The VLW Blog

Engagement and wedding rings symbolize eternal love, say the diamond ads in bridal magazines.
A couple that breaks up can sometimes find creative and liberating ways to deal with those tangible symbols of a love gone wrong. Or maybe they just try to pay the bills.
Trecia A. Chavez said her husband Sean Chavez sold [...]

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A husband who voluntarily paid a $3 million equitable distribution award and $72,000 of wife’s attorney’s fees has forfeited his right to challenge the court-ordered payments on appeal, the Court of Appeals said yesterday.
But the husband got a consolation prize. The appellate panel in Stephenson v. Musgrave said a Roanoke County Circuit Court erred because [...]

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Although a wife didn’t earn income on her college degree until after the parties separated, she used her college loans for living expenses, and the Court of Appeals agrees husband must pay $11,000 of her college loan debt.
Yesterday an appellate panel upheld a Montgomery County divorce court’s property split that gave the wife equity in [...]

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If you change the locks when your spouse moves out, be prepared to pay some rent.
In McIlwain v. McIlwain, the Court of Appeals today upheld an award to a wife of one-half the fair market rental value of a couple’s home for the six-year period after she moved out.
The Hanover County couple owned the jointly [...]

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Divorce lawyers looking for a benchmark for monetary awards may want to check out a recent Court of Appeals case.
Lawyers know there is no rule requiring a 50-50 split of marital property. But arguments about who contributed what to a marriage often degenerate into “he said, she said” contests. Then something approaching an even split [...]

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