Posted on September 30, 2018 in Firm News

Few parts of a marriage hold more importance than the communication you share with your spouse. Whether married for 20 years or two, it is vital that you and your partner take time to discuss important issues and share your feelings. Too often, though, this habit deteriorates, and the foundation of a marriage falls apart with it.

Sometimes partners simply grow apart and develop different communicative needs in the process. Other times, stress and busy schedules impede communication. Regardless of the context, if you struggle to communicate with your spouse, consider the following three tips for improvement:

Identify the problem

An easily identifiable problem causing communication issues does not always exist. Sometimes you immediately know what the issue is, and other times, it requires reflection and space to better understand the situation. If you want to improve your communication, you need to identify what needs improvement. If you ever consider divorce, it is useful to start here and discuss the issues at hand.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on September 28, 2018 in Divorce

While people often feel like divorce comes on suddenly, the reality is that many people simply overlook red flags that could have shown them something was wrong well in advance. Understanding what your future holds helps you plan for that future, so here are a few common red flags to keep in mind.

• You always compare yourselves to other couples that you know. You wonder if you are as happy as they are or if you have as much fun as they do. These endless comparisons indicate that you’re missing things in your own relationship.
• You keep telling friends and family just how well the two of you are doing, as if you’re trying to convince them. Are you really just trying to convince yourself?
• You start spending far more time doing things without your spouse. Maybe you begin working late or spending extra time with friends. Maybe you spend your evenings on your phone, scrolling through social media sites to see what everyone else is doing. The real problem is that you are not spending time with your spouse — and perhaps you don’t want to.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on September 21, 2018 in Family Law

Grandparents enjoy a special relationship with their grandchildren — and it is usually beneficial for everyone involved.

What happens, however, if the relationship with your grandchild’s parents sours for some reason? Do you have any legal rights to visitation with your grandchildren over their parents’ objections?

It depends.

Unlike many other states, Texas does allow grandparents some legal recourse that will keep the doors to visitation open — but only under certain circumstances.

If you’re seeking a visitation order as a grandparent, at least one of these conditions must be met:

• The parents are divorced
• One parent (usually the grandparent’s own child) is deceased, incompetent or incarcerated
• The parent or parents neglected or abused the child

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on September 14, 2018 in Child Custody

Substance abuse can ultimately destroy even the best marriage — especially when your spouse’s addiction begins to take its toll on your children.

Unfortunately, the problems that you face with your spouse don’t end with divorce. You still have to find a way to manage the issues that their addiction present when it comes to custody or visitation.

What can you do to protect your children when their other parent is an addict?

Tell your attorney

Make sure that you advise your attorney early about your spouse’s drug addiction. That way, your attorney can raise the issue during the child custody hearing.

You should expect the judge to view your allegation somewhat skeptically. Some parents make false allegations of drug abuse or alcoholism to try to gain an edge during a custody battle.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on September 06, 2018 in Divorce

One of the most common questions that parents ask when they’re thinking about a divorce is, “Will the children be okay?”

The emotional welfare of the children is such a big concern that many parents delay divorce for years, even when the marriage has clearly decayed beyond repair. If you’re putting off a divorce because you’re worried about the effect it will have on your kids, you should familiarize yourself with what psychologists have to say about the matter.

Yes, divorce will have an impact

Divorce does have a traumatic impact on the children. Most children experience all the things you would typically expect after the announcement of their parent’s impending divorce, including shock, anger and anxiety. However, those feelings tend to be limited. After about a year, most kids will have moved past their initial reactions.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on August 31, 2018 in Child Custody

A lot of people move after a divorce — for all kinds of reasons. Maybe you want to go back to your hometown to be closer to friends and family, or maybe you want to move away from your hometown to start over.

Unfortunately, if you have custody of your children, moving before you have the consent of the court can throw you into a legal nightmare. Learn more about child relocation laws before you start.

You need to review your custody agreement

Before you can even think about relocating, you need to look at your custody agreement to see what geographical limitations are imposed. In rare cases, the court may leave it unstated — but it isn’t unusual to see a custody agreement that specifically limits your geographical range with the child to a specific area, number of miles or county.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on August 26, 2018 in Firm News

If you and your spouse are a high net worth Texas couple whose marriage appears to be headed to divorce court, you may have suspicions that (s)he is starting to hide assets from you. Unfortunately, many spouses do this prior to a divorce in an attempt to reduce marital assets so as to have this “stash” in addition to the assets they receive in the property settlement agreement.

Due to the nearly infinite number of ways a spouse can hide assets, including electronically, finding and tracking the ones your spouse is hiding can become an almost impossible task. Your best strategy may be to add a forensic accountant to your legal team.

What you should look for

While you might expect that a CPA can find hidden assets, that is not always so. A true forensic accountant, CPA or otherwise, has advanced training that makes him or her an expert in ferreting out hidden assets as part of a court case.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on August 22, 2018 in Divorce

Money trouble is one of the biggest reasons that couples end up saying, “I’m done,” shortly after they say, “I do.”

If you want to avoid ending up divorce within a few years of your nuptials, it’s important to establish some major rules about money between you and your spouse long before a problem has time to develop.

What big money mistakes do you need to avoid?

1. Hiding your debts

Maybe you’re embarrassed that you have so much credit card debt. Maybe you’re nervous that your student loans will scare off your mate. However, pretending all that debt doesn’t exist won’t make it go away — and you’re depriving your partner of the opportunity to go into the relationship with open eyes. That may come back to haunt you if your spouse starts planning to purchase a house or start a family when you know you’re not financially ready. The sense of betrayal could be huge — and lead straight to a divorce.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on August 16, 2018 in Divorce

Nobody really wants to go through a hotly-contested divorce, but sometimes it’s inevitable. If your spouse is refusing to play fair and won’t work with you, sometimes the only choice you have is to move toward litigation. This is where the methods used in legal discovery become important.

Discovery is the process by which two parties engaged in a legal battle exchange information with each other. It’s particularly important in divorce cases where hidden financial issues may be a factor in support or the division of assets.

When it comes time to start the discovery process in your divorce, this is what you can expect:

1. Document requests

You and your spouse will both be asked to produce any documents that may be important to the decisions that have to be made in the divorce. This may include things like tax returns, bank statements, pension statements, credit card bills, child care bills, receipts and more.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on August 08, 2018 in Family Law

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has an obligation to investigate any report it receives about child abuse or neglect — but that can result in incredibly stressful and terrifying experiences for innocent parents who are targeted by well-meaning (and not-so-well-meaning) neighbors and relatives.

Here are some important pieces of information that parents should keep in mind when dealing with a children’s services investigation:

1. Remember that this is the investigator’s job

The investigator has a legal obligation to fulfill, so he or she has to look into the allegations. Most investigators are professionals and will do their jobs responsibly. No matter how you feel about the situation, try to remain polite and respectful toward the investigator. Antagonizing the investigator doesn’t benefit you.

Continue Reading ››