Virginia Beach Family Lawyer

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:

• • Virginia Beach Divorce Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Military Divorce Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Divorce Modification Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Divorce with Special Needs Children Lawyer
  • Virginia Beach Child Custody Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Child Custody Modification Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Emergency Custody Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Temporary Custody Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Special Needs Child Custody Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Child Support Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Child Support Modification Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Spousal Support Lawyers
  • Virginia Beach Trusts and Estates Lawyers

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
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(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.