Posted on August 03, 2018 in Child Custody

For many divorced parents, the roughest adjustment that they have to make is not being with their children as much as usual. While shared parenting is becoming more of a norm, there are still many parents whose work schedules and lives make 50-50 parenting plans unattainable.

If that’s your reality, it’s important to make the most of your visitation time with your child. Whether you have your child only on weekends or even less, you can maintain your bonds — and even make them stronger. Here are some suggestions:

Give your child a space

If possible, your child needs a room of his or her own at your new residence. If that’s just not feasible, then make sure that your child still has a “reserved” spot somewhere in the house. Use a dresser or a bookshelf if necessary.

Focus on the routine

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 Posted on July 25, 2018 in Divorce

Since Texas is a “no-fault” divorce state, is it okay to start dating again before your divorce is final?

While it can be frustrating to sit around waiting, it’s not a good idea to start dating before your marriage is officially over. You could quickly complicate what might otherwise be a relatively straightforward divorce.

Your spouse may become vindictive

An uncontested divorce, where the two parties basically agree on everything, is far quicker — and cheaper — than a contested divorce.

If your spouse feels betrayed (even if it’s irrational), he or she may retaliate by fighting over big and small issues. Unless you want your divorce delayed for months while you fight over everything from the custody of the cat to spousal support, it’s wiser to wait.

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 Posted on July 22, 2018 in Firm News

You have your reasons for preferring to limit or eliminate contact between your children and their grandparents, whether these grandparents are your parents or your ex’s parents. However, the grandparents may be talking about going to court for the right to see your child.

Could they be able to visit your children over your objections?

Parental rights tend to come first

Your parental rights come first in most situations. As such, you have the right to control who gets to spend time with your children unless a situation is exceptional or a co-parent is in the picture. For instance, say that you have never liked your ex’s parents because they are crude. However, your ex is close to them and allows interaction between them and your children on your ex’s time. In such cases, it is unlikely that you could do anything legally to force your ex to ban his or her own parents from seeing the children.

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 Posted on July 20, 2018 in Family Law

Despite being the target of a lot of jokes, the millennial generation may be the savviest generation yet when it comes to marriage and finances.

That’s because they’re realistic about the possibility of divorce — even when they’re in love. According to a recent survey, more and more millennials are hedging their bets before marriage and using prenuptial agreements to protect their property and wealth in the event of a divorce.

Alimony and real estate are two hot-button issues for many millennial couples. Alimony, or spousal support, is less common than it used to be — but it can still be awarded if the circumstances are right. Prenups can either eliminate alimony or set down terms that make everyone comfortable.

Real estate is another issue that can become complicated in a divorce. Even if the property was owned by one member of a couple prior to marriage, marital money that goes toward improvements could give the other spouse a stake in the property in the future. Millennials with investment property also often seek to insulate their holdings and gains in a property’s value against any claims from a spouse.

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 Posted on July 13, 2018 in Divorce

Mediation is often presented as a great alternative to a litigated divorce — and it can be! However, it does have its limitations. There are times when all the good intentions in the world aren’t going to help you avoid litigation and mediation is simply a waste of money, time and effort.

So, how do you know when it’s better to skip mediation altogether? These are the signs:

Your spouse is only doing it to please the judge

Some judges heavily encourage mediation, but a spouse that doesn’t want to be there can make his or her demands so outrageous that there’s really no point. What they want is to go back to the judge and say, “I tried it.” They’re not really interested in an actual resolution.

You feel intimidated by your spouse

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 Posted on July 05, 2018 in Child Custody

Joint custody often sounds like a nightmare to divorcing parents. The idea of working together with your ex-spouse on anything, let alone the kids, can sound just about impossible.

These days, however, joint custody agreements are generally preferred by the courts. There’s been a lot of evidence presented that shared custody is beneficial for the children — and that’s the guiding principle behind the judge’s decisions in a case.

Experts suggest the following to help make joint custody work:

1. Treat the situation like a business deal.

If you view your ex-spouse as a caregiver to your children and nothing more, it may be easier to separate your feelings and get down to the business of simply taking care of the kids. View your ex-spouse as an asset to your time management and childcare needs, not competition.

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 Posted on June 27, 2018 in Family Law

Prenuptial agreements used to be something that only the very wealthy had. However, many couples from all economic backgrounds consider them today, partially because there are so many young people who are actively engaged in operating their own businesses. They want to make certain that their romantic entanglements don’t end up inadvertently destroying everything they’ve worked so hard to build.

Unfortunately, signing the wrong prenup can be just as bad as not signing one at all. If you’re heading into a marriage that involves a prenuptial agreement, here are three things you need to consider carefully.

1. Don’t sign a fidelity clause without careful consideration

Most people probably think that a clause that punishes a spouse financially in the divorce for cheating is fair, but you need to review the agreement carefully.

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 Posted on June 26, 2018 in Firm News

If divorce is in the wind, you are probably beginning to wonder how the family breakup will affect your children. It is an important issue, and you want to be prepared.

Raising your children in a post-divorce world will require a good parenting plan, but when problems pop up, do not be discouraged. Remember that there is a learning curve to the job of co-parenting.

Planning

The first order of business is to develop a plan, a paper outline of responsibilities so you and your soon-to-be-ex-spouse can refer to it. Parenting plans have been a requirement in the state of Texas since 2005. The purpose is to establish the duties and rights of the parents and to foster a close relationship with the children.

Scheduling

You have work schedules. The children have school and activity schedules. These will form the foundation concerning who will be responsible for what child at what time. You will also want to make schedules that will allow the children to fall into a routine. It will help them to know, for example, what time dinner will be each night, what time they will need to do their homework and what time one of you will pick them up to go to the movies.

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 Posted on June 22, 2018 in Divorce

Some couples can’t seem to let go of a bad thing. That’s certainly the case in involving a billionaire couple who ended their 32-year-old marriage on acrimonious terms. Apparently, they still can’t get enough of fighting with each other, and neither seems willing to move on.

The resulting inferno has swept up just about everyone in its wake, including the siblings and other relatives of the 68-year old ex-wife and the employees of the 74-year-old ex-husband. Even people just trying to make deliveries to their homes have been caught up in the ongoing drama.

Soon, a judge will decide whether or not the restraining order obtained by the ex-wife can be made permanent and extended to cover her siblings and others that are involved.

Both ex-spouses allege a pretty extensive list of complaints against the other. The ex-wife has accused the ex-husband of leaving the home he was required to vacate an absolute disaster. She alleges he even used bottles of foul-smelling novelty products to make the house unbearable.

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 Posted on June 14, 2018 in Divorce

Most couples go through their divorces rather quietly. They instinctively know that it’s better to work things out than battle it out in court. The financial expense of a court battle alone is intimidating enough — and that’s before you get to the fact that going to court means letting a stranger (the judge) control your life.

Not so, the narcissistic spouse. They generally have a need to punish their husbands or wives for failing to live up to their standards or for leaving — and they want the whole world to witness it (and agree with them).

If you’re reading this, the odds are very good that you already know your spouse is a narcissist. The question is how you can get through a divorce with your sanity and life reasonably intact. Here are some tips from the experts:

Anticipate the narcissist’s behavior

You can generally expect the narcissist to engage in the following actions:

• Public blaming
• A refusal to negotiate

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