The Volz Law Blog

Your Separation, Divorce, & Settlement Questions Answered by Vermont Family Lawyer, Kevin M. Volz.

If you are a domestic violence victim in Rutland or surrounding areas, it is important to contact a domestic violence attorney immediately to understand your rights and protect yourself from further harm. (If you are being wrongly accused of domestic violence in Vermont, scroll to the bottom of this article for more information.)

Custody is known as Parental Rights and Responsibilities in Vermont.  There are two components, legal and physical. In brief, legal involves the right to make decisions regarding religion, (elective) medical, education... Physical defines with whom the child primarily resides.  

During the course of litigation, whether it is a divorce or parentage action or custody dispute or some other area of family law, I insist that my clients keep a journal and a calendar.   As things unfold in and out of court and weeks turn into months, it is imperative to capture your experiences in writing. No matter how fresh and unforgettable things may seem at the moment, with the passage of time – and it could be a year or more before some cases get to trial, even the best memory will fade and distort.  

Once a determination has been made regarding parental rights and responsibilities the court (or the parties) must then decide the parent-child contact (aka, visitation) schedule.  The legislature informs us that maximum contact between the parents and the child is in the best interest of the child. This obviously assumes abuse is not an issue. And visitation is every bit as enforceable as a person’s custody award.  The person with custody has no right to tell the other what the schedule is going to be.

I hear this a lot from clients who earn the majority of the income in a relationship.  They are confounded and perplexed to learn how much property and/or spousal support their soon-to-be ex partners are entitled to.

“I’m the one who went out to work every day,” I often hear.  “She got to stay home with the kids! I paid for everything. Why is she getting half my pension?!”

After the parties agree to a parent-child contact schedule, or one is ordered by the court, the next thing to determine is the child support obligation. This undertaking is presided over by a special magistrate.  Each party is required to fill out and file a financial affidavit, a Form 813 in family court parlance.  This is a sworn document that lists all the parties’ incomes, debts, assets, bills and expenses.

In order for the father’s rights and responsibilities to the children to be established, a paternity action must be filed in family court. This could be a mutual act, because the parties agree that they both want to remain in the children’s lives, or it could be by Dad, because he wants to establish his parental rights, or by Mom, because child support is not required until such an Order is instituted. 

Couples that are not married and who go through a breakup face a unique challenge. They often have to deal with two different courts to handle their two different legal issues: kids and property.

As an experienced Vermont attorney, my standard response, whether you are thinking of retaining our firm or some other, is that you are wise to employ an attorney in virtually all legal proceedings.  If you are involved in any criminal defense case, you most certainly need a lawyer. This cannot be emphasized enough. As soon as you are the object of scrutiny, advise the officers that you appreciate that they are doing their jobs but that you want to consult with an attorney before speaking with them further. As to winning your defense case, this is very much a relative concept. Getting a case dismissed or our client acquitted is always a win.