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
Kids & Love
This weekend, I got to enjoy a book that a family psychologist gifted to me: The 5 Love Languages of Children by Drs. Chapman & Campbell. I'm hoping to have her talk about this a bit when she comes on my new tv show, Making It Last, which will start airing this month. For all parents out there, I highly recommend this quick read, and the best endorsement I have is really my own experience with my son, who asked me about the book. The basic concept is that we each have a way we express love, and also how we receive it. Some of us care about quality time, for others gifts are important. Some care about positive affirmation, while others pay more attention to little acts of kindness. And then there are those that place the most emphasis on touch. The key is to not just know your love language, but also to know that of your loved ones. When I explained the love languages to my son, I clued him into my top two favorites-- touch and quality time. He thought about it and clued me into his, which is gifts. I already suspected as much based on my observations. Then we talked about the importance of learning the love language of our loved ones so we [...]
Embracing M.A.D. in Dating
Over the last 15 years, while helping couples dissolve their marriages, I've noticed one glaring problem that people could easily be more cognizant of upfront, while dating: power imbalances. These are never healthy in a relationship. For example, if one person controls all the finances while the other is completely incapable of balancing a check book; if one person is far more attractive and out-going than the other, or if one person's intellectual capacity far surpasses the other, these are all imbalances that can make the other one feel insecure, over-powered or perhaps unworthy. Maladaptive behaviors tend to creep into these relationships, which eventually lead to their demise, and then I get to see these power imbalances play out in the divorce. Having seen enough wreckage, I would like to suggest that while dating, more people embrace the concept of M.A.D.-- mutually assured destruction. It worked for years during the Cold War, and I believe it would transfer well into our vision of relationships in the 21st century, where the traditional marriage is dying out and increasingly we see people marrying their equals. There is an incredible amount of power that stems from the knowledge that you both have other options, that neither one needs the other to survive, that either one could pull the trigger at any time. In [...]
Trading Assets When Dating- Another Harsh Truth
There are some harsh realities that people do not generally talk about openly, but I think these truths are worth sharing so we can have realistic expectations in the dating world. There are 3 things we all trade in the "open market" when dating: (1) sex appeal (2) money and (3) influence. The sexier, richer or more well-connected you are, the more appealing your package is to a potential partner, and therefore, the more power you will have, and the greater your options will be while out on the prowl. Guys are quite visual by nature, so chances are a woman's sex appeal will matter a lot to them. Meanwhile, women are less visual, and can be much more forgiving in the looks department, assuming other qualities they care about like emotional availability or financial security are present. Men that want to have a family are going to target women (aka "breeders") between the ages of 25-35. Those that are done having kids, however, will probably focus more on women between the ages of 35-45, which are peak years for women with careers, and often many are still very attractive. Now, the more power a guy has based on the package he can offer, the pickier he can be, but unless you are the total package, it is simply [...]
Love & Money- The Harsh Truth
Last month, I was part of a panel discussion in DC on Love & Money, where I was able to describe the kinds of instruments family lawyers can devise to protect assets and ensure a fair division of household expenses. My t.v. segment on Money Matters, which aired in June, also covered this subject, and on several of the recent radio shows for Sirius XM, I was also asked to comment on the increased reliance of various contracts that govern how couples handle money and share assets. Clearly this is becoming an increasingly hot-button topic among couples. The harsh truth is that couples cannot ignore money discussions, and it will continually be a work in progress for families to work on a realistic budget, saving for retirement and/or college, and paying down debt. Two people may be in love and yet have completely different views about money. Rather than ignore these differences, they need to talk about them. Unfortunately, many avoid money talks and sometimes naively believe that as long as two people have good incomes, there shouldn't be any problems. In fact, what I've seen is that the more people make, the more they tend to over-extend themselves with expensive homes, cars, etc. Furthermore, those that come from wealthy families have significant external pressure to protect that family wealth, [...]