Practice area
Divorce in Virginia
Fault and no-fault divorce, custody and support, division of marital assets and debts, spousal support, military divorces and separation agreements.
Chapter 01
Where a Virginia divorce goes wrong before anyone files
Most divorces turn bitter over the same handful of questions: who stays in the house, where the children live, what support looks like on each side, and how the marital assets and debts are divided. People often act on one of those questions first, with a text, a move out, a talk about separating, without realizing the move changes the answers to the others.
Virginia asks whether the divorce rests on fault or on separation, and that choice sets the timeline. The fault grounds are adultery, a felony conviction with confinement, cruelty, and willful desertion or abandonment. The no-fault route runs on separation: one year when there are children, six months when there are none. Adultery can also bear on property division and on spousal support, which is why what you say, and what you save, in the first weeks matters.
Spousal support is a live question for husbands as well as wives, and military divorces bring wrinkles of their own. A marriage that ends without a written separation agreement leaves every one of these questions for a judge to decide.
Two brass house keys set apart on a walnut table beside a folded document
How the firm works a divorce out of Fredericksburg
Cornerstone Law Group handles fault and no-fault divorces, custody and support, the division of marital assets and debts, spousal support, military divorces and separation agreements. Mark J. Dahlberg, Joseph M. Kirchgessner and Carolyn E. Dahlberg all practice family law at the firm, and Joseph has tried hundreds of cases, jury trials among them.
Many couples can settle. A separation agreement puts custody, support and property in writing before a judge has to decide them, and the firm drafts and negotiates those agreements. When a spouse will not settle, the same lawyers try the case: the firm's trial lawyers appear in Virginia courts almost every working day, so a contested divorce is not a strange room to them.
The firm was built so that a client is not bounced from one law firm to another. If your divorce touches an estate plan, a business, a bankruptcy or a prenuptial agreement, the lawyer who can help is down the hall. Adoptions, annulments and wills are handled the same way.
Chapter 03
What to bring, and what happens after you call
Call (540) 898-8881. The first consultation is free, and the firm arranges a variety of payment options afterward. Bring the dates of the marriage and of any separation, the names and birth dates of your children, a list of what you own and what you owe, any existing order or agreement, and any papers you have been served with.
The Fredericksburg office is at 2016 Lafayette Blvd, Suite 101, and the firm sees clients across Northern and Central Virginia from offices in nine locations. If safety is part of why you are calling, say so at the start of the call; the Virginia domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE.
Members of Cornerstone Law Group have practiced family law in Virginia since as early as 1978. The first consultation is free: call (540) 898-8881.
The grounds, as the firm sets them out
Four ways to prove fault. Two clocks that need no proof.
The ledger beside this is the short version. The firm’s lawyers explain how each ground is proved, and what cruelty or constructive desertion means in practice, in the first meeting. Custody and support disputes that come with a divorce are covered under family law, and the lawyers who handle them are on the attorneys page. To talk it through, contact the firm.
Fault
- Adultery
- A felony conviction with confinement
- Cruelty
- Willful desertion or abandonment
No fault, by separation
- One yearwhen there are children
- Six monthswhen there are no minor children
On proven adultery there is no waiting period.