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 Good, Bad and Ugly About Divorce
Let me do the bad news first-- if you are getting divorced, your assets will definitely take a hit, and if you have to pay alimony and/or child support, your monthly income will be going down substantially until your ex and/or your kids are off your payroll. On top of all this, if you have to litigate, the national average for a litigated divorce is about $25,000 per person (that basically covers 83 hours of an attorney's work at $300/hour, which is a bargain in most major cities). So, given that in general the less you fight, the more you save, from a simple economics point alone the goal should be to avoid court and try to work things out amicably through mediation or collaboratively with counsel trained to keep things calm. The good news is that over 70% of divorcing couples do work out an agreement without the need for a trial, and afterwards they manage to maintain at least a civil working relationship for the benefit of their children. Furthermore, studies show that most children are resilient, and that as long as their parents do their best to minimize disruptions and not put them in the middle of heated arguments, kids can weather this setback and bounce back just fine. (For more detailed info, check out Robert Emery's [...]
4 Main Reasons So Many Second Marriages Fail
While many say falling in love is sweeter the second time around, and I sure hope they are right, the stats are quite staggering-- over 70% of second marriages fail. Why is that? Well, there are 4 main reasons from what I have observed over the years as a matrimonial lawyer: 1. Not Enough Time to Reflect- After the divorce, most people run. I don't mean that literally, I mean that figuratively. We run away from the pain by avoiding things like coming home to an empty house, spending quiet time with our thoughts, allowing ourselves time to grieve a major loss. Instead, we pack our calendars with things to do and go out of our way to stay busy and entertained with others, basically to avoid the feelings of being alone and lonely. How do I know this? Because I was one of the best runners ever-- I poured all my energy into work and my son, constantly made plans with others and kept myself highly entertained for years while avoiding the pain and loneliness of an empty house, until ever so slowly and gradually I started to calm down and seek a calmer pace, and with the gift of time, I started facing the big questions I'd been avoiding like: why did my marriage fail? What role did [...]
Are You Comparing Apples with Apples?
It seems that many of my peers still fall into this trap of comparing their own marriages to those of their parents or grandparents, and somehow if the marriage isn't picture perfect, or worse ends up in a divorce, they feel like it is a huge failure that will reflect poorly on them. But to think this way makes NO sense whatsoever, and here are 3 simple reasons why: 1. Life expectancy- It was much easier to stay married to someone for life when you only lived to be 41 back in the day. However, it's a heck of a lot harder to put up with someone for double that amount of time now that we are expected to live into our 80's or longer. 2. More options for women- Thanks to tremendous advances in technology, medicine, and in the academic world, women in the 21st century are far better educated, better paid, and better able to manage their family-life choices than they were just 40 years ago. As a result, we have the ability to take care of ourselves and make our own families, without the need for a man to stick around. 3. Social changes- The increased acceptance of varying family structures has enriched our lives while significantly decreasing the stigma of not being part of an "intact [...]
Is There Really a Mid-Life Crisis?
Is there really such a thing as a mid-life crisis? Well, I wouldn't actually call it a "crisis," but rather a wake-up call that seems to occur when people hit their mid to late 40's. Why? Well, simply stated it has a lot do with the gift of finally having some time to think. The fact is that in our 20's and 30's most of us are so busy establishing our careers, finding a partner, buying a house, and having babies, that we rarely have time to think beyond our family's immediate needs. Then a funny thing happens in our 40's when we hit the half-way point of our life expectancy-- our kids become more independent, our careers are more established, and we start to see not just our parents, but some of our own peers get sick and die, which inevitably forces us to face our own mortality and find answers to some big questions, and I do mean BIG questions like: 1. What's the point of it all? 2. Am I really happy? 3. What have I done with my life thus far? 4. What's my real purpose here? 5. What do I want to do going forward? As we work through these questions, not everyone is going [...]