Grounds and timing
Whether the divorce proceeds no-fault after the statutory separation period, or on a fault ground. The choice affects timing, evidence, and — where adultery is found — spousal support.
Va. Code § 20-91(A)(9)Practicing since 1997 · Fairfax County
Virginia divorce is
two problems, not one.
Ending a marriage is procedural. The difficulty is what the decree carries with it — how the marital estate is divided, and what happens with the children. Those are decided on different standards, on different evidence, and sometimes in different courts.
Consultations by appointment. Please do not send detailed case information through this website.
1997Practicing since
5Jurisdictions · VA MD DC NJ NY
FormerProsecutor experience
N. VAFairfax · Arlington · Loudoun · PW
01 — The issues
What is actually being decided
Six determinations sit inside a Virginia divorce. Each runs on its own statute and its own evidence — and only some of them can be revisited later.
Support and custody remain modifiable on a material change in circumstances. Property division generally does not. That asymmetry is worth understanding before signing anything.
Equitable distribution
Virginia divides marital property on statutory factors rather than by formula. Property is first classified as marital, separate, or part each; then valued; then divided. Fair is not a synonym for equal.
Va. Code § 20-107.3Spousal support
Not automatic. A court weighs duration of the marriage, standard of living, each party's resources and earning capacity, and the contributions each made.
Va. Code § 20-107.1(E)Custody and visitation
Legal custody, physical custody, and a parenting schedule, decided on the best interests of the child.
Va. Code § 20-124.3Child support
Calculated by guideline using gross incomes, health coverage, work-related childcare, and the custody arrangement.
Va. Code § 20-108.2Debts, the marital home, and retirement
Frequently the largest practical questions in a case, and frequently the last to be resolved.
Often decisiveResults may vary.
02 — Practice
Matters we handle
Divorce and family law in Fairfax County, Arlington, Loudoun, Prince William, Alexandria and Falls Church.
Uncontested divorce
Drafting a settlement agreement that is complete, enforceable, and does not create problems later. The common failure is not conflict — it is an agreement that omits retirement or a mechanism for changed circumstances.
Contested divorce
Discovery, financial disclosure, valuation, and preparation for a hearing alongside continuing negotiation. Most contested matters still resolve by agreement; preparation is what makes it a good one.
Equitable distribution
Classification, tracing, and valuation. Businesses and professional practices, closely held interests, real estate, deferred compensation, stock awards, and commingled or inherited property.
Retirement & pension division
Dividing a plan generally requires a separate order to the plan administrator in addition to the decree. An order the plan rejects is a problem discovered years later.
Spousal support
Establishment, defense, duration, and modification — including the treatment of earning capacity where a spouse has been out of the workforce.
Custody & parenting plans
Within a divorce or as a standalone matter. Legal and physical custody, schedules, holidays, decision-making mechanics, and relocation terms.
Child support
Establishment, guideline calculation, deviation, modification, and enforcement — including income that is variable, self-reported, or in dispute.
Military divorce
Federal treatment of military retired pay, survivor benefit elections and their deadlines, and parenting provisions workable across deployment and PCS.
Prenuptial & postnuptial agreements
Drafting and review, and challenges to an existing agreement on grounds such as disclosure or the circumstances of execution.
Separation agreements
For parties formalizing financial and parenting arrangements without immediately dissolving the marriage, or in advance of a no-fault filing.
Protective orders
Where safety is at issue. Protective order proceedings run on their own track and timeline alongside a family case, and what happens in one affects the other.
Modification & enforcement
Changing an existing support or custody order on a material change in circumstances, and enforcing an order that is not being followed.
Protective orders: if you are in immediate danger, call 911. Protective order proceedings run on their own track alongside a family case, and what happens in one affects the other.
03 — Procedure
How a Fairfax divorce moves
STEP 1
Filing
A complaint is filed in the Circuit Court and the other party is served. Custody and support may instead begin in the J&DR District Court.
STEP 2
Response
Twenty-one days to file a responsive pleading. A counterclaim is common.
STEP 3
Temporary relief
Pendente lite orders can set temporary support, custody, and use of the marital home — and often set the practical reference point for what follows.
STEP 4
Discovery
Interrogatories, document production, and depositions. In a financial case this is where classification and valuation are actually resolved.
STEP 5
Valuation & experts
Where a business, a pension, real estate, or earning capacity is disputed.
STEP 6
Negotiation or mediation
Most matters resolve here. An agreement the parties build gives them control over terms a court would otherwise set.
STEP 7
Hearing or trial
Evidence and argument before a judge. Family matters are decided by the court rather than a jury.
STEP 8
Final decree
The decree dissolves the marriage and incorporates the agreement or ruling. Retirement orders and deed transfers follow — and are frequently forgotten.
04 — The attorneys
Every attorney here is
admitted in Virginia
Assignment depends on the issues in the matter and is confirmed as part of the written engagement.
Mr. Sris
Owner & Founder · Former Prosecutor
Practicing since 1997. In 2019 he testified in support of Virginia House Bill 635 before the House Courts of Justice Committee.
Full profile →
Samantha Rae Powers
Of Counsel · Family & Employment Law
In practice since 2005. J.D. and M.A., University of Florida. Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara (2017).
