Posted on January 04, 2019 in Divorce

Auctioneers say that there are three big “Ds” that send art and other collectibles to the auction block: debt, death and divorce. Could your divorce result in a lifelong collection of art or other valuables being put up for auction?

It depends.

A lot of times, debt and divorce are twin factors in the decision to put a pricey art collection back on the market. If you have a large collection of paintings, statuary, antiques, jewelry, stamps, coins, movie memorabilia or other items that collectors crave, it often makes the most sense to liquidate at least part of that collection in order to have the funds to transition to single life. It may even make sense to get rid of a large (and space-consuming) collection if you intend to move into smaller quarters post-divorce.

However, there are other times when a collection ends up being auctioned off because the parties involved simply aren’t willing to negotiate about the value of that collection. The collection ends up being sold, and the proceeds get divided between the warring couple as a result.

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 Posted on December 27, 2018 in Family Law

The road to “happily ever after” can be full of unexpected twists and turns. That was certainly true for one Michigan couple after they found out that the wife’s Texas divorce was never finalized decades before.

Both halves of the couple appear to have struggled to find true love before meeting on MySpace in 2010. The husband, a father of four, had divorced in 2000. The wife, a mother of five, had divorced her first husband way back in 1993 — or so she thought.

It turns out that the judge who had heard her divorce petition died shortly after. In the aftermath of his death, something happened to the woman’s paperwork and the final divorce decree was never entered into the official record by the Clerk of Courts. People commonly assume that their divorce is legal the moment that the judge signs the decree, but that’s not true until the decree makes it into the official records.

Unaware of the mistake, the woman became an unwitting bigamist when she married her new husband three years after they met. She only found out that her prior divorce wasn’t finalized two years later — which set her on the complicated path of having to settle a divorce that should have been done and over with more than 20 years before. Then, she and her current husband had to appear before a judge in order to have the illegal marriage voided before they remarried. It was the only way to set the entire marital record straight and avoid complications in the future.

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 Posted on December 23, 2018 in Firm News

The prospect of telling your child about your divorce may be scary. It can be a tender and heartbreaking moment for everyone. However, it is a vital discussion to have.

How you tell your kid about the end of your marriage depends on age and maturity. School-age children have enough understanding and experience to understand the basics of what divorce means, but may not be able to process their emotions in a healthy way. Here are some pointers for informing your six to eleven-year-old child about your separation.

Time it right

While there is never a perfect time to talk about divorce, there are certainly wrong times to avoid, such as the following:

• Just as your kid is heading to an extracurricular activity
• Right before you leave for work
• Right before bedtime

You do not want to give your child news that makes him or her feel alone and unsafe. Choose a time with plenty of opportunities to give reassurances and hugs afterward.

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 Posted on December 20, 2018 in Child Custody

In a perfect world, parents who are divorcing will all put aside their differences with each other when it comes to figuring out what is best for the children and only go to battle when they really can’t agree.

In reality, some parents use their children as pawns in a high-stakes game of revenge against their spouse. If you believe your spouse is going to engage in an all-out war over custody, you need to watch for the following dirty tricks:

1. Games of distraction

What’s the best way to throw you for an emotional loop and get you riled up right before court? Any type of attack that threatens your financial stability will usually do it. Your spouse might:

• Empty the joint bank account and create overdrafts
• Burn through all the credit cards
• Make a false claim of domestic violence and have you arrested or, at a minimum, barred from the house

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 Posted on December 14, 2018 in Family Law

The Harris County division of Child Protective Services (CPS) in Texas is appealing a fine of $127,000. A judge levied the fine after he determined that the agency acted in a way that was both malicious and deceitful when removing a young child from his home. The agency then lied to the court to prevent his return even after it was clear that he was not the victim of abuse.

We recently discussed this case in our blog as an example of how CPS workers are sometimes inexplicably motivated to exert their authority over parents and families — to the exclusion of right or reason.

The agency initially removed two small children from their parents’ care after one was suspected of being abused. Medical professionals quickly determined that the child was actually the victim of a medical disorder — but the agency barreled ahead with their restrictions on the family. Workers then purposefully hid the medical evidence in the case from the judge.

