The VLW Blog

Call it a double benchslap. A Virginia Court of Appeals panel Tuesday delivered a scathing opinion that takes both lawyers to task in a bitter and widely publicized divorce case involving a couple with both legal and political connections. The opinion in Griffin v. Griffin again thrusts into public view the protracted divorce proceedings of [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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