Property Division: How does a court determine what is Just and Right? We have written many times about the phrase “just and right” in terms of the division and confirmation of marital property. That’s because unlike some states where community property is split evenly between both spouses, Texas is a community property state. Its courts…
Read articleDoes the court hearing your divorce case have full jurisdiction? When divorcing, if spouses cannot agree on a fair and equitable division of marital property, they rely on the court to decide who gets what. That seems like a full proof way of settling the argument, right? Well, yes and no. Simply put, courts have…
Read articleSuit for Sibling Access – In certain circumstances, a situation may arise where an older sibling requests to gain access to, or custody of, a younger sibling. We have written at great length about conservatorship suits, so this blog will strictly stick to suits for sibling access. For a review of conservatorship suits, go here…
Read articleSome final thoughts on termination suits As part of our ongoing conversation on termination suits, I think it’s important to look at the effect a terminated parent-child relationship has on certain legal rights. Simply put: terminating a parent-child relationship does not completely sever all rights and duties between a parent and child. Below is a…
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Termination Suits (Part II) To round out our blog conversation on a court’s decision to terminate the parent-child relationship, I think it’s important to discuss certain situations where the court may permit a parent whose parental rights have been terminated to have contact with their child. Again, the primary goal of a termination suit is…
Read articleTermination Suits We’ve discussed in great detail the court’s commitment to protecting a child’s best interest when it comes to everything from a standard divorce to issues of conservatorship, possession and access, and parentage suits. Looking out for a child’s interest can also mean completely severing the parent-child relationship. In this blog, we will attempt…
Read articleGenetic Testing and Parentage Suits We have all heard of the term genetic testing, and maybe you even saw instances of it being used on television in various shows and movies. It can be some pretty interesting stuff, but how does it work within the framework of parentage suits? That is the focus of this…
Read articleParentage Suits (Part II) In our previous blog, we discussed the purpose of parentage suits in terms of legally establishing the existence of a parent-child relationship. This is important because, well, every child should have the emotional and legal benefit of knowing who both their parents are. If you did not see that blog post,…
Read articleThe ‘Why’ and ‘How’ behind parentage suits Growing up, I always had my mother and father to rely on. They were there for me when I came home from school, they took care of me when I was sick and, more importantly, they provided me a loving home to live in. Even when they eventually…
Read articleSummary of Common Family Law Terms (Vol. IV) It’s that time again where we take a timeout from my open-ended series of family law blogs. This allows us to reflect on several important legal terms and concepts we’ve discussed over the last few months. I do this because, well, it’s not like this is everyday…
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