Category: Family Law

Divorce is difficult for both parents and children. No one involved planned to change how the family would interact and function.

Children can have an especially difficult time. Even young children can feel like their opinion is not considered when it is time to decide whom they will live with and how often they get to see the other parent.

Here’s what the court will consider when it comes to your children’s preference regarding custody.

Concern for children

While often resilient, children can be fragile beings. Even when children do not express it outwardly, they want their parents to be happy with them and their choices.

The court recognizes that children can be easily manipulated, even when the parents do not intend to influence their opinion. Testifying in a divorce proceeding can also be very difficult for children since they will often feel like one parent is asking them to choose sides over the other.

When children are young, the court looks almost exclusively at the child’s best interests when deciding custody or conservatorship. Parents will need to show their ability to care for their children and on what grounds one should have conservatorship over the other.

Age matters

As children get older and more capable of expressing their thoughts and opinions, the court gives their opinion more weight. While a small child may want to live with one parent or another because of certain toys or more relaxed rules, an older child will be able to articulate that they have common interests with a specific or that one parent has a more stable living environment.

Once children reach the age of 12, the court begins to consider the child’s opinion, and as they age, that opinion receives more weight than the other factors. Ultimately, the court will look to the child’s best interest, even if that conflicts with the child’s preference.

Many fathers feel frustrated when they are trying to gain custody of their children. Due to negative experiences and struggles to successfully gain custody, proponents of father’s rights believe that the legal system is biased toward mothers.

While the movement itself is known to be controversial, the general purpose is to help fathers to be treated equally in the child custody process. If you are a father and you are worried that the courts will presume that the children will be better cared for when in the custody of their mother, you should make sure that you are aware of your rights as well as some of the issues that the father’s rights movement tries to resolve.

Shared parenting over sole custody

Over recent years, shared parenting has become more popular when the parents of a child are not in a relationship. Child custody courts tend to advocate for shared custody when neither parent poses a risk to the child. The father’s rights movement has argued that shared parenting should always be presumed to be in the best interests of the child.

False claims of abuse and child custody

Many proponents of father’s rights are concerned that family courts are too influenced by false claims of abuse. An accusation of abuse can mean that the custody rights of the alleged abuser could be taken away, but only after a thorough investigation is undertaken.

If you want to make sure that you’ll be able to maintain a relationship with your child after divorce or separation, you should be proactive in your approach to gaining custody of your child.

Divorce can be devastating. Once you establish child custody, you and your family find a way to reach a new sense of normalcy.

Having a child starting college can be an exciting time. Now that one of your children is getting ready for college, it will be time to consider how things will change as you and your other children adjust to a member of your family being away at college.

Here’s what the court will consider when reconsidering child custody.

Age of the remaining children

In addition to one child starting college, your other children are now older and may have more of a say in which parent they live with. In Texas, once children reach age 12, the court gives more weight to their preferences.

While other children may not be old enough for the court to consider their opinion, the court’s decision could impact them as well. It is essential to represent the interest of both you and your children when it is time to reconsider child custody.

Best interests

Just like when the court considered child custody at the beginning of your divorce, the court will ultimately look to the children’s best interest, including:

• Stability of the custodial parent’s living situation
• Other members of the household
• Physical and emotional needs of the child
• The current condition of the parent-child relationship

The court wants children to be in stable environments and to be able to spend time with both parents as much as possible.

While it may be challenging to change your parenting time, it may be beneficial to your children to take another look at child custody now that one of your children will be away at college.

Parents sometimes file for divorce the summer that the last child moves out and goes to college, gets married or just gets their own place. This can lead to an assumption by the children that the parents only stayed together for their sake.

Many parents do engage in this practice. They are done with the relationship. It’s no longer romantic. But they agree to essentially be roommates until the children grow up so as to avoid harming their development by getting divorced. Is this smart?

The answer is complex. Divorce is often difficult for kids in the short-term. They may not have understood that their parents are unhappy, they’re confused by the loss of structure and consistency in their lives and they don’t know exactly what it all means. This can feel like doing “harm” to the children, which is what parents want to avoid.

If you look at the long-term outcome, though, an unhappy home is often more damaging to children than a divorce. Parents who fight and argue can stress the children out. Even when it’s just clear that the parents are not happy together, it can make children uneasy and concerned. In these cases, it is often better for the children when the parents get divorced because those single parents are now happier and able to focus more fully on their children’s happiness. This can reduce the children’s stress, and they will adjust to the routine and lifestyle changes over time.

At the end of the day, if you do decide to get divorced, just make sure you know what rights you have and how to put the children first.

Couples who have focused on building a financial future while married might have amassed stocks, investments, retirement accounts and income properties. Additionally, it is not uncommon for a married couple to either create a business together or cooperate to ensure a business’s growth and prosperity. When divorce becomes a reality, unfortunately, the family business must be accurately valued before it can be divided between the divorcing couple.

How is the business valued?

There are numerous methods for calculating the value of a business. Two of the most common methods include:

• Book value method: This is largely a calculation based on the business’s books. In broader strokes, the book value method examines the original cost of the asset minus the depreciation of the asset plus any increase due to market fluctuations.
• Market approach of valuation: Essentially, the market approach is just that. The valuation is based on what an outside buyer would pay for the business.

Other methods can include liquidation value method, earnings multiplier and the times revenue method.

The date of the valuation is critical

While it might not seem at first that the date of the business valuation is that crucial, it is a quite significant point in the overall calculation. Depending on numerous complex factors, it is not uncommon for a divorce to take months or years to reach a conclusion. If the business valuation is completed at the beginning of the process, the business might hold a different value years later.