Full profile →Virginia admission governs the matters described on this site. Admissions elsewhere are listed for completeness. Of Counsel attorneys contract directly with Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C.
05 — Avoidable
Where cases go wrong
Treating the separation date as a formality
It determines what is marital and when a no-fault ground matures.
Disclosure problems
Incomplete or inaccurate financial disclosure damages the position of the party responsible far more than the underlying asset would have.
Signing an agreement that is silent
Retirement, tax treatment, life insurance securing support, and a mechanism for changed circumstances are the usual omissions.
Confusing modifiable with permanent
Property terms are usually permanent. Support and custody are not.
Delay on collateral deadlines
Appeal windows, survivor benefit elections, and protective order hearings do not wait for the divorce.
Litigating the marriage, not the issues
The evidence that matters is evidence bearing on the statutory factors.
06 — Before you call
Preparing for a first consultation
General information, not legal advice, and not addressed to the circumstances of any particular case.
- 01
Assemble the financial picture
Tax returns, pay records, bank and brokerage statements, retirement statements, mortgage and loan documents, credit card statements, business records if applicable.
- 02
Write down the dates
Date of marriage, date of separation, dates of any prior separations and reconciliations. The separation date is disputed more often than people expect.
- 03
List what came by gift or inheritance
Separate property has to be traced, and tracing is easier the earlier it starts.
- 04
Do not move out or move money on impulse
Each has consequences for property, for the marital home, and sometimes for custody.
- 05
Assume anything written may be read aloud
Messages, email, and social media content are routinely produced in discovery.
- 06
Do not involve the children
This is a recurring subject of inquiry in contested matters.
- 07
Do not sign what your spouse's attorney drafted
Not without independent review. That attorney does not represent you.
07 — FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Answers address Virginia law and the practice of the Fairfax County courts.
Virginia recognizes both no-fault and fault-based grounds. A no-fault divorce rests on the parties having lived separate and apart, without cohabitation and without interruption, for the statutory period. Fault grounds include adultery, conviction of a felony with confinement, cruelty, reasonable apprehension of bodily hurt, and willful desertion. Which ground is available and which is advisable are separate questions: under Va. Code § 20-107.1(B) a finding of adultery bars an award of spousal support, subject to a narrow manifest-injustice exception. That provision often decides whether a fault ground is worth pleading.
One year, reduced to six months where the parties have no minor children and have entered into a written separation or property settlement agreement (Va. Code § 20-91(A)(9)). The period runs from the date of separation, which requires both physical separation and an intent, held by at least one party, that the marriage be at an end. Because that date drives both the filing date and the classification of property, it is worth fixing with evidence rather than recollection.
Not necessarily. Virginia recognizes separation within the same residence in some circumstances, but it is fact-intensive and harder to prove — sleeping arrangements, finances, meals, laundry, and how the parties presented themselves to others all become evidence. Moving out has its own consequences for the marital home and for custody, so the decision is worth taking advice on before making it.
The divorce itself is filed in the Circuit Court. Custody, visitation, and support can be heard in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, and are also decided by the Circuit Court when they arise within a divorce. Which court a particular issue belongs in depends on the posture of the case, and matters can move between them.
No. Virginia applies equitable distribution under Va. Code § 20-107.3, which directs a court to divide marital property fairly on statutory factors. Fair is not a synonym for equal, and an equal division is one possible result rather than the starting point. The court first classifies property as marital, separate, or part each, then values it, then divides.
Spousal support is not automatic. A court weighs the statutory factors in Va. Code § 20-107.1(E), including the duration of the marriage, the standard of living established during it, the parties' resources, earning capacity, ages and health, and the contributions each made. Fault also matters directly: a finding of adultery bars an award under § 20-107.1(B), subject to the manifest-injustice exception.
Virginia calculates child support by statutory guideline under Va. Code § 20-108.2, using the parties' gross incomes, the cost of health coverage for the children, work-related childcare, and the custody arrangement. The guideline figure is presumptively correct, and a court may deviate from it on findings stated in the record. Support can be revisited when circumstances materially change.
Retirement earned during the marriage is generally marital property subject to division, and dividing it usually requires a separate order directed to the plan administrator in addition to the divorce decree. Getting that order right matters — an incorrectly drafted one can be rejected by the plan or fail to deliver what the settlement intended.
In several respects. Federal law governs how military retired pay may be treated, survivor benefit elections have their own deadlines and consequences, and deployment and permanent change of station make ordinary parenting schedules unworkable without specific provisions. Service members also have protections affecting the timing of proceedings.
Support and custody remain modifiable on a material change in circumstances. Property division, once ordered, generally does not. That asymmetry is worth understanding before agreeing to a settlement — the property terms are usually the ones you live with.
Every attorney listed on this site is admitted in Virginia. Assignment depends on the issues in the matter and is confirmed as part of the written engagement.
Fees vary with the issues in dispute and with whether the matter resolves by agreement or proceeds to a contested hearing. An uncontested matter with a complete agreement costs materially less than a contested trial with expert evidence. Fee arrangements are set out in the written engagement agreement. Consultations are by appointment.