconds Writing good Divorce Settlement Agreements—particularly when children are involved—blends two divergent, yet complementary, styles: (1) great specificity, and (2) an openness that allows for the inevitable changes that families go through as their kids grow up.
3 min 45 sec read People get divorced for so many reasons -- feeling alone in the marriage, infidelity, loss of intimacy and companionship, financial stress, or simply feeling like you're wrong for each another. Whatever the reasons, there is no underestimating how difficult the divorce process is and how gruesome the divorce pain and stress can be.
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes 20 seconds It Happens Fast When you are negotiating the custody & visitation portion of your Divorce Settlement Agreement, you will need to keep teenagers in mind, even if your children are still very young. As any parent of a teenager will tell you, your kids will become young adults before you know it.
Estimated Reading Time: 9 Minutes THE DEFINITION of EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION – NOT 50%/50% Equitable Distribution is the legal term for how judges, in Virginia (and 39 other states), divide and distribute property and debt in a divorce. “Equitable” means “fair”, not “equal”. . . so you know you are in some tricky territory right there.
2 min 50 sec read If you model good communication with your spouse during a divorce, it can be a helpful lesson to your children. It will help them learn how to handle life's conflicts in the long run. Children in divorce do much better and are more secure when they feel their parents are managing "grown-up" life issues in a "grown-up" way.
2 min 50 sec read As the 37 million people who were hacked on Ashley Madison in 2015 can attest, extra marital affairs are rampant. A study published in 2011 confirmed that one in five of the 1,000 people surveyed had cheated on their spouses. What is going on? From what I have seen and heard in my divorce mediation practice, marriages end when couples forget to nurture one another.
5 min 10 sec read Graine Mediation is pleased to introduce Terri R. Adams, MSW, LCSW, BCD, as our guest blogger this week. Ms. Adams is in private practice in Fairfax, Virginia with the Fairfax Counseling Group. http://fairfaxcounselinggroup.com Ms. Adams has helped many parents of young adults to successfully achieve a stronger relationship with their young adult children and recapture their own future.
1 min 30 sec read Most people in relationships have felt, at one time or another, a lack of communication. A common gender trope has a woman griping to her friends, “He just won’t open up.” But it’s not always about the differences in genders. Sometimes a person doesn’t open up because they honestly don’t know what they’re feeling.
2 min 50 sec read Day in and day out, I deal with people who are suffering from broken hearts. It is incredibly sad. At the same time, however, I view these heartsick, soon-to-be divorcees as people who truly have a second shot at happiness. Most people going through a divorce are in uncharted emotional territory.
1 min 40 sec read You're looking for the signs he will change -- but thinking you can change your partner is a classic pitfall in many marriages. Though you can sometimes learn to deal with the foibles and flaws of your partner, some disagreeable habits and personality traits of your spouse can become too much to take, and you wind up in the divorce mediator or lawyer’s office.
