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
Tips for Celebrating Single Awareness Day, aka Valentine’s Day
Valentine's Day, which some have reclaimed as Single Awareness Day, is right around the corner, during another year with COVID and what is turning out to be a pretty harsh winter. While traditional options for celebrating may not be in play, regardless of your relationship status, don't ignore the opportunity to celebrate a day devoted to love. Even if you don't have a romantic partner that fills your heart with joy, most of us have plenty of other sources of happiness including our friends, family, work, or individual interests. I'd like to focus on the latter because the more at peace you are with yourself, the less likely you are to tolerate a toxic romance or settle for a meh relationship. The importance of self-care, where you ensure your own needs are met cannot be overstated. More than just meeting your basic necessities, you should make time to treat yourself on a regular basis with little acts of kindness. My goal for this year leading up to a milestone birthday is to do one weekly act of kindness for myself that is completely unrelated to my responsibilities at work or as a parent. Maybe you can try out some of these examples this month as your own treat for Valentine's Day: Home- Can you do a room "refresh" without [...]
Will Your Relationship Make It After The Holidays?
With Christmas and New Year's just around the corner, a lot of couples have decided to just grin and bear it through the holidays while still dealing with COVID, especially for the sake of the kids. But soon after the holiday guests return home or the kids go back to school, many will find there is no point to keeping up the facade, particularly after this year of unprecedented events has called into question for all of us whether we are truly satisfied with the life we've built, and what will make us happy moving forward? Truth be told, there are a lot of unspoken sacrifices we all make either for our spouses or our children. Many times, we may not even be aware of how much of ourselves we've given up until a life-altering event like death, divorce, a world-wide pandemic, some personal health crisis, or maybe a child's emancipation causes us to contemplate all our past choices, and re-evaluate what we want for our own future, separate and apart from everyone else. If a separation is the answer to either end your suffering or provide you the opportunity to pursue a different life, understand that the path to freedom may not be easy. Find an ally you can trust that will help you strategize, particularly if you [...]
Prenups & Love In The Time of COVID
Even though we are still in the middle of COVID, weddings are back in business, and so you can expect to see a lot of engagement announcements over the upcoming holidays, when typically over 25% of couples get engaged while surrounded by their families to celebrate the good news. Last year, the average wedding cost dropped from almost $38,000 (in pre-pandemic times) to about $19,000, largely due to the trend of micro-weddings with less than 50 guests, which may well continue into 2022. Nonetheless, difficult money talks are an inevitable part of the planning process, which will require the couple tying the knot to quickly reach a compromise on their guest list and lock in a venue, which may have limited availability due to postponed events from last year. Other vendors will also have to be vetted, including a caterer, florist, photographer, and the entertainment. Almost all these service providers will require deposits and legal contracts, which need to be reviewed carefully especially in light of the stringent (often non-refundable) new COVID clauses that many have added this past year. Navigating this entire process is a good exercise in communicating respectfully while working on a budget, managing disagreements, and truly learning about each other's family dynamics. If this all becomes overwhelming, invest in some pre-marital counseling sessions. Often, when [...]
The Many Layers of Domestic Violence
October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, but to really be effective in addressing this issue we all need to be vigilant year round to this profound problem that impacts about 1/3 of women and 25% of men in intimate relationships. Although love should not hurt, the past two decades I have seen countless examples of abuse in over half my family law cases. Those that manage to escape these situations do not succeed on their own-- they rely on the help of either family, friends, neighbors, therapists, neighbors, the police, an attorney, or some other trusted individual that can lend a sympathetic ear and provide sage advice. If you see someone in need, do whatever you can to connect them with the appropriate resources to develop an escape plan. Here are the 4 most common scenarios my clients have encountered from their partners:Physical abuse- this is obviously the easiest to spot, particularly when someone shows up with bruises, and in addition to pictures they may even have witnesses, police reports or medical records that can verify their allegations. There is often a lot of shame around this situation, and it's important to change the narrative immediately. The abuser is the only one who should feel any shame, and the person finally leaving the abuser should be celebrated for finding [...]