Roanoke Legal Blog

When a Virginia married couple decides to divorce, they often encounter numerous challenges regarding child custody issues. Spouses divorce, but parents do not, and this means co-parenting terms must be decided as part of the settlement. Every family is unique, which is why the court often decides custody issues on a case-by-case basis.

The court typically believes that children of divorce fare best when they are provided ample opportunity to spend time with both parents. Many parents agree to shared custody arrangements because such arrangements make it easy for both parents to have active roles in their children's lives. In fact, parents are often able to write the terms of their own custody plans, although they must seek the court's approval before a plan is implemented.

Theft is something most people are familiar with. At its core, it's taking something that doesn't belong to you without another person's permission. Theft might be from a friend or family member. It might be from a store or employer.

Legally, theft is defined as taking someone else's property with the intention of depriving them of that property permanently. With this legal definition, it's possible to get theft charges dropped or reduced if you can show that you did intend to return the item to the person to whom it belonged.

Being a parent is often hard. It involves long hours, often with little sleep and with constant worry about the ability to meet the needs of the children. When there is only one parent providing support, it is even more difficult. As a result, parents in Virginia are often ordered by the court to pay appropriate child support. If that support is not forthcoming, the other parent often has no choice but to pursue legal avenues for payment.

A woman in another state recently took such a path even though her daughter is now 52 years old. Reports indicate that the woman, now 74, raised her daughter on her own since the latter was three years old. The ex-husband was ordered to pay her $210 a month for 30 months followed by $160 a month until the daughter was 21.

Most people in Virginia are aware that a great deal of thought and consideration often goes into the process of deciding whether to end a marriage. Once that decision is made, however, couples are left to make multiple decisions that could ultimately have a significant impact on their financial stability for the years that follow. While deciding who will keep the house and how child custody will be divided are obvious, other decisions -- such as who will retain any points earned with the use of a credit card -- may be easily overlooked during the asset division process of a divorce.

However, credit card reward points have value even if they may be easily overlooked. If one spouse can prove that he or she had the credit card in his or her name only and the associated reward points were earned prior to the marriage, that person may be able to retain all the points. However, if the points were earned during the marriage -- even if the card was held in only one spouse's name -- they will likely be considered marital property.