In a divorce proceeding, can a Texas court order one or both parents to pay future college expenses as additional child support? No. The court has no authority to order either parent to support a child once they emancipate at the later of attaining 18 years of age or graduating high school. ...
Does A New Spouse’s Income Factor In My Child Support Obligation?
No, not in Texas. The court may not use any portion of your new spouse's income to increase your net resources when calculating your child support obligation.
On the flip side, the court may not subtract the needs of your new spouse or step-children, if any, when calculating your child support obligation. So, for...
Stopping Annoying or Harassing Texts and Calls
I've been asked this question enough that I thought it merited a short blog post. Is there anything "legally" that can be done to stop a soon-to-be-ex-spouse or their new love interest from sending annoying or harassing texts or phone calls? Yes, on both the civil and criminal sides of the law.
On the civil...
Adding a Geographic Restriction on Children’s Residence Post-Divorce
Is it possible to add a geographic restriction on the children's residence after-the-fact when no such restriction was levied in the decree or final order? Yes, it's possible. But, it's a tall order. Adding the geographic restriction after-the-fact requires the court to find that a "material and substantial change in circumstances" has occurred...
Jury Issues in Divorce
This is the first blog in a two part series on "jury topics." In this first part, we'll look at what issues a jury can decide in divorce. In the second part, we'll look at what issues a jury cannot decide.
In divorce, either party has the right to demand a jury trial. In...
Military Divorce: Jurisdiction to Divide Military Retired Pay
Filing a suit for divorce doesn't automatically give a State court jurisdiction to divide military retired pay. Federal law (specifically, Uniform Services Former Spouse Protection Act found in Title 10 of the United States Code at Section 1408) requires that a State court establish jurisdiction over military retired pay in one of...
Military Divorce: An Alternative to When DFAS Requests a Clarification Order
Sometimes the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) will not accept a former spouse application for military retired pay because the divorce decree or domestic relations order fails to provide enough information for DFAS to compute the former spouse's entitlement. DFAS' letter of non-acceptance instructs the former spouse to obtain a a...
Modifying or Enforcing Orders After Children Move
Lately, I've had a flurry of cases aimed at modifying one or more children's issues in a divorce decree from a distant Texas county. One centered on lifting a geographic restriction on the children's residence levied in a decree from Harris County. Another centered on defending against a request to modify the...
Buy-Out of the Other Spouse’s Interest in the Home in Divorce
In divorce, what should the divorce decree say in order to facilitate one spouse's buy-out of the other's interest in the community property homestead with proceeds from post-divorce refinancing? The decree should include all of the following:
State the legal description of the property and divest the non-owning spouse of title convey sole...Divorce and Conveying Title to the House
Many times in divorce one of the spouses will keep the house. In all cases, the divorce decree should contain a legal description of the house and clearly divest one spouse of his or her community interest by giving that ownership interest to the spouse who will keep the home. But, once...