DC and MD Matrimonial Lawyer Focusing on Custody, Divorce and Prenups
For over 20 years, Regina A. DeMeo has been helping families in MD and DC with custody and divorce issues either through mediation, litigation or advocacy. She is an alumna of Georgetown University and GW University Law School, who is nationally recognized as a top matrimonial attorney. She is frequently quoted in the media for her ideas to promote healthier relationships and featured in the Washington Post, ABA Journal and Bethesda Magazine for her care and commitment to her clients. As a legal commentator, she has appeared on Washington Post Express Facebook Live, ABC tv, Good Morning America, MMCTV, YouTube and Sirius XM, and has been quoted in various magazines, books and journals across the country.
Regina offers appointments in Maryland and DC. Her areas of practice include:
Latest Blog Posts by GenXSmartie
Making Your NYE Resolutions Count
Three years ago on NYE, I remember racing from an intimate dinner with friends to one of those ridiculous hotel parties in DC to ring in the new year, and once I found myself there surrounded by a bunch of strangers drinking cheap champagne from a can, my resolution came to me right away: not doing this again. I decided then and there that in 2011, it was time to face the one thing I'd been avoiding for quite some time-- after 20 years, it was time to try and find my dad. Luckily, I was able to track down my uncle rather quickly in January 2011, and the following month my dad flew to DC. At rather warped speed, I was able to meet his entire side of the family that year and integrate them into my life. By the time NYE rolled around, I was exactly where I wanted to be-- surrounded by my family in Miami feeling on top of the world. But there was still some more repair work to be done,... 2012 was the year to reconcile with my mom, and that was definitely something I could not have accomplished without tremendous encouragement and support from my father, step-mother, aunt and godparents. They all believed this was critical to my emotional well-being, and although I did not fully see their point at the time, I did [...]
Starting Fresh After a Break-up
Break ups are never easy, especially the longer you've been with someone and the more your lives have become intertwined. Yet once you get past the unpleasant task of untangling everything, purging crap (including cleaning up your digital life) and establishing new norms, slowly but surely a calm washes over you and soon thereafter a sense of hope begins to build as you find yourself forging a new path, and you realize that what you have in front of you is an amazing opportunity for a new beginning for yourself, and maybe eventually with someone else-- someone better suited to meet your needs and share a life with you. Personally, what I found after my divorce is that after the dreams of my happily-ever-after came crashing down, a whole new world opened up with very little rules and a heck of a lot of flexibility. Both professionally and personally I found myself far more willing than ever before to test new limits and challenge preconceived notions of how things "should be done." The less rigid my mind has become, the more doors just keep opening up-- and maybe this is more than anything else attributable to the fact that before I simply wasn't able to see them from my limited point of view. To change your way of thinking and the way you view the world does not happen overnight. [...]
Good Things Do Come to Those That Wait
Growing up, the best part about the holidays was seeing how NYC got all decked out for the holidays with the gigantic tree at Rockefeller Center, the lights everywhere, and the store windows all beautifully decorated. At home, it was always just me, with my mom and grandma. That was my entire family, and my grandma's big tradition was going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve, which to be honest I hated. I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up to a bunch of gifts under the tree-- and I longed for a fire place with stockings, but of course that wasn't going to happen in our modest little apartment, with Santa always on a budget. But I never gave up hope that one day I would have the kind of Christmas that I'd always dreamed of, if not for me, then for my own child.And so it has been my whole life, I've always had to wait for things. It took me 21 years to finally break my family's cycle and become the first college graduate. Soon thereafter, I broke another record by finishing law school and getting married at age 25. Then I had to wait another 5 long years to get to the place in my career where I felt secure enough to tackle motherhood while balancing that with the demands of work. Finally, it is [...]
Getting Engaged Over the Holidays?
Lots of people get engaged over the holidays, in fact I was one of those many, many years ago. Just hours later, everyone started asking about the timeframe, location, what kinds of flowers, venue ideas, etc. If there is one piece of advice I can give to those about to embark on this journey, it would be this: take your time, and do things your way. It actually doesn't take long to plan the major logistics-- your party size will dictate the venue options, and your budget will really drive everything else. Keep in mind that the average U.S. wedding costs about $22,000, although in places like NYC and DC this might barely cover the flower budget for some couples. And this is why a lot of family dynamics will play into the whole planning process. Now, as a matrimonial attorney the most interesting trend I've seen over the last 15 years is the tremendous rise in families insisting upon prenuptial agreements. Let me be brutally honest, a lot of trust funds and family corporations now have written into their operating agreements that the beneficiary or shareholder must have a valid prenup in order to protect his/her interest in the family trust or corporation. Not very romantic, but super smart-- just in case things go south, it's nice to know what's off limits vs. [...]