Divorced Parents and Financial Aid for College
Posted by: Teresa S. Cole, Esq.
June 30, 2009
Topic: Divorced Parents and Financial Aid for College

As the school year comes to an end, many parents are now facing decisions about how to pay for college. Most parents start the financial aid process by logging onto http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ to fill out their financial aid application.

FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The U.S. Department of Education processes the applications and shares the results with the colleges your child may attend. Most colleges base their decisions about eligibility for financial aid on the FAFSA determination as to the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) from each family. Even if you don't qualify for need-based financial aid, you must complete the FAFSA to be eligible for federal student loans which often have very attractive interest rates and terms.

When parents are facing divorce, they may want to familiarize themselves with FAFSA and consider how financial aid decisions will be made in the case of a student whose parents are divorced. In Virginia, the divorce courts do not have the authority to order a parent to pay for college. The obligation to support one's child (with the exception of a severely disabled child) ends when the child turns 18 years of age, provided, however, that child support shall continue to be paid for any child over 18 years of age, so long as he or she is (i) a full-time high school student, (ii) not self-supporting, and (iii) living in the home of a parent receiving support, until the child reaches age nineteen or graduates high school, which ever first occurs. However, parents do routinely enter into Agreements at the time of divorce which dictates which parent will pay for college, or how the obligation will be shared between the parents. Such agreements are enforceable by the courts despite that the court itself lacks the authority to make such an order absent the agreement of the parties.

If the FAFSA, or other college financial aid applications for that matter, rely on the income and resources of the "Custodial Parent," to make financial aid determinations, you can imagine some unintended consequences resulting from an agreement entered into at the time of divorce which did not take the mechanics of the FAFSA into account. For example, consider the following scenario:

* Custodial Parent Mom is remarried and has an extremely high household income at the time of the FAFSA application; at the time of divorce she was not working and NonCustodial Parent Dad, who is now out of work, had agreed to be responsible for college expenses beyond the financial aid his child received. In this scenario, the student may not qualify for financial aid, even though Dad may need his child to qualify so that he can afford to fulfill his obligation, since it is the Custodial Parent's household income that is being used to qualify the child.

The FAFSA and most other college financial aid applications do require that a NonCustodial Parent Financial Profile or disclosure statement be submitted, in addition to the Custodial Parent's application. When it is provided, the financial aid decision may be based in part on both household's incomes. However, a NonCustodial Parent is not always responsive to the request to fill out such form or provide such information and may decide not to cooperate in such application process, and in those cases, the financial aid determination can be made solely using the Custodial Parent's household income and resources. Divorce attorneys are occasionally called upon by former clients to write letters to specific college financial aid offices when a financial aid application is being held up by the absence of the NonCustodial Parent Financial Profile in such cases, to try to secure such a result. If you are considering an agreement as to how college will be paid for as part of your Virginia divorce, it is worth discussing these issues with your divorce attorney.

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New Family Law Legislation
Posted by: Teresa S. Cole, Esq.
June 10, 2009
Topic: New Family Law Legislation

New Family Law Legislation
Posted By: Teresa S. Cole, Esq.
June 9, 2009
Topic: New Family Law Legislation

Every year, on July 1^st, bills which have been approved by the Virginia General Assembly become effective as changes in Virginia law. This year there were approximately 11 bills affecting family law cases which will become law on July 1, 2009. Some of these bills are administrative or technical in nature, while others result in more substantive changes. Some noteworthy proposed or actual changes to the law follow:

•· The factors the Court is required to consider in making any custody or visitation determination were amended to add consideration of any history of sexual abuse.

•· Previously, the law required attorneys to include social security numbers and driver's license numbers in support orders, but Section 20-121.03 required the social security numbers be recorded in a Private Addendum to the support order which would be kept in a separate non-public file from the public divorce file where the support order would be filed. The Private Addendum was a means of protecting the privacy of such information. The law changes effective July 1, 2009 to provide that support orders include only the last four digits of the social security number, along with the driver's license number. With this change, a Private Addendum should no longer be necessary, as the full social security number no longer has to be reported.

•· The law has required parents to provide health insurance coverage for their minor children if it is available to a parent at a reasonable cost. Effective July 1, 2009, "reasonable cost" is defined as costing 5% or less of the parents' combined incomes. If health insurance will be provided by Medicaid, DSS may now collect from the parents the cost of the insurance for the minor children up to a maximum of 2.5% of each parent's income. In lieu of health insurance coverage, the Court may also now order "cash medical support." The definition of available health care coverage was also expanded to include health insurance available to a party's spouse. The Court can now consider the cost of health insurance provided by a spouse of a party for the party's child in determining child support.

•· In the case of a family assault and battery charge, the Court can now order the alleged abuser to obtain services from the local community-based probation program and may defer a finding of guilt and ultimately dismiss the charges if the imposed conditions are complied with.

•· Among the 8 family law bills which failed to be enacted was a bill which sought to repeal the amendment defining marriage as "only a union between one man and one woman." There was also a failed bill which sought to authorize court-appointed attorneys in divorce cases for domestic violence victims with an established need.

