sell common property
Picture this. You just bought a new car. You’ve been saving up for this for the past year or two and you finally bought it. But then after a few months, you come home to find out that your car’s gone. Apparently, your spouse decided it was a good idea to sell it. What do you do now? Well, if you find yourself in this situation or just want to know if this is allowed to happen, keep reading. What Do You Own? Before we get to the specifics of whether or not what you own can be sold without your consent or not, it would be good to work out what you own and what you and your spouse own. All the things you owned before getting married to your spouse are, of course, still owned by you. Anything purchased that comes with a title and is under your name is your property. Things that are given to you, whether as a gift or inherited, are also still your property. The same applies to your spouse. Where things get a little more complicated are the things that are community property. Community property is the property that is owned by both you and your spouse. Things that fall under community property would be any property that would be under both your names in a title, whatever it is you and your spouse earn during your marriage, and also whatever is bought with the money you both earn while married. What Can I Sell Then? Most states in the United States are community property states. Texas included. In community property states, anything you co-own with our spouse would need both your permission before it is sold. So, anything you both own cannot be sold without the consent of the other. That […]

Can My Spouse Sell Our Common Property Without My Consent?   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Community Property Marriage on by
SAPCR
Getting a divorce costs money. Most of the time, they don’t come cheap. There are a lot of things you’ll need to shell out money for to help your divorce go along. One of those things would be for a lawyer. After all, getting a lawyer would be one of the more important things that you’ll need. A lawyer will help you as you go through your divorce proceedings. Paying for lawyer’s fees may be a little difficult financially for some people, especially if there’s a child involved. If you find yourself in this situation and want to know what to do, read on and find out. What’s a SAPCR? In divorces that have children involved, there may be what is called a “Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship” (SAPCR). As the name suggests, a SAPCR is filed when there is anything during the divorce proceedings that comes up that might affect your child’s relationship with you. Basically, the SAPCR looks after your child’s safety and welfare. Who Pays for the Lawyer’s Fees? Since divorce proceedings can cost a lot of money, as well as the lawyers needed to help get them going. In some cases, one party may not have enough money to help pay for a lawyer. Usually, the payment of lawyer’s fees can be discussed, sometimes even contested. Depending on what happens, the lawyer’s fees may be covered by one party, awarded to the other party, or they might still be your responsibility to pay for. In some instances, SAPCRs can help decide who pays for the lawyer’s fees of the concerned party. Since SAPCRs help in looking after the child’s welfare, payment of the lawyer’s fees can be put on hold temporarily if the parent who has custody of the child may not have the finances to […]

SAPCRs and Lawyer’s Fees   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Divorce General Information Parenting on by
child support
It is a parent’s obligation to help raise and take care of their children. This obligation does not stop even if you are divorced. Non-custodial parents pay child support as an obligation. If you are such, until when are you required to pay child support? When can you stop? If you’d like to know, then continue reading. The Usual Circumstances In most states, you can stop paying for child support when your child turns 18 or graduate high school. When whichever of these two happens first, you can then stop paying for child support. Though some states require the child to be 21 before you can stop paying for child support. In Texas, you can stop paying when your child turns 18. Another thing to take note of is if your child is self-supporting. If they are earning and can take care of themselves, you can also opt to stop paying. Another, albeit a little obvious, circumstance where one can stop paying for child support is if your child passes away. Special Circumstances The law may require you to continue paying for child support if your child decides to pursue further studies, such as college or graduate school. You might have to continue paying past the required age if your child is a special needs child. Before you decide to proceed to end child support, talk to a lawyer and check your child support terms. Once you have all the details sorted out, you can then proceed to go to your state child support agency and end your child support payments when the time comes.

How Long are You Required to Pay Child Support   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Child Support on by
illegitimate child
Single parenthood, in recent years, has been increasing dramatically. Every year, there are more than a million children who were born to unmarried parents. This is becoming an issue when talking about a child’s mental and emotional development. Especially in cases involving the child’s legal rights and legitimacy, proving the paternity has been very crucial. If the child’s parents cannot establish paternity, their child will grow up not having a legitimate father. This will, later on, raise concerns of discrimination between non-marital children and those children who were born to married parents particularly in the issue of inheritance. The Texas Family Code enumerated the instances where paternity is already presumed. When the child was born during the marriage, paternity has already been established between the father and child. All the conditions stated provide that the parents should be or has been married. One should go through a legal proceeding in order to establish the paternity of the alleged father of a child born out of wedlock. How to Prove Paternity The most common way to test paternity is through DNA testing. This is done by obtaining a tissue or blood sample from the child and from the alleged biological father. Physical characteristics say a lot in identifying that a man could be the father of a child. However, DNA testing is the most plausible method in establishing paternity. Although it may be costly, the results would be reliable. The court acknowledges this as solid evidence. Producing legal documents can also help to prove paternity. An example is a birth certificate which provides the name of the man who is allegedly the father. Another possibility that could be used as proof is to show that the alleged father claims the child as his dependent. This is usually proven in payment of […]

