Domestic Relations Attorneys
Related Practices
Divorce, child custody, support, marriage and adoption are all integral parts of the Bean, Kinney & Korman domestic relations practice.
Our experience and familiarity with these issues that most intensely affect the lives of our clients makes us exceptionally responsive to both their emotional and legal needs. We serve clients throughout Maryland, D.C. and Virginia, including those in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Reston, McLean and the surrounding areas.
Separation and Divorce
The breakup of a marriage is uniquely stressful, with emotion coloring choices at a time when important legal rights are at stake. Our attorneys, who have several decades (not just collectively, but for some, individually) of experience in representing clients in Virginia, suburban Maryland and the District of Columbia, can help guide you through this most difficult process.
We are courtroom veterans, who know the value and benefit of negotiation and mediation, providing objective counsel to our clients through separation and divorce actions of every nature, from uncontested through the most bitterly litigated. We have achieved peer recognition in numerous local and national publications including Washingtonian magazine and The Washington Post. We are also included in ratings services, such as Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, as outstanding family law advocates.
Personal Approach
First of all, we listen. The dissolution of a marriage is difficult, emotional, stressful and can be extraordinarily complicated, but above all, it is acutely personal – we want to understand your position, your needs and your objectives. And our lawyers want to help you understand your rights and your options. We will not compromise our ethical obligations as professionals, but our development of strategies and choices of action will be responsive to your direction – this is your life and future. We don’t lose sight of that.
There are many strategies that can be pursued to accomplish your objectives – direct negotiation, alternative resolution processes, such as mediation or neutral case evaluation, collaborative law or, as a last resort, contested litigation.
We cannot make the emotional pain of a divorce go away. We can, and do, employ our skills, experience and judgment to help guide clients through the process. We protect their interests with all of the resources at our disposal and work with them to achieve a fresh start on which to build their future.
Child Custody and Support
Children are often the unfortunate casualties in a divorce. Our attorneys are sensitive to the intense emotions that are part of every contested custody matter. We provide understanding guidance on bringing in professional counseling assistance when that is constructive and appropriate. Our depth of experience litigating custody matters gives us an invaluable knowledge base to draw upon in advising our clients who face these challenges.
Division of Property
Apart from the knowledge that comes from experience in litigating property division, our domestic relations attorneys have immediate access within the firm to other practices focusing on the business, real estate, tax issues and estate planning that are frequently involved in divorces (which can include the division of the value of a spousal-owned business enterprise).
An important, and often poorly understood, aspect of property division is the handling of retirement benefits of each spouse. With the large federal workforce in our region, there is an additional need for specific knowledge about how federal benefits are handled in a divorce. These benefits require thorough analysis, have significant potential tax consequences, and require technically-qualified treatment in final divorce decrees. We make that knowledge available to you.
Pre- and Post-Nuptial Agreements
There are times and circumstances, whether before or after marriage, when a couple may wish to have an agreement settling how their assets will be divided, or not, if they later divorce. Although the parties may seem to be in complete agreement at the time, things can change when the marriage later fails. We are skilled in the preparation of agreements protective of our clients’ interests and designed to withstand any later challenge.
Collaborative Law
For couples seeking to end their marriage cooperatively, collaborative law is a means of resolving divorce issues without adversarial litigation. Instead, the parties sign an agreement binding them to the process and disqualifying their respective attorneys from representing them in any future domestic relations litigation. They are then brought together with their attorneys and any other professionals who may be necessary to address the matters involved, with the goal of reaching a negotiated resolution of those issues not previously agreed upon. Our attorneys are skilled in this process and are happy to discuss how collaborative law could work for you.
Adoption
To the adoptive parent or parents, adoption is usually a happier occasion for our engagement as counsel. Sometimes there are difficulties presented by adoption procedures, and unfortunate times when the process is challenged by birth parents or others. We have the sensitivity, knowledge and skills to guide clients through the process while making it understandable.
Reported Cases
Argued the appeal and drafted the brief of appellant. The Virginia Court of Appeals reversed the trial court for taking into account the value of an equitable distribution award in determining the amount of spousal support awarded to the wife.
Published Articles
- Family Lawyer Magazine, January 5, 2021
- Virginia Lawyers Weekly, May 11, 2020
- April 24, 2020
- April 20, 2020
- April 20, 2020
- April 1, 2020
- COVID-19: I Lost My Job and/or am Furloughed. Can I stop paying child support while I am unemployed?April 1, 2020
- March 31, 2020
- March 29, 2020
- March 2018
- Virginia Family Law Quarterly, Spring 2016
- BKK Family Law Newsletter, October 2015
- BKK Family Law Newsletter, April 2015
- BKK Family Law Newsletter, October 2014
- BKK Family Law Newsletter, May 2014
- BKK Family Law Newsletter, May 2014
- October 21, 2013
- October 16, 2013
- August 7, 2013
- June 11, 2013
- May 3, 2013
- March 27, 2013
- BKK Wills, Trusts and Estates Newsletter, February 2013
- September 16, 2012
- BKK Wills, Trusts and Estates Newsletter, May 2012
- The Matrimonial Strategist, April 2012
- The Fee Simple, May 2011
News
- November 5, 2020
- September 23, 2019
- December 14, 2018
- November 20, 2018
- Forbes, September 22, 2017
- Politico, May 9, 2014
- LAWS.com, April 30, 2013
- November 1, 2012
- James Korman of Bean, Kinney & Korman recognized by Best Lawyers as Lawyer of the Year in Family LawOctober 21, 2011
- April 4, 2011
- September 27, 2010
Seminars & Events
- Online, October 14, 2020
- Online, October 7, 2020
- Webinar - 1:00 - 2:30 pm EST, August 7, 2019
- Navy League Building, 1st Floor, Arlington, Virginia, October 10, 2015 at 9:00 a.m.
- Navy League Building, 1st Floor, Arlington, Virginia, March 14, 2015 at 9:00 a.m.
- Navy League Building, 1st Floor, Arlington, Virginia, January 10, 2015 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, September 13, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, August 9, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
- Second Saturday - Fairfax: Free Seminar on DivorceFair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, July 12, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, June 14, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, May 10, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, April 12, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, March 8, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, February 8, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, January 12, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, December 14, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, November 9, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, October 8, 2011 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, September 14, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, April 13, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, March 9, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, January 12, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, October 13, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, September 8, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, August 11, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, July 14, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, June 9, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, May 12, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, April 14, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, February 11, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Febuary 9, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, January 14, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
- Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, November 12, 2011 at 9:00 a.m.