About Melissa M. Ritter

During her many years of domestic work, Ms. Ritter has also had significant experience representing parents in contested child custody matters.  She draws on knowledge gained from years of working with psychologists, doctors and other child specialists to help parents develop and fight for custodial arrangements that are in the best interests of their children.

Ms. Ritter works closely with the other attorneys and staff in the Tremblay & Smith family law practice in order to ensure that her clients are afforded cost-effective and efficient legal representation. She fully appreciates that litigation can be expensive for individuals and families, and a source of added anxiety in a difficult case.  For that reason, Ms. Ritter and her team work diligently to find resolution options that allow a client to focus time and resources on the issues that are most important to them.

Ms. Ritter began her career in family law at Miller, Earle & Shanks, PLLC in Harrisonburg, Virginia and transitioned her practice to Tremblay & Smith, PLLC in 2014.  She became a partner in early 2019 and continues to manage the family law department of firm with the central objective of providing clients a unique and first-rate legal experience.

Melissa M. Ritter has litigated family law cases in Virginia for 10 years.  She knows that for most people, family law issues are overwhelming and exhausting.  For this reason, Ms. Ritter’s approach to each case is to identify the individual, rather than generic needs of her clients, recognizing that each case is unique. 

Having been through hundreds of divorce and other family law cases, Ms. Ritter is comfortable navigating issues creatively in order to fulfill her clients’ desire for equity and finality.  Although her primary goal in representation is to successfully navigate her clients to global out-of-court resolutions, Ms. Ritter is an aggressive advocate for her clients in the courtrooms of Central Virginia when litigation is necessary.

Ms. Ritter has extensive experience with family law cases involving complex financial analysis, property tracing and high income support matters. She regularly works with tax advisors, financial planners, and other financial experts to provide her clients with sound and well-researched advice necessary to achieve their long and short-term financial goals.