Family Lawyer in Virginia Beach

Top Rated Virginia Beach Family Law Attorneys

Address:

575 Lynnhaven Pkwy, #310
Virginia Beach, VA 23452

Phone:

757-296-0580 Fax: 757-257-0427

Hours:

Monday – Friday
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Saturday
8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

The area of family law can cover a wide range of complex issues related to marriage and divorce. Attempting to navigate these legal matters on your own is unlikely to yield a favorable outcome. Fortunately, an experienced family lawyer in Virginia Beach can help you with your case from start to finish and ensure your rights are protected.

The experienced family law attorneys at Melone Hatley, P.C., will approach your case with the compassion and knowledge required to achieve your goals. We understand the challenges you face and will aggressively pursue a resolution that meets your needs.

Get help from our team today by giving us a call or using this site to set up your free case evaluation with a Client Services Coordinator from our firm.

Issues the Virginia Beach Family Law Attorneys at Our Firm Commonly Handle

At our firm in Virginia Beach, we handle a wide array of family law matters, ensuring comprehensive legal support for all of your family law needs.

Our dedicated team in Virginia Beach includes:

This diverse experience allows us to provide tailored legal solutions for everything from the anticipation of marriage to the complexities of divorce and beyond.

Schedule your free meeting with our team today to see if our Family Lawyers can help you.

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Prenuptial Agreements: Our Role as a Family Lawyer in Virginia Beach

Generally, people think of family law attorneys as only handling divorce and child custody issues. However, there are many instances when we can help people prepare for marriage through prenuptial agreements.

When considering signing or creating a prenuptial agreement, you will want to work with our experienced Virginia Beach family lawyers to protect your future goals.

We will work with you to ensure that your contract reflects your goals and that you understand everything you are signing. The complexity of a prenuptial agreement can vary significantly. In certain cases, they merely outline how some specific assets will be distributed should your marriage end in divorce.

In other cases, any issue that could arise during a divorce will be settled in these agreements before marriage is entered into.

Before signing a prenuptial agreement, it is essential that you hire an experienced family law attorney serving Virginia Beach to review the terms and explain all the legal consequences.

Virginia Beach Family
Lawyer Near Me

757-296-0580

Managing Key Divorce Issues: Protecting Your Future

If you are going through a divorce, you know that even with the best conditions, the process is stressful and expensive. Several legal matters must be settled that will have a significant impact on the remainder of your life. The details of your marriage and your life will determine the exact issues you will need to resolve. Some of the biggest disputes during a divorce include:

Division of shared property, including any businesses and homes
Division of shared assets, including any pension and retirement accounts
Custody and visitation of any shared children
Child support
Spousal support

You need to protect your rights and interests during a divorce to ensure a positive future. The legal team at Melone Hatley, P.C. can help you navigate every aspect of your divorce. From filing the initial paperwork until there is a final order for divorce, our family lawyers serving Virginia Beach will be by your side, working to ensure your goals are achieved.

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Handling Unique Challenges in Military Divorce Cases

If you or your spouse are in the military, you understand the unique challenges that you always face. Divorce is no different. Our experienced team of military divorce lawyers serving Virginia Beach has a long history of protecting servicemembers through the divorce process. We will keep you updated with all developments in your case, even if you cannot be physically present.

Our approach to your case will be based on the specific details of your situation. We will help ensure that your and your family’s rights are protected and that your goals are achieved.

Schedule a call with one of our client services coordinators today

Navigating Child Custody Disputes With Care

If you have children and are going through the divorce process, you know that the most contentious part of your divorce is the battle over custody and visitation. Child custody disputes are often emotionally charged and can be incredibly difficult on everyone involved. In a custody battle, you will need to resolve both physical custody and legal custody of your children.

To make matters even more stressful, the best time to fight for a visitation and custody arrangement that is in your children’s best interests is during the divorce process. It is not uncommon for the final decision on custody and decision to be handled by the court.

In making a decision, the judge will evaluate the best interest of your children under Virginia Code § 20-124.3.

Our experienced team can help guide you through the child custody process, including the appointment of and working with a guardian ad litem.

Understanding Child Support Decisions

Another critical and stressful factor that will need to be resolved in a divorce involving children is child support. The court will consider a variety of factors when deciding how child support will be awarded, pursuant to Virginia Code § 20-108.2, including:

The custody arrangement
The financial means of both parents
The financial needs of your children
If both parents have over 90 overnights with the children, the offset that will have on the child support

In cases involving children with special needs, the law considers the extra costs and allows for deviations from the standard guidelines regarding support to ensure your children’s needs are met. These deviations can be both in the amount of support and the duration of the support.

Whether you are the party who will be paying or receiving child support payments, you must hire an experienced child support attorney to protect you and your child’s rights and ensure that the court is properly calculating the support that should be paid.

Determining Spousal Support: Factors and Duration

Another contentious aspect that needs to be determined during a divorce is spousal support. The court will consider various factors when determining the size of spousal support payments and how long they will be paid.

