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Recent Blog Posts
Domestic Violence in the Midst of Divorce: What to Do and Where to Turn for Help
Divorce can be challenging enough under normal circumstances, but when the issue of domestic violence is also in the picture, the divorce process is even more complex. Whereas typical divorce can involve a mixture of minor or major disagreements about finances, property, and lifestyle arrangements, domestic violence in the midst of divorce brings an entirely different level of fear to the surface for those undergoing separation. Partners are forced to worry about everything from their day-to-day survival, money and how they will support themselves without their partner, and whether or not their family will have a safe place to rest when the dust settles.
Protective Orders
The use of protective orders are critical anytime you feel you or your family are unsafe due to violence in the home. You can request a protective order from the courts and you should always keep it with you. If your spouse violates the order at any time, it is imperative that you call the police right away. Make sure all of your family members, friends, and neighbors are aware that you have a protective order in place. Keeping them informed will ensure that they can assist you in providing additional sets of eyes and ears in the event that your partner violates the order. If the order is violated and you do call the police, it is also important to have a personal safety plan in place, should they not arrive right away. A personal safety plan can include a number of preparations, including the following:
Sexual Assault and Child Custody: Understanding Your Rights under Texas State Law
Texas is one of only a handful of states with a provision that is designed to protect sexual assault victims in the event that a child is conceived. This law allows women to seek termination of the father’s rights through family court. Unfortunately, there are some key flaws in this provision. On one hand, women may attempt to abuse the law and deny loving fathers the right to parent. On the other, victims may be denied their petition to sever parental rights and be forced to face their assailant. Regardless of which side of this law you fall on, it is critical that you understand your rights.
Petitioning for Termination of Parental Rights Due to Conception During Sexual Assault
If your child was conceived during a sexual assault, it is critical that you take the proper steps to terminate the assailant’s rights to the child. First, you must be able to provide proof that the rape or assault did, in fact, occur. This requires a guilty conviction, which must be obtained through a court of law. In addition, you must be able to provide proof that the child was conceived during the assault. Lastly, you must actively petition the court to have the rights terminated.
Hidden Assets in a High Asset Divorce
Earlier this year, the Panama law firm, Mossack Fonseca, leaked more than 11 million confidential documents. Said to contain information on how some of the world's wealthiest people hide their assets, those documents gave insight to just how easy it is to swindle a spouse during high asset divorce proceedings. But, until now, the general public did not have access to the names or information they contained.
Taxes, Divorce, and Asset Hiding
Asset concealing is not just done in the name of divorce. Many who commit this act of fraud do so in order to avoid paying full taxes on their millions or billions. But the reason is irrelevant when the spouse is either in the dark about the assets or unable to prove they exist – and therein has been the problem for some of the highest profile divorces in history.
One prime example is the divorce of a Russian billionaire, who was accused of hiding millions from his estranged wife during their divorce. She and her attorneys reportedly spent years trying to chase those assets down, often finding only dead ends. In the end, they settled for an undisclosed amount.
Navigating a Divorce with a Special Needs Child
Estimates suggest that around one million couples divorce in America each year. A percentage of those couples are parents of children with special needs. Often more prone to experiencing emotional distress during the changes that may occur during and after a divorce, the special medical, behavioral, therapeutic, and/or basic care needs must continue amidst the chaos. As such, divorcing parents of special needs children need to know how to effectively navigate the process while still ensuring that the best interest of their child is protected and considered.
Understanding Custody Arrangements for Special Needs Children
Like custody arrangements for all children, the decisions regarding where a special needs child will live, and how much time they receive with a noncustodial parent are based upon the child’s “best interest.” Keep in mind that this is a very broad term, and it is based upon numerous factors. As it pertains to children with special needs, these factors may include (but are not limited to):
Collaborative Law in a Texas High Asset Divorce
For certain types of cases, collaborative law may be an excellent tool for a high-asset divorce and other similar family law proceedings.
When the legislature enacted Chapter 15 of the Family Code in 2001, it was one of the first collaborative law statutes in the country. Two years later, the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas, one of the leading practice groups in the state, had only a few members.