•· The above bullets are summaries and do not recite the full or exact wording of the actual amendments and provisions. To view more information concerning the family law bills that passed or failed and the changes going into effect on July 1, 2009, go to: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?091+sbj+020

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My unexpected experiences as a family law attorney
Posted by: Katharine Maddox
June 01, 2009
Topic: My unexpected experiences as a family law attorney

Being a family law attorney has taken unexpected turns in my career.

In late 2006 I moved to Italy to be with my then boyfriend (now my husband) who was working for the United Nation's World Food Programme. I thought I would be taking a sabbatical from my job as a family law attorney, but past clients still called me up in Rome, seeking ongoing advice. My firm sent me transcripts on cases where we had been hired to handle an appeal of a circuit court decision, and I did much of the research and writing for several appeals to the Virginia Court of Appeals. Both of those were unexpected when I moved but made me realize how much I love my job as a family law attorney. I have been working in the area of family law since I was 14 when I got my first job as a file clerk for Betty A. Thompson. I simply fell into family law because it is what my mother (Marcia Maddox) did, and I never thought much about whether or not I enjoyed the practice. It was a wonderful moment to realize how much I truly love what I do day in and day out. As my mother likes to say, we don't create the problems, but we can help to make them better. An unexpected realization to have while living in a foreign country.

Since moving back to the US in January 2008, my career has continued to take unexpected turns. The most significant of which was becoming a de facto conference planner for the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (IAML). Marcia Maddox is currently the president of the US Chapter of the IAML; as such, she is required to hold 2 conferences in the US for the IAML. Together, we have already successfully completed 1 conference in March of this year, and we are in the process of planning the 2nd conference for February, 2010.

I never thought being a family law attorney would include conference planning, and it has been fascinating. Together with Marcia Maddox, we plan every aspect of the US Chapter of the IAML spring conferences, from choosing the hotel, arranging for various dinners and activities to planning the education programs and compiling all of the educational materials. I believe the 2009 seminars were up-to-the minute in terms of what is "hot" right now in the area of family law. One day was devoted to the state of the laws relating to same sex marriage both in the US and internationally, together with the pros and cons of collaborative law (which I was recently trained in; details on the collaborative practice will be forthcoming in a future blog entry). The other segment of our educational program was more informative than day-to-day educational: The history of family law in Texas as it juxtaposed with the Yearning for Zion case (compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; also referred to by the media as the Texas polygamy case). We are in the process of choosing the topics for the spring 2010 conference, and I am excited to learn more about matrimonial laws from around the world and put the knowledge to use when our firm represents clients where there is jurisdiction in both Virginia and in a foreign country.

One thing about my career that has not been unexpected: Attention to detail is crucial - whether planning a conference, negotiating a settlement or preparing for trial. The devil is in the details, and the details make all the difference.

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How to prepare for your first meeting with a new attorney
Posted by: Katharine Maddox
April 01, 2008
Topic: How to Prepare for Your First Meeting with a New Attorney

For most people who schedule a consultation with a divorce attorney it is their first time meeting with an attorney. Often people are nervous and not sure how to proceed. Others may have an ongoing case with one attorney but are considering hiring a different attorney for the duration of their case. In both situations the client is best served by being prepared for their first meeting with the new attorney.

It is helpful to think about what you want the attorney to know before coming in for the initial consultation. Specifically, why are you seeking advice of counsel? Do you want a divorce? Do you simply want to know what your rights are should you decide to seek a divorce in the future? Are the issues limited to specific issues such as support, property division or custody, or are they more all-encompassing in nature? If the new client can tell the new attorney what type of advice they seek, it will help ensure that the attorney will be able to effectively address the client's concerns during the consultation. Otherwise a client may forget to bring up certain issues during the consultation only to remember later after they have already left the attorney's office.

If a client has a case pending when they meet with a new attorney (whether they represent themselves pro se or have a current attorney), the new client should bring all pleadings and orders with them to the consultation. In order to be able to give effective on-point legal advice, the attorney must know with specificity the current status of case vis-a-vis court orders and pleadings.

If there are any outstanding settlement offers, the client should also bring such offers with them to the consultation. No one should ever sign a settlement agreement without the advice of counsel. There have been several occasions when clients have scheduled a consultation with an attorney at this firm and have brought in a settlement agreement to find out whether the attorney thinks the agreement if fair. However, if the agreement is already signed by both parties, absent very unusual circumstances, the agreement is binding. Therefore, even if the attorney reviews the agreement and determines that is not fair to the client, it is usually too late to make any changes to the agreement because the client signed it prior to seeking legal advice.

Finally, it is helpful for the attorney if the client brings in a prepared history of the marriage. If the client provides the attorney with a history of the marriage, and what the client believes led to the current legal troubles, it will help the attorney to understand that background of the case which may impact the advice the attorney provides during a consultation.

In sum, the more prepared a client is for an initial consultation with an attorney, the better equipped the attorney will be to provide sound legal advice to the client.

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