In a Texas divorce with kids with joint custody or sole custody the family court must order a possession schedule for how the parents share time with the children. The judge can sign a divorce decree or child custody order with virtually any schedule as long as the schedule is in the best interests of […]
Is the standard possession order required in my Texas divorce with children? Read More »
I receive this common question from people in the midst of a divorce, particularly those attempting a pro se divorce. (Divorce without the help of an attorney.) The story is sometimes different but the question is always the same. Sometimes the spouses agree not to mess with dividing retirement accounts in the divorce to keep things
Mediation is a common practice in Texas divorces because it offers the opportunity for the spouses to make decisions between themselves about how to divide parenting issues and property rather than have a judge or jury make those decisions for them. Mediation is a process in which a neutral third party (the mediator) works to
Is mediation right for my divorce? Fort Worth divorce lawyer explains Read More »
In a Texas divorce, one of the major assets to address in a property division include retirement accounts, such as a 401k or defined benefit pension plan. Retirement assets within a private employer’s retirement plan are typically governed by ERISA. ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, establishes particular processes for dividing assets
Earning the Q in your QDRO Read More »
A common mistake child support obligors make is paying child support payments directly to the obligee-parent rather than to the Texas Attorney General’s State Disbursement Unit (SDU). This mistake can be costly for the obligor even if the obligor believes he or she can pay less by making child support payments directly to the other
Child support payments not paid through the Attorney General Read More »
Marriages that begin before the age of 23 are most likely to end up in divorce. Of marriages beginning when the spouses were under twenty, 48% will end in divorce. For those beginning in the ages 20-23, 31% will end in divorce. Statistics also indicate that the average length of a person’s first divorce is
5 Things You Need to Know about Divorce in Your 20s Read More »
One of the areas in which I help people in family law is with uncontested divorces. An uncontested divorce is a divorce in which the spouses have agreed on their own to divide the property and settled the child issues. The spouses are just looking for a family law attorney to take care of the
Dividing property and uncontested divorces in Texas Read More »
This question is an extremely common question in divorce law. Hollywood wants you to believe the only way a divorce occurs is your spouse voluntarily agrees to “sign the papers”. Almost every show or movie involving a divorce has this situation where one spouse wants it and the other doesn’t; so as long as one spouse refuses to “sign
Does my spouse have to sign the divorce papers before I can get a divorce? Read More »
Seriously. This is a real story. New York father and attorney David E. Schorr is in the midst of what appears to be a very tense divorce. The McDonald’s-related events have resulted in a defamation suit against a psychologist in the ongoing divorce suit. I’ll summarize the facts briefly, what it has meant for the
Dad unfit because he would not take his kid to McDonald’s Read More »
, next to perhaps the home. Regardless of the value in these retirement plans, 401k plans and pension plans, many couples mishandle these accounts in divorces. The result can be a substantial financial loss for one spouse, sometimes even for both. Today’s post will detail some of the most common ways people in Texas divorces mishandle
7 Ways You Are Mishandling Retirement Plans in Your Texas divorce Read More »
The significance of Mediated Settlement Agreements (MSA) in Texas divorce cases has been reinforced by the recent opinion of the Texas Supreme Court in the case of In re Stephanie Lee. This ruling clarifies that family courts cannot refuse to accept an MSA solely because the judge believes it may not be in the best
As I discussed in a prior blog post and this page about property division, Texas is a community property state. Simply put, the majority of property acquired during a marriage is community property. That community property is jointly owned by both spouses. Under the Texas Family Code, community property is subject to a just and
Fort Worth divorce lawyer explains the presumption of community property Read More »
Among the top concerns in any Texas divorce is the issue of financial cost. It’s not just the cost of hiring lawyers but the costs of all the mechanics of a Texas divorce, including filing fees with the Family Court, appraisals, retrieving financial records, expert testimony and so forth. Admittedly, the cost of attorneys represents the
Ways to resolve Fort Worth contested divorces Read More »
The Texas Family Code allows parties to enter into a prenuptial agreement, or prenup, before marriage. It makes those agreements enforceable so long as they meet the requirements set out in the Texas Family Code. A prenup in Texas is an agreement between two people prior to entering into marriage that contractually determines property issues during
Should I get a prenuptial agreement in Texas? Read More »
A common concern from divorce clients and people looking for information about divorce comes in the form of, “my husband is threatening to…” or “my wife is threatening to…” with something about taking away the kids or all the property. 99.9% of the time those threats have zero basis in the law and are never going
Duress, spousal threats and divorce in Texas Read More »
During a divorce one of the biggest issues in dividing the marital property is dividing the financial assets. Most married people will designate their spouse as the beneficiary on the account or policy. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) governs most employee benefits. It requires married employees to designate their spouse as the primary
What happens to my beneficiary designations after a divorce in Texas? Read More »
There are a lot of misconceptions about how divorce works and how divorce attorneys work. Most of these misconceptions are thanks to television shows and movies that depict divorces wrongly in almost every way imaginable. One of the biggest misconceptions people have about divorce and divorce attorneys is that there is some super secret edge
Is there a benefit to hiring a divorce attorney of the opposite sex? Read More »
When I wrote the original text of this post in the early 2010s this was a novel question with social media still a relatively small part of our society. Myspace had all but disappeared, Facebook dominated social media while Twitter, Pintrest and Instagram were just starting to emerge. LinkedIn was around but nobody really knew
Should I delete social media posts or accounts in a divorce? Read More »
If you received paperwork on a divorce you need to follow the right steps to protect your interests in Texas. Most likely you received these papers in one of two ways. You may receive citation from a constable, other process server, or certified mail. Citation is notice of a divorce proceeding and the divorce decree.
I received citation/service/divorce papers– what do I do? Read More »
A guardian ad litem (often abbreviated as GAL) under Texas law represents the interests of an involved individual but is not that person’s attorney. A guardian ad litem represents the best interests of a person who is unable to advocate for their own interests, such as a child. The person the guardian ad litem represents
What is a guardian ad litem under the Texas Family Code? Read More »