The highest divorce rates are among military couples compared to any other profession. At Brandon Wong & Associates, we respect the sacrifices service members make for this country and we are dedicated to protecting their rights and interests. If you are deployed in another country and have been served with a military divorce it can be emotional and overwhelming. A skilled military divorce attorney can guide you through the process and ensure that you conserve your benefits.

Qualifying for a 90-day Stay

If you are serving your country overseas, you may not know how to respond to a divorce petition - but a skilled military divorce attorney can help guide you through this difficult time and process. The Service Members Civil Relief Act allows you to apply for a 90-day stay, which places a divorce or child custody issue on hold. You would need to prove the following to qualify for a stay:

• That you are currently serving in the military or your service ended within the previous 90 days

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Same-sex marriages are fairly new in the United States and subsequently divorces among the

LGBTQ+ community are too. Same-sex couples may come across unique circumstances if they decide to get a divorce or fight for child custody. It is best to work with an experienced LGBT family law attorney to protect your rights if you are thinking about parting ways.

When Was LGBT When Marriage Legalized?

In 2015, the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages, enabling LGBT couples to enjoy the same rights and privileges as others in their marriages nationwide. The state of Texas recognized common-law marriages for LGBT couples beginning at the same time, although the reality is that many same-sex couples were already living together in Texas. 

Relationships often end because of infidelity, but even when a relationship ends for other reasons, infidelity may still have been present with or without one partner’s knowledge. Because genetic testing is inexpensive and widely available, some fathers find out unexpectedly that the child they believed was theirs, and which they have cared for and financially supported for many years, is not actually their own.

Understandably, this can cause a man serious distress. Feelings of anger, hurt, and betrayal are common, as is confusion over whether a man who is not the genetic parent of a child wants to keep contributing emotionally and financially to that child’s life. If you are a parent who has been paying child support for a child who turned out not to be your own, you deserve to know your options. Contact a Texas child support attorney for help.

Get a Court Order to Terminate Child Support

It is important not to stop making child support payments without court permission. Even if you find out a child is not yours using a private genetic testing service, you will likely still need to seek genetic testing through the state to prove you are not the father. For sure you will need to file a petition with the court to terminate the parent-child relationship and your child support obligation. You may also need to prove that you relied on misinformation when you assumed you were the child’s parent; for example, if you were married to the child’s mother at the time of the child’s birth and the law assumed you were the child’s parent, you may have assumed so as well.

Divorce is notorious for bringing out the worst in people. Years of conflict, anger, and frustration often come to the surface when spouses are trying to negotiate the terms of their divorce, and some spouses are so intent on getting back at each other that they may refuse to cooperate altogether. Other times, spouses may decide to not cooperate with the divorce process because they genuinely believe separating would be a mistake, they believe their religion prohibits it, or because they are trying to manipulate their spouse into staying with them.

Whatever the reason, if you have asked your spouse for a divorce and they have said no, you still have options. You do not have to remain trapped in a bad marriage forever. Instead, call a Texas divorce attorney who has experience helping spouses in high-conflict divorces and start the next phase of your life today.

Do Both Spouses Have to Consent to Divorce?

Texas does not require both spouses to consent to divorce in order for the divorce to be finalized. In fact, if your spouse absolutely refuses to cooperate, you may actually get the upper hand in a divorce; when one partner will not respond to a divorce petition or appear in a court summons, a judge is more likely to give you the things you are asking for in your divorce decree.

Prenuptial agreements are legal documents that couples can create and sign before getting married. Provisions in the document include directives regarding how property and assets will be divided in the event that the marriage ends in divorce, as well as plans for how finances will be handled during the marriage. Prenuptial agreements are often misunderstood, and there is quite a bit of misinformation circulating on the internet regarding them. The good news is that an experienced family law attorney can help you learn the truth about these potentially helpful tools.

Myth 1: Getting a Prenup is Planning for Divorce

The most commonly held false belief when it comes to any premarital agreement is that only couples who plan to divorce create these arrangements. This is simply not true. Although short-lived celebrity weddings have given prenuptial agreements a bad reputation, many couples benefit from prenups and never end up divorced.

Myth 2: Asking your Partner for an Agreement Will Only Lead to a Fight

Because of the misconceptions regarding prenups, it can be difficult to bring up the subject with your soon-to-be spouse. However, with the right perspective and approach, a discussion about the possibility of using a prenuptial agreement does not have to be stressful. Research the benefits of prenuptial agreements together or meet with a family law attorney who can explain the purposes of the document. The key is to keep your significant other “in the loop” so that it is a joint decision instead of trying to figure everything out on your own.