Texas Family Law in the 84th Texas Legislature

Who is a father? Your paternal rights under Texas Family Law can be protected This may seem a silly question, but it isn’t. Understanding how Texas Family Law defines “paternity” is extremely important when determining who has standing (the legal right) to file a suit to adjudicate parentage (a lawsuit to determine who is the child’s father). Most commonly, when the child results from sex between unmarried people, the father of the child is determined either by a lawsuit adjudicating the paternity of the child or by the father’s acknowledgment of paternity through the Texas Paternity Registry. You Think You Might Be a Father If you are not married to the mother (or mother-to-be) of the child, there are several things you should be aware of that should…

The role of Family Law mediator continues to grow in Texas Family Law Courts. Virtually all family courts in Harris and surrounding counties now require mediation prior to temporary hearings where the custody of children is in dispute, as well as prior to final trials. This is advantageous to the practice of Family Law for two reasons: mediation is a more effective method of dispute resolution than divorce litigation in most cases, and due to the vast overload of Family Law cases in Harris County courts, resolving disputes in mediation takes some of the pressure off our court dockets. Having a Family Law matter delayed because of overloaded courts is bad for families and not pleasant for Family Law attorneys either. Getting the most value out of the mediation process is my…

In addition to the changes I discussed in my earlier blog entitled “Texas Family Law changes by the Texas Legislature in 2011,” significant revisions were made to the Spousal Maintenance (Alimony) statute by the Texas Legislature in 2011. In 1997, the Texas Legislature passed the first Spousal Maintenance (Alimony) statute under Texas Family Law. Until 2011, that statute remained basically unchanged.  They made up for that in 2011. The primary changes cover: Duration of a Maintenance Order The most significant change was to increase the maximum duration of a spousal maintenance order. In the old statute, maintenance could not be ordered for more than three years, regardless of the length of the marriage, unless the spouse seeking maintenance could not meet minimum reasonable needs through appropriate employment or developing…