Helpful Information

Enjoy Robin’s Divorce Mediation Blog. Here she shares her knowledge and insights on topics related to divorce mediation, child support, alimony, child custody, co parenting, Marital Settlement Agreement and MSA, Virginia divorce laws, divorce finance and taxation and marital coaching.

robin graine

Robin Graine, JD, CDFA


Divorce Hacks for Saving Time and Money

Divorce is never an easy process. It makes you feel all sorts of emotions, it can cost a lot of money, its hard on children, and it can take up all of ...

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How to Value a Business – Divorce

Robin shares professional tips on how to value your business for divorce purposes.

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What is Alexithymia and How It Impacts Relationships?

Feelings and emotions are an important part of a relationship. Without them, it's tough to connect, communicate, or feel satisfied with your partner. ...

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Mediation vs Collaborative Divorce

VIDEO: Robin explains the key differences between mediation and collaborative divorce. Spoiler alert: Mediation is usually your best option.

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How Can I Keep My House In a Divorce

VIDEO: Robin walks you through the 3 primary methods of keeping your family home in a divorce situation.

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Why Do Older Women Want Divorce

VIDEO: 5 key reasons for gray divorce … and tips for how to prevent it.

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How to deal with Unwanted Divorce

VIDEO: Robin helps you pick yourself up and settle a divorce that you didn’t want.

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How to Choose a Mediator

VIDEO: Robin shows you how to choose the best type of mediator for your case.

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7 Tips: Helping Kids Cope with Divorce

Estimated Reading Time: 3 min read

Robin Graine has been helping parents guide their children through divorce for over 20 years. She has earned the ...

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How Does Money Get Divided In a Divorce

VIDEO: Robin lays out for you, in clear language, how money and assets are split up in a divorce.

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Is Everything Split 50/50 in a Divorce?

Estimated Reading Time: 3 min read

If you are considering a divorce, you are probably wondering: “How will my assets be divided?”

Most people ...

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How To Make Good Decisions?

VIDEO: 5 easy steps to making good decisions.

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Are Divorce Courts Biased Against Dads?

Estimated Reading Time: 7 min read

As a father, you may be lying awake at night wondering “Is the court going to be prejudiced against me, when it ...

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How to Choose a Good Mediator

VIDEO: Robin walks you through the 7 key factors to focus on when choosing a mediator.

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50/50 Custody - Are Courts Biased Against Men?

Estimated Reading Time: 5 min read

Divorce courts are not biased against men in 50/50 custody situations. Instead, they are looking for a particular ...

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7 Tips for How to Choose Your Mediator

Estimated Reading Time: 2 min read

Choose a mediator you can trust with years of experience and an abundance of knowledge.

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5 Easy Steps to Making Good Decisions

Estimated Reading Time: 1 min read

In this blog I will show you how to make a good decision in 5 easy steps.

TUNE INTO YOUR GUT. What is your ...

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Should I Save My Marriage?

VIDEO: Find out with the 7 essential elements to a happy marriage.

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Why Are More Older Couples Getting Divorced?

Estimated Reading Time: 2 min read

There are 4 primary reasons why older couples are getting divorced.

Seeking relief from boredom is a big cause ...

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Modifying Child Support in Virginia

VIDEO: Robin gives step by step instructions on how to modify child support after you are divorced.

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How to Get Divorced in Virginia

VIDEO: Robin walks you through her efficient 4-part divorce process to get an inexpensive and peaceful divorce in Virginia.

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Living Separate and Apart – Virginia Divorce

VIDEO: Robin lists the criteria that courts look for to meet the requirements of “living separate and apart” for a Virginia divorce.

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How Do Mediators Settle Divorces?

VIDEO: Robin explains the procedure and methodology of her efficient and fair mediation process.

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The Brutal Truth About Life After Marriage

Estimated Reading Time: 2 min 30 sec

I recently answered a question on Quora (a popular question and answer site):What is the brutal truth about life ...

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What Do Kids Want When Their Parent's Get Divorced?

Estimated Reading Time: 1 min read
When parents get divorced, kids don’t count the days or hours in the custody schedule. Instead, they often worry ...

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Is Shared Custody Best for My Child?

Estimated Reading Time: 7min 59sec

When making custody determinations, judges and child experts usually prefer a shared parenting arrangement over ...

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6 Positive Impacts of Divorce on Children

Estimated Reading Time: 3min 7sec

Your divorce may impact your children in a variety of ways. That impact depends on your children's emotional make-up ...

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When Divorce Forces the Stay at Home Mom to Choose Daycare

Estimated Reading Time: 3 min 13 sec

There has been a great deal of research demonstrating that high quality daycare is beneficial to children's emotional ...

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What the Judge Sees: Child Custody and Visitation

Estimated Reading Time: 6min 59sec

No one has it easy as a marriage comes to an end.  But things become even more complicated – and the potential ...

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How Does Alimony Work?

VIDEO: The 3 most important factors if you are considering divorce and need alimony.

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Is My Marriage Over?

VIDEO: In this video, I share my 3-step process to determine Is My Marriage Over?

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When to Get a Divorce?

