If you are currently married and have children from a prior relationship or marriage, you should have an estate plan! Why? If you were to die, without a will, Texas law will decide who gets what, and in what amount. And that can be bad. Understand this: if you have…
The Texas Workforce Commission’s Office of the Commissioner Representing Employers (“TWC”) has an employer hotline to answer employer questions about basic legal issues related to hiring, work-separation, and other employment and post-employment issues. The number is 800-832-9394. There are also free resources available online. Check out the publication, “Especially for Texas…
Seeing someone that you care about in pain is not easy, especially when there is nothing that you can do to help the situation. Different people react differently to divorce. Few people feel complete and unmitigated joy (although there are some). More often, the emotional affects of divorce range from upsetting…
During divorce cases, we hear a lot of strong feelings from our clients regarding answering discovery requests. The feelings expressed are not positive ones and some include explicit language we can’t repeat here. Well, we understand that. Answering discovery requires a lot of organization, searching for information, and TIME. Yes,…
Financial fraud in a marriage can occur in various ways. Usually, but not always, the violating spouse has more power and/or earning capacity than the other spouse. Ways in which financial fraud can occur: 1. Fraudulent spouse spends money on extramarital relationships or on other family members without the innocent…
It is good Risk Management Strategy to make sure that your promises and representations to your customers/clients/patients are truthful, honest and free of unreasonable promises. Promising more than you can deliver is tempting. You may want to make that sale or cement that relationship. Don’t do so at the risk…
Clients often come to us asking for advice on whether they should try to terminate parental rights of their child’s other parent. In some of these cases, the biological parent has been literally absent for years, not paying support and not seeking visitation. Each state has specific laws regarding how…
A man who is paying child support for a child that he mistakenly thought was his own child may be able to seek termination of the parent-child relationship and the duty to pay child support. The case must meet certain requirements in order to proceed. First, a petition is filed…
In addition to the general child support guidelines, the Texas Family Code also lists additional factors that may be considered by a judge in awarding child support outside the guidelines (either more or less support than would be ordered by applying strict guidelines). For instance, the party who has…
If you are getting a divorce and you have children you have probably already discussed co-parenting with your spouse and your attorney. Co-parenting is sometimes looked upon with uneasiness or even fear for the following reasons: Anticipation that there will be too much control by the other parent. Fear that…