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
The Birds & The Bees Talk
When I left the hospital nine years ago with my little bundle of joy, he didn't come with a manual. Parenting through trial and error is an ongoing work in progress, which I pretty much expected to be the case, but the insight I've gleaned into my own self was an unexpected twist. With each new milestone that my son hits, I think back to myself at that age, and of course, the beautiful thing is that I can choose to replicate the things I appreciated and change the things that I did not appreciate from my own childhood. Today, I'm sharing an example of where I've chosen to do things differently: I never got the birds & the bees talk. I learned all about sex from my peers and sex education at school. At home, all I was told was "don't do it." Of course that didn't work-- especially when I went off to boarding school as a teenager! As time wore on, I never felt I could talk about boys or my relationships at home, and this disconnect became quite profound. Now, if there is one thing I know with absolute certainty, it is that I do not wish to have this happen with my child. I want him to be comfortable discussing anything and everything with me-- [...]
All You Need Is Love–If Only It Was That Easy!
This week on Making It Last, we will air a segment with the Executive Director of the National Institute of Relationship Enhancement. It was truly a pleasure to interview Rob, who candidly shared his thoughts on why so many couples wind up having major issues with their relationship. We both have observed over time that love clearly does not conquer all, and that many seem to lack key relationship skills that will help them stay together. Many of his tips seem pretty basic, yet people struggle with the implementation in real life. Maintaining open and honest communications, treating each other with respect, and continuing to make time for one another are all essential points we can probably all agree on-- but there was one point I wasn't expecting him to make. When I asked him what the number one problem is that seems to challenge all couples he said that unfortunately our American culture is antithetical to the institution of marriage. It took me a second to process this one while on air, but if you can concede that America was founded by people who left their countries and their families to start a new life here, you can see that individual freedom is something deeply engrained in our history. Our country's very Constitution promotes the individual right to pursue [...]
Beware of the Baby News Mania
This month, UK residents were thrilled to learn that their beloved Dutchess of Cambridge is expecting a child, just as the US now gets to rejoice in the news that our former little White House princess, Jenna Bush Hager, is also pregnant. No doubt the media will be bombarding us with weekly updates as we now countdown to their delivery dates, and I'm sure the paparazzi will not let us down with all the glorious photos as these lovely ladies blossom through motherhood. But here I feel compelled to keep it real for the rest of the world. These two women have an incredible amount of financial resources that most of us will never come close to having, and as a result, a lot of the stress that the rest of us have to bear as parents, will never be part of their reality. They will have other stresses, for sure, such as constantly being in the public eye, and many of us will thankfully never know the pain of what it is like to have our setbacks and failures up for discussion and sometimes mockery all over the worldwide press. For the average person, however, the main problem with all this hype, the glam shots and the happy stories is that they set us up for unrealistic expectations. Many [...]
Divorce Anniversaries
Unlike a funeral, where people gather around to say nice things and remember your loved ones that have gone, few if any are there to witness your divorce. There's no ceremony to truly memorialize the end, and in some places you don't even have to appear in court-- the paper work just gets mailed to you, so it's up to you to find some way to acknowledging the passing of what once was. As the years passed, long after my own divorce became final, I would still remember our wedding day with fondness and our divorce anniversary with some melancholy, as I'd recall memories of our good times that led us down the aisle in the first place, and then the tough times that drove us apart. After a while, however, I stopped noticing when the anniversary dates came up, and the bad memories truly faded away, and I certainly consider that to be a great measure of progress-- but it takes time. Looking back, I'm just so glad that I didn't do anything stupid like destroy all the wedding pictures or throw some lavish "divorce party." Truth be told, after my hearing, I simply went home and cried. A part of my life had just died in my opinion, and it was not something to rejoice about. My husband [...]