To maintain a suit for divorce in Texas, one of the parties must be living in Texas for six months and the county of filing for 90 days prior to filing the suit.  Sometimes that's not possible for military members and other Federal employees who are absent on public service.  All...

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. ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Some couples getting divorced in Texas, such as military or Federal civil service families, own real property outside of Texas.  This begs the question of whether a Texas divorce decree can dispose of real property located outside of Texas when dividing the marital estate.  The answer is, yes, as long as...

Courts routinely impose a geographic restriction at the temporary orders hearing  in divorce cases that involve minor children.  The restriction normally limits the child's residence to the current county of residence plus contiguous counties ("contiguous" means the surrounding counties whose borders touch the current county of residence).  So, for example, a geographic...