Some of the factors that most significantly impact decisions regarding the amount awarded for spousal support according to Virginia Code § 20-107.1 include:

The earning capacity of both you and your former spouse
The financial needs of both parties
The current employment status of both parties
Any additional income sources for either party

Meanwhile, the main factor considered in determining how long payments will be made is the length of time you were married. For a long marriage, there is a chance that lifetime support will be awarded, which will last until the death of either party or until the receiving party remarries.

Modifying Your Divorce Order

With time, the circumstances of your life, or the lives of your former spouse or children, will likely change in a manner that makes certain terms of your original divorce order no longer make sense. In this situation, you may need to reopen your divorce to make modifications.

Whether you are requesting a change or your former spouse is seeking a modification, hiring an experienced divorce modification lawyer will be essential for ensuring that you are protected. The most common modification requests involve child custody and visitation, child support, and spousal support.

Get Help From an Experienced Family Lawyer in Virginia Beach Today

Whether you are preparing to get married, going through a divorce, or seeking to modify an existing divorce order, an experienced family law attorney in Virginia Beach can help ensure you understand your rights and the implications of any legal action.

At Melone Hatley, P.C., we will provide you with the experienced and aggressive legal representation you need to resolve any family law matter. Contact us through our website or by phone to schedule your free initial case review today, and check out our client testimonials to get a better idea of the service we provide to our clients.

Schedule a call with one of our client services coordinators today.

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Client Testimonials

I can’t say enough good things about Erica Hawkins. She exceeded my expectations and she helped me at one of my lowest points in my life. Not only was she professional and timely she was understanding and compassionate. In my experience it is hard to find all of those qualities...

L.S.

It’s hard to write a review for a divorce attorney as there are no real winners when breaking up a family. My attorney, Stephen Lukacs, was prompt in response time, understanding of my concerns, patient with my occasional panicky moments, and stayed the course to ensure a fair outcome. We...

M.F.

I can only rate up to 5, but the amount of work my lawyer Stephen Lukacs did for me is worth at least a thousand. I cannot begin to describe what a blessing all of Melone Hatley has been. There is no better option you could go with. My paralegal...

T.F.

Julia has been a great lawyer for me during this tough time going through my divorce. She has given great legal advice every step of the way and the timeliness of her responses has been great. She has helped ease my anxiety and gives me hope that this difficult situation...

T.R.

Stephen Lukacs has been a blessing for my family, so far. We are still working together, but if we ever have any questions, he responds within the same day via email. He has been prompt, attentive, honest, understanding of my wants, informative and was masterful in the courtroom. He doesn’t...

D.D.

I had a great experience with this firm. Ms. Julia, Ms. Angela, and the rest of the team were very helpful during the process. The long process became manageable once they took my case. They were patient with me and explained everything, every step of the way. I’m glad I...

C.G.

I am extremely happy with my experience and would highly recommend Melone Hatley. Everyone who I interacted with at the firm was very professional, helpful and kind. I worked directly with Brian and he was deeply knowledgeable and compassionate while guiding me through the entire process. My questions were responded...

B.C.

My wife and I were extremely pleased with the level of care and expertise given to us by Melone Hatley, P.C. Service provided – Trust

M.A.

I highly recommend Melone Hatley. The staff that I have been exposed to are extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

M.H.

Brian has been the best to work with! He is very knowledgeable and helped guide me through everything! Couldn’t have asked for a better experience!!

S.O.

I cannot recommend this attorney’s office enough. I had a major traffic concern and James helped me and I am forever grateful. He is smart and was a calming presence throughout the entire process.

A.C.

What a breath of fresh air they were. After dealing with a terrible firm that took a divorce and turned it into a year long $30,000 nightmare. Emily Vaughn turned my case around in as little as a week. All parties were talking again and it was finished a month...

E.C.

I contacted the Charlotte office with some initial inquiries and found myself in contact with Haley Acuff. I was impressed with her obvious compassion and objectiveness. Her insightful questions helped me to clarify my thought process, while also inspiring confidence that I have indeed found the caring and capable legal...

J.G.

“Worked with both James and Rebecca. Both were very professional and worked hard to make sure I was taken care of with my child support cases. I fully recommend them.”

R.S.

“This is by far the #1 Law Firm! I had the pleasure of hiring this firm at the Reston, Virginia location and it surpassed all of my expectations. Melone Hatley P.C has exceptional attributes including: 1) Customer Service- The staff is ALWAYS pleasant/warming 2) Communication- Attorney’s are very easy to...

D.S.

“They were so friendly and attentive to the matter I brought to them. I wasn’t just treated like “another case”. It felt like they actually cared about me and the outcome of the matter I brought to them. The positive results they got me obviously were the best part!”

N.N.

“I hired MH to handle a divorce. Charles and Angela have been nothing but professional, empathetic, and timely. There isn’t another firm out there that will provide this level of care. Highly recommended.”

S.H.

“Ms. Alexandra at Melone Hatley is great with her communication skills. Very honest, helpful, and keeps to her word. Flawless system that this law firm has set up. Impressed to say the least.”

A.D.

“I had started this process of going through child custody at Norfolk JDR with Mr. Hatley about 2 1/2 years ago. He had done SO much from fighting false domestic violence charges to helping me gain custody of my son. I was skeptical when I first came in years ago...