Arlington Family Law Blog

An unsuccessful bid for child custody in Virginia does not mean that the parent will never have access to their children. Parents often still have a good chance of gaining family court approval for a visitation schedule. Depending on the circumstances, visitation could allow for weekly or bi-weekly parenting time on one or two days a week. In addition, the parents could have the children on holidays or during summer vacation.

In cases where courts choose to limit access, parents might still qualify for supervised visits or virtual contact through video services like Skype. The reasons why a court might completely deny visitation include history of domestic violence, especially toward a child, a parent's previous failure to exercise visitation rights, cessation of contact with a child, termination of parental rights or abuse of drugs or alcohol.

Virginia parents who are ending their marriage might be concerned about how it will affect their ability to save for their child's college education. With the expense of maintaining two households instead of one and concerns about child and spousal support, paying for college may become less of a priority. However, with tuition continuing to rise, it may be important to think about how to afford it.

Parents who have planned on their children attending expensive private colleges may need to look at state schools instead. It is generally not possible to force the other parent to pay an extremely high tuition or for graduate school. Usually, if the divorce agreement addresses college savings, it is generally limited to five years. Parents might want to look into what kind of opportunities may be offered by scholarships, grants and loans.

When Virginia children come from wealthy families, they might feel pressured by their parents to sign a prenuptial agreement before getting married. Although parents often do this simply because they are concerned about preserving the family wealth, children might be resistant and feel this is a reflection on their parents' feelings about their future spouse.

One way parents can avoid this is by raising the issue of a prenup long before there is a potential spouse involved. This helps keeps the focus on the family legacy. Parents can begin talking to their children about prenups when they are teenagers or young adults. They may find it helpful to explain that a prenup can protect the family wealth for their own children.

When parents in Virginia and other parts of the country divorce, they generally work with one another to find custody and visitation arrangements that will benefit their children even when their relationships have become hostile and acrimonious. Divorcing parents may spend time negotiating physical custody and organizing visitation schedules, but they should also consider who will have legal custody of their children. While physical custody allows parents to spend time with their children, legal custody authorizes them to make important decisions about their education, health care and upbringing.

Joint legal custody arrangements can work well when divorced parents agree on significant issues such as religion, but they may not be an appropriate solution for parents who find it difficult to find common ground even when the welfare of their children is at stake. However, parents who are able to work through their differences in search of compromise set a powerful example for their children that could help them to avoid relationship problems of their own later in life.