Establishing the Paternity of a Deceased Father   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Father's Rights General Information on by
divorce3 1 1
Divorce is difficult, but not all divorces are created equally.  Here in Austin and Greater Metro Area, more and more people are choosing to resolve their family law issues via the collaborative process.  Collaborative divorce is a method of dispute resolution where the spouses agree from the beginning that they are each going to retain attorneys who will work as settlement specialists and who will not engage in court battles. Here are the top 5 reasons any Texas couple considering a split should choose collaborative divorce:   Privacy Rather than have their dirty laundry aired in a public courthouse, spouses going through a collaborative divorce resolve all issues through privileged and confidential discussions in a private conference room. This can be especially important for business-owners, professionals, and high-profile Florida residents who are concerned about the public release of either financial details or embarrassing personal shortcomings.   Respect By its very nature, divorces that go through the court system are adversarial.  They pit husband versus wife, mother versus father, as each side tries to prove to a judge that he or she is a better parent or deserves more money.  In contrast, collaborative divorce is a team-based method of conflict resolution, where attorneys help the spouses attack the problem rather than attack one another.  The attorneys help foster an atmosphere of respect and dignity within discussions. Parents and their children (whether minor or adult) are the ones who benefit the most from this aspect of collaborative divorce, as though the marriage is ending, the relationship as co-parents will continue.   Efficiency Ninety percent or more of all divorce cases end up settling, whether before filing a petition for dissolution of their marriage or after the parties have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and many years going through trial but right before a […]

Top 5 Reasons to Choose Collaborative Divorce   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Divorce on by
investigation mgn 1
Occasionally I will get a call from someone who either is in the early stages of a CPS investigation, or is concerned that a report may have been made, about how to avoid CPS involvement. Sometimes, this is a fairly complicated question, but there are definitely some things that can increase your likelihood of being involved with CPS. The first important thing to note is that CPS gets involved based on referrals made by third parties, and many of these referrals are effectively mandatory even if the person referring you doesn’t really think there is anything going on. Injuries to children can often trigger a referral to CPS even if the cause of the injury was something completely benign if the injury itself has signs of being indicative of abuse. Likewise, statements made by children indicating abuse will almost certainly trigger a referral by any school or daycare personnel who hears it, even if they don’t believe it is the case. For the most part, any agency involved with taking care of children likely will take (and should take) a broad view on what things should be reported and leave it up to CPS to figure things out after that. For reference, here are the sources of referrals from the DFPS 2013 fiscal year data book:

Avoiding CPS And What To Do When You Can’t   Recently updated !

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divorce
Life after a divorce can be tough. There’s a lot you’ll need to sort out, especially your emotional state. Even if the marriage wasn’t terrible and the reason for the divorce was something you and your ex-wife amicably agreed on, you could still be hurting deep down. Life goes on whether you like it to or not, that includes your ex finding a new husband. Even if it does suck, there will come a point where you’ll have to just accept it and just get along with her new husband. If you’re having a hard time with that, why not consider the following things as you go along? Take Your Time Everyone gets over things at their own pace. There really isn’t a correct timeline for moving on. As long as you’re really trying and making an effort to better yourself, then you’re doing fine. Moving on should really be the first thing you need to focus on. Accept that things are over and that they’re over for a reason. Don’t think that you’re on the losing end or that things won’t get better. Also, avoid placing the blame on anyone for what happened. Things just happened to unfold the way they did and now you’re here. There’s nothing you can do except to move forward and continue with your life. Harboring any negativity regarding the whole ordeal will just make it harder for you to move on and might just put you in a spot where you just become a toxic person. No one wants that. Be Warm, Be Open When the time comes that you believe you’re over it and have moved on significantly, you’ll see that you’re in a better headspace to deal with things that involve your ex. Her new husband included. Just as how every […]

Tips on How to Get Along with Your Ex-Wife’s New Husband   Recently updated !

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common law marriage
The state of Texas has laws that seek to protect the welfare of children. However, the parents of the children need to be responsible for their affairs in order to keep everything in order. For parents who did not get married, then there are provisions in the law that they need to observe. Common-Law Marriage Texas recognizes common-law marriages. These are marriages without formalities like the marriage license or a ceremony. The State has certain requirements before recognizing a couple as married. Firstly, they should agree that they are married. Second, they should live together as husband and wife. Finally, they should declare themselves to the general public as a married couple. This means they should introduce themselves as married to each other and also engage in legal affairs like a married couple, like jointly applying for credit.  They are considered married once the requirements are established. It is understood that only adults above the age of eighteen can marry under these terms. Children in a Common Law Marriage It should be clarified that these are the conditions for a common-law marriage. Having children is not necessarily a prerequisite, nor can it be a substitute. Just because a couple has a child together, that does not make them a married couple. They still need to fulfill those conditions.  The children in a common-law marriage will have the same status as those of a married couple. Thus, they are legitimate children with complete rights to inheritance and under the same legal protections as children of regular marriages. The same is true when a common-law couple divorces. There will be a distribution of property, with recognition of community or conjugal property. There will be entitlements to child support and a right to petition for alimony.  State Recognition It should also be noted […]

Status of Children of a Common Law Marriage in Texas   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Common Law Marriage General Information Marriage Parenting on by