Virginia Family Law: How to Get Child Support

Raising children can be very expensive. Food, clothing, hospital bills, extracurriculars and unreimbursed medical expenses can make it very difficult for a single mother or single father. If you are no longer living with the other parent, it is important to know how to get child support and how child support is calculated.

How Do You Ask For Child Support in Virginia?

If you are looking for help paying for your child'ren’s living expenses, the best way of getting help is to ask for child support from the other parent. If you do not yet have a child support order in place, you would need to either open a case with the Department of Child Support Enforcement or file a Petition for Child Support.

The first thing you would need to do is go to the Clerk’s office where you live or to call the Richmond Office of the Department of Child Support. They can walk you through the paperwork required to start receiving child support.

How Much Child Support Will You Get?

In order to get the most child support you can, you need to make sure you have all your receipts for your expenses ready for the Court or Child Support to review. They will want to see the cost of your insurance, your pay stubs, and day care expenses.

All of those expenses get factored into the amount of child support you are entitled to. Once you do file, the other parent will be required to provide their earning statements to the Court for calculation.

Why You Need a Child Support Lawyer.

A child support lawyer can help you get all the documentation ready to file with the Court and maximize the amount of child support you will receive. If the other parent is working under the table or is self-employed, your lawyer can help you get that information in front of the Court. So make sure you talk to a child support lawyer if you need help with paying for raising your children.

Virginia Family Law: What is Sole Custody?

In Virginia custody cases, there are two types of custody: physical custody and legal custody. There are three different subcategories: sole, split and joint custody. Many people come to my office asking for “full custody” or “sole custody.” It is important to understand what that word means and the situations in which the Court will consider giving sole or full custody.

So what is sole custody, and how does it work?

What is Sole or Full Custody?

Sole legal custody means one parent makes all the legal decisions for the child. Where they go to school, what doctor they go to, what surgeries they have, and what church they go to. Being a sole legal custodian means you do not have to consult with the other parent to make these decisions. The Court rarely grants sole legal custody.

Sole physical custody means that one parent is the one that has most of the parenting time with the child. The other parent has less than ninety (90) overnights with the child.

When Will the Court Award Sole or Full Custody?

The Court will consider sole legal custody when one parent has a history of not being able to making rational decisions for the child. Maybe they have a substantial history of mental health issues or substance abuse issues. If they are unable to be involved in making decisions the Court will not let them. Alternatively, if the parent has historically not been involved at all and has showed no inclination to be involved, the Court may also restrict that parent’s legal custody.

The Court will consider sole physical custodoy when the other parent is unable to provide for the needs for the child. For example, if they work night shift and cannot get the child on the bus. Or maybe they live several hundred miles away and cannot be involved in the day to day needs of the child. Those are the situations in which a Court will consider sole physical custody.

Why You Need a Custody Lawyer.

A custody lawyer will be familiar with the types of cases that your local judges will consider appropriate for sole or full custody. Not at all cases are eligible for sole or full custody, so it is important to talk to an experienced, local attorney to explore what might help in your case.