VIDEO: In this video, I share 7 situations that usually spell the end of your marriage.

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How Does Spousal Support Work in Virginia?

Estimated Reading Time: 8 min read
Virginia Code
Virginia statutory law speaks generally of the criteria that a judge must consider when deciding an ...

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How To Tell Your Children About Divorce

Estimated Reading Time: 2 min 53 sec

There is no easy way to tell your children about divorce. Fortunately, there are some very good tips to help you ...

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How Much Does Divorce Cost?

VIDEO: In this video, I tell you what divorce costs if you go the attorney route versus hiring a mediator. I also provide tips to keep your costs down. ...

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Who Claims Children on Taxes After Divorce?

VIDEO: In this video, I provide everything you need to know about child-related tax benefits and how they are split up between divorced parents.

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How are Assets Divided in Divorce

Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes 30 seconds
Dividing and distributing assets in a Virginia divorce is a four-step process:

Identify and determine ...

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How Does Alimony Work?

Estimated Reading Time: 2 min 30 sec 

There is no guarantee of alimony in a Virginia divorce. There are rules of thumb — but no hard and fast ...

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How to Choose a Good Divorce Mediator

Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes 40 seconds
Contemplating divorce and unsure how to proceed? It's only natural to feel nervous about finding the right ...

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What Makes Divorce Mediation Work?

Estimated Reading Time: 1 Minute 40 seconds
Mediation is a confidential settlement process in which a trained, neutral settlement expert — the “mediator” ...

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Mine, Yours, and Ours in a Virginia Divorce

Estimated Reading Time: 13 Minutes 
How Do Virginia Courts & Mediators View Equitable Distribution When a Husband and Wife Commingle Separate (Non-Marital) ...

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Six Phases of Divorce Emotions

Estimated Reading Time: 2 min 50 sec 
Divorce is a shock to the system even if getting divorced was your idea. When it finally becomes a reality that ...

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Divorce Pain and Stress - 8 Tips for Feeling Better

3 min 45 sec read
People get divorced for so many reasons -- feeling alone in the marriage, infidelity, loss of intimacy and companionship, financial ...

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What is "Equitable distribution of property"?

Estimated Reading Time: 9 Minutes

THE DEFINITION of EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION – NOT 50%/50%

Equitable Distribution is the legal term for how judges, ...

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Extra Marital Affair Ruining Your Marriage?

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 ...

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Home Again? Better Known as “Failure to Launch”

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 ...

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Moving on After Divorce

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 ...

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Signs He Will Change

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 ...

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Can an Ugly Divorce Cause PTSD?

1 min 15 sec read
You don't have to go through war to end up with the terrifying and extraordinarily discerning symptoms of PTSD. A divorce -- especially ...

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6 Methods to Effectively Co-Parent After a Nasty Divorce

Every divorcing parent has heard the same thing: You have to learn to get along with your ex… for the sake of the kids. Of course, that’s easy for ...

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Divorce & Social Security: What You Need to Know

By Guest Blogger, Angelique Ayala

Everyone plans to retire. Most would like to retire sooner rather than later but, unfortunately, that doesn’t always ...

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Child Custody: Your Preschooler in a Divorce

Having a preschool aged child is a lot of work. Getting divorced when you have a preschooler presents even more challenges. This article will help parents ...

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Child Custody – Keys to Success

When you are working on your child custody plans, it is important to know that virtually all experts agree that children do best when:

(a) their parents ...

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What is Business Goodwill in a Virginia Divorce?

When valuing a small or family-owned business in a Virginia divorce, parties need to be aware of the concept of “goodwill.” Goodwill is divided into ...

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Business Valuation & Division in a VA Divorce

Settling a divorce case in Virginia, where one of the parties owns a business, can be extremely challenging. Businesses are considered “property” ...

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6 Tips for Financial Success After Divorce

6 Tips for Financial Success After Divorce
Experienced Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® (CDFA) Provides Advice
Divorce is difficult for ...

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Child Support Income Determinations - Virginia Divorce

For purposes of calculating Child Support in a Virginia divorce, gross income is what is used (not net, not AGI, nor anything else). The term “gross ...

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Dependent Exemptions, Child Custody & Divorce

The Internal Revenue Code has changed as of December 22, 2017. For up-to-date information about child related tax benefits, see this video. 

  ...

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Tax-timing a Marriage or Divorce

As part of your tax planning, you need to consider an expected change in your filing status for this year or next. The frequently overlooked strategy ...

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Key College Planning Questions for Divorcing Parents

When a couple with children divorces, they need to consider how college expenses will now be planned. Will their original thinking about paying for college ...

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Navigating Divorce with an Autistic Child

Navigating any divorce can very quickly become complicated and tricky.  For parents with an autistic child, this added complication can become particularly ...

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What is the Purpose of Child Support?

Parents often are confused about what their child support obligation is supposed to cover.   Like many things that involve the legal system, there is ...

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The Three Golden Rules for Visitation After Divorce

Spending uninterrupted time with your child or children after a divorce can be the only thing that feels right in the aftermath of  a divorce.  Though ...

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