But very soon, the word got out. By 2010, the Institute had grown to over 500 members, and a statistically significant number of hotly-contested high net worth divorce cases now do not see the inside of a courtroom until the very end of the process.
Collaborative Law Success
Not every divorcing couple should consider this process. Some people need the emotional closure that a courtroom battle can bring. Other people can be selfish and unwilling to sacrifice anything to achieve a greater goal.
Community Property Laws in the Lone Star State
Texas is one of only nine community property states in the Union. The concept originally comes from Spanish law, and was adopted by Mexico in the 19th century and passed onto its possessions in what is now the modern-day United States. The idea is that marital property belongs to both spouses upon divorce, due to the emotional and financial nature of a marriage. Some states have very strict community property laws (in California, a 50-50 split is mandatory), but Texas has a community property presumption in Chapter 7 of the Family Code. Like most all presumptions, this provision can be overcome in certain high-asset divorces.
Identifying Property
The presumption applies to all property that was acquired during the marriage, unless it was a gift. This dividing line is not always clear, because property is often commingled. Assume that Husband bought a car before the marriage (separate property) and makes the payments from his paycheck (community property). Or assume that Wife inherited a rental house (separate property) and used proceeds from a second mortgage on the marital residence (community property) to fund improvements.
Grandparent Rights under Texas Law
Today, more grandparents than ever are the sole legal and financial custodians of their grandchildren. In many other households, the ties are less formal yet almost equally as strong. For example, many parents and children live with a grandparent, who assumes most of the financial and caretaking duties. In other cases, parents and children live separately, but remain at least partially dependent on grandparents in many areas.
Grandparents' rights are essentially ironclad in the first instance, but as the bonds become less formal, the situation becomes less certain. Many times, especially during a high-asset divorce, a custodial parent will cut off contact between grandparents and grandchildren as a way of "getting back at" the other spouse. So, a complex child custody dispute becomes even more complex, after the grandparents petition for access.
The Law
Changing Divorce Orders in Texas
Most people relocate twelve times during their adult lifetimes, with a majority of these moves prompted by job changes and coming before age 45. Since many people in this age group have young children, modification of existing divorce or family law orders is often necessary. This is especially true in Texas, because of the vast distances between communities, at least in most parts of the state.
Some people put off modifications in these instances, preferring to rely on the "mutual agreement" provision in the Standard Possession Order. Such an agreement does not replace a complex child custody proceeding, but it does make the process somewhat more straightforward.
Custody/Visitation Modification
If a change in the children's primary residence is requested within one year of the prior order, the petitioner must include an affidavit detailing either the other party's voluntary relinquishment of custody for at least six months or danger to the children's physical health and/or emotional development. A petition may be based on:
Alimony in Texas: Vision and Reality
When it first took effect in very limited form in 1997, conventional wisdom held that the spousal support law would be gradually expanded until Texas joined the majority of the other states which, at the time, routinely included alimony payments in their high-asset divorce decrees. In many cases, these payments were designed to permanently equalize the standard of living between the ex-spouses, meaning that regular monthly payments continued for many years after the divorce was final, or perhaps even permanently.
But, in the past 20 years, Section 8 of the Family Code has only been broadened once. And, given the alimony rollbacks taking place in various states, the law may not be expanded again anytime soon. So, although some spouses are entitled to some additional support in some circumstances, the scope of Section 8 has probably not fulfilled the vision of its original drafters, and given the current political and economic climate, the law may never reach that level.
Making and Breaking Premarital Agreements in Texas
New homeowners never think that their houses will burn down, and they certainly do not desire such an outcome. But responsible homeowners always obtain insurance policies, even though there is nothing "fun" about filling out insurance forms. In a similar vein, no soon-to-be-newlywed couple anticipates a high asset divorce, and they certainly do not desire this outcome. But a premarital agreement and a homeowner's insurance policy have much in common: they both help couples be prepared if the unthinkable should happen.
These contracts serve an additional purpose. Much evidence indicates that financial squabbles are among the leading causes of marital strife. When these disagreements inevitably appear, a premarital agreement helps bring order to the chaos, because some important financial decisions have already been made.
Making a Premarital Agreement
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