It is important to work with an experienced family law attorney who can answer your questions and provide the legal guidance you need.

With so much going on before your wedding day, it’s easy to overlook the importance of considering the creation of a prenuptial agreement.

However, if you find time to discuss this with your partner before you tie the knot, you may each come to realize that a prenup can benefit you both.

A prenuptial agreement can protect you in many ways, including the following:

• Assets you bring into the marriage: If you’re bringing valuable assets into the marriage, such as an inheritance, you may want to keep it separate from your spouse. Doing so allows it to avoid division in the event of a divorce.
• Protect you from debt: If your soon to be spouse is buried in debt, such as that related to credit cards, you don’t want to be responsible for paying it back should you divorce.
• Protect children from another relationship: Just because you’re getting married doesn’t mean you don’t have a past. If you have children from a past relationship, you need to protect them. You can use a prenuptial agreement to do so, such as by outlining their inheritance rights.

Once you fully understand how a prenuptial agreement can protect you, it’s easier to discuss this with your partner and decide together if it’s the right choice for the two of you.

A prenuptial agreement isn’t right for every couple, but you’ll never know for sure until you have an honest conversation about the pros and cons. If you’re both on board, learn more about the process and how to ensure that your prenuptial agreement is valid.

 

You cannot ignore the financial side of a divorce. You need to prepare for it properly. For some couples, it can be difficult to focus on things like budgets and financial statements during such an emotional time, but it is critical.

The first step is to gather all of the documents that you will need during the divorce itself. For instance, you will want to get tax returns for at least the last five years. You also want to get proof of earnings, such as a 1099 or a W2. It can be wise to make copies of your spouse’s documents, as well, so that they can’t claim to earn less than they do.

Don’t forget about long-term financial questions. Take the time to get paperwork relating to retirement funds, investments, pension plans, life insurance policies and the like. You may not be using these financial assets yet, but they have great value and will impact your future.

Finally, start thinking about how your costs will change. If you’re going down to one income, make a new budget to reflect it. Ask questions about spousal support and child support, if applicable, and learn about your rights. Take the time to consider all of your expenses and how you may need to adjust them to make things work smoothly after you end your marriage.

When you carefully consider your finances from all of these different angles, you set yourself up for success in the future. Be sure you know what steps to take to make that future as bright and stable as possible.

Sharing custody of children during the pandemic can be difficult. Parents may have questions about what is in the best interest of their children and whether or not meeting that interest would violate a court order. Although the exact answer depends on the details of each case, the following basic information can help you navigate this difficult situation.

 

Parents may be concerned that time with the other parent poses a dangerous risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus. This is particularly true for those who may be exposed to the virus at a higher rate than the general public, such as ER doctors. In fact, an ER doctor recently lost custody of her daughter when her ex-husband filed an emergency petition with the court requesting full custody of the child. He argued that the change was, at least at the moment, in the child’s best interest. The court agreed. The judge stated he took various factors into consideration when making his decision, including a recent increase in confirmed cases in the area the mother serves as a physician. He also emphasized the fact the change was temporary.  

Parents that are not getting the agreed upon time with their child are wise to keep a record of missed dates. Keep track of the time you were supposed to have with your child and why it did not happen. Retain these records and use them after the national emergency ends to see if the court will allow you additional time in the future to balance out the time that was missed during the pandemic.

As you prepare for divorce, you’ll have many questions regarding your family home, child custody and the impact on your children.

If you’re fighting for physical custody of your children or your ex-spouse is okay with this, it’s up to you to provide a safe and steady place for them to live. And for that reason, you may want to stay in the family home.

Here are some questions you should address:

• Who has the right to the family home? There is no simple answer to this question, as it depends on the circumstances of your divorce. For instance, if you have physical custody of your children and stay in the family home, you’ll give up other assets in exchange.
• Can you keep up with your family home? It sounds like a good way to provide your children with stability, but if you can’t keep up with your family home you should consider moving on. Staying put can result in financial distress.
• Do your children want to stay in the home? You have to make the final decision, but there’s nothing wrong with getting input from your children. Maybe they don’t enjoy their current school district and would rather get a fresh start somewhere else. This may be the right time to take action.

Divorce will affect you in many ways, including where you live and how you raise your children.

As you prepare for the process, take all these details into consideration. Doing so will position you to protect your legal rights and position you and your children for future success.

Your Texas divorce might be a quick and simple affair, featuring a short list of issues that need to be considered and resolved. That is happily the case for some soon-to-be exes.

Not all, though. In fact, legions of divorces spotlight multiple and varied challenges that must worked through, especially in dissolutions following long-tenured marriages.

We imagine that many readers of our blog posts at the proven Dallas family law firm of Katie L. Lewis can readily tick off a few of those entries. Parenting plans and child custody/visitation rights might come to mind. Ditto child support concerns. Marital property division is customarily a top-tier focus in many divorces.

And then there is alimony, which is sometimes the predominant concern in some decouplings.

Factors that guide judicial outcomes in alimony matters

Spousal support is a state-controlled process, which in Texas translates to a bullet-point listing of relevant statutory factors. It is important to note that, while those factors are closely considered by family law judges, they work as discretionary guidelines. Courts often consider matters like the following:

• Marriage duration
• Educational/training attributes of both spouses
• Age of the partners
• Job/career status and earning capacity of each spouse

A key point to note concerning alimony is the ample opportunity afforded an experienced attorney to play an often influential role in the process and outcome. Courts don’t merely tolerate input from a would-be payee’s or recipient’s legal counsel; they welcome well-reasoned and persuasive alimony arguments that can aid them in reaching an informed decision.

A knowledgeable and empathetic family law attorney can provide further information.