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 Posted on December 05, 2018 in Divorce

When you and your spouse get divorced, who gets the dog? What about the cat?

In the past, pets were nothing more than property — and their disposition after a divorce was given no more scrutiny than the fine china and silverware. Today, however, there’s an increasing trend in the courts to recognize that pets are — in many real ways — substitute children for a lot of couples. As such — and as living, breathing beings — it’s important to treat their custody after a divorce as a serious matter.

Since 2017 alone, Alaska, Illinois and California have all passed laws that give family court judges the right to consider the well-being of the family pet when deciding who gets custody — not just the person who bought the animal or paid the vet bills. The end result is that more divorcing couples are ending up with custody agreements — even when they don’t have children. In many cases, shared custody of the dog or cat is deemed the only fair way to handle a situation when both halves of a splitting couple seem to have been equally involved in the animal’s life.

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 Posted on November 30, 2018 in Divorce

Human beings have a natural inclination to celebrate. Whether we’re celebrating Christmas, New Year’s Day, a pregnancy, a birthday, a person’s “coming out of the closet,” a retirement, and many more momentous occasions, we love a chance to get together to mark important events and transitions from one part of our lives to another.

So, why shouldn’t you have a party to celebrate your divorce? After all, you had one to celebrate your marriage!

People may argue that a marriage is something worth celebrating because the reception party is designed to acknowledge the couple’s new status as a married duo in front of the entire community. The party is meant to allow friends and family members to wish the new couple well and offer their support, whether through gifts, money or just a willingness to be there when needed.

Is any of that different for a divorce? When you go through a divorce, you naturally hope that the community around you will recognize that you are no longer part of a couple. You’re independent and free again. You probably also hope that your friends and family members will be around to offer their support — especially emotionally as you make your adjustments to your new life.

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 Posted on November 24, 2018 in Firm News

If you and your spouse are in the middle of a child custody dispute in San Antonio, it helps if you know what issues could come up. The courts weigh many factors to determine which child custody/parenting/visitation arrangement is in the best interests of your kids. Though you may feel your feelings and personal preferences should be included, in times of divorce, your children’s needs and interests take precedence.

The goal of child custody is to keep parents involved in their kids’ lives without putting children at risk or causing them to suffer from the dissolution of marriage. To achieve this, the judge uses the facts and his or her discretion to determine which custody arrangement is ideal. Here are a few issues that can affect the outcome of a child custody dispute.

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 Posted on November 22, 2018 in Family Law

A Harris County judge sanctioned Child Protective Services (CPS) for actions that deeply disrupted a Texas family’s life and ripped two small children from their loving parents’ home. The judge awarded the family $127,000 plus legal fees for what they’d suffered. He also ordered CPS to retrain its workers.

The saga started when a five-month-old infant fell from a lawn chair and struck his head on the cement. Although his mother immediately sought appropriate medical care for him, doctors spotted a second injury that the mother couldn’t explain. As required by law, they contacted CPS.

Since the baby’s injuries were “consistent with child abuse,” according to the CPS team, both the infant and his two-year-old sister were removed from their home and placed with family members.

It wasn’t long, however, before doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital discovered the real reason for the infant’s wounds: a blood clotting disorder that had been previously undetected.

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 Posted on November 15, 2018 in Child Custody

So-called “birdnesting” is being touted as a new — and much improved — way of co-parenting after a divorce. Before you try it, however, make sure you realize what you’re doing.

The way it works is that the kids stay in the family home while the divorced or divorcing parents rotate in and out. Whenever it isn’t your turn in the family home with the kids, you stay somewhere else. In most cases, the parents get an apartment for this purpose.

The goal is to minimize the disruptions that children face from divorce. This type of parenting agreement accomplishes that by putting all of the stress of adjusting to weekly changes in living quarters on the adults.

In practice, birdnesting can be very difficult to keep going for long — even for the kids. Experts say that this style of living tends to work best when the concept of divorce is still new to the kids. Seeing their parents rotate in and out of the family home allows them a transition period where they can adjust to the idea that their parents are no longer a team.

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