Posted on August 26, 2018 in Firm News

If you and your spouse are a high net worth Texas couple whose marriage appears to be headed to divorce court, you may have suspicions that (s)he is starting to hide assets from you. Unfortunately, many spouses do this prior to a divorce in an attempt to reduce marital assets so as to have this “stash” in addition to the assets they receive in the property settlement agreement.

Due to the nearly infinite number of ways a spouse can hide assets, including electronically, finding and tracking the ones your spouse is hiding can become an almost impossible task. Your best strategy may be to add a forensic accountant to your legal team.

What you should look for

While you might expect that a CPA can find hidden assets, that is not always so. A true forensic accountant, CPA or otherwise, has advanced training that makes him or her an expert in ferreting out hidden assets as part of a court case.

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 Posted on August 22, 2018 in Divorce

Money trouble is one of the biggest reasons that couples end up saying, “I’m done,” shortly after they say, “I do.”

If you want to avoid ending up divorce within a few years of your nuptials, it’s important to establish some major rules about money between you and your spouse long before a problem has time to develop.

What big money mistakes do you need to avoid?

1. Hiding your debts

Maybe you’re embarrassed that you have so much credit card debt. Maybe you’re nervous that your student loans will scare off your mate. However, pretending all that debt doesn’t exist won’t make it go away — and you’re depriving your partner of the opportunity to go into the relationship with open eyes. That may come back to haunt you if your spouse starts planning to purchase a house or start a family when you know you’re not financially ready. The sense of betrayal could be huge — and lead straight to a divorce.

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 Posted on August 16, 2018 in Divorce

Nobody really wants to go through a hotly-contested divorce, but sometimes it’s inevitable. If your spouse is refusing to play fair and won’t work with you, sometimes the only choice you have is to move toward litigation. This is where the methods used in legal discovery become important.

Discovery is the process by which two parties engaged in a legal battle exchange information with each other. It’s particularly important in divorce cases where hidden financial issues may be a factor in support or the division of assets.

When it comes time to start the discovery process in your divorce, this is what you can expect:

1. Document requests

You and your spouse will both be asked to produce any documents that may be important to the decisions that have to be made in the divorce. This may include things like tax returns, bank statements, pension statements, credit card bills, child care bills, receipts and more.

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 Posted on August 08, 2018 in Family Law

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has an obligation to investigate any report it receives about child abuse or neglect — but that can result in incredibly stressful and terrifying experiences for innocent parents who are targeted by well-meaning (and not-so-well-meaning) neighbors and relatives.

Here are some important pieces of information that parents should keep in mind when dealing with a children’s services investigation:

1. Remember that this is the investigator’s job

The investigator has a legal obligation to fulfill, so he or she has to look into the allegations. Most investigators are professionals and will do their jobs responsibly. No matter how you feel about the situation, try to remain polite and respectful toward the investigator. Antagonizing the investigator doesn’t benefit you.

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 Posted on August 03, 2018 in Child Custody

For many divorced parents, the roughest adjustment that they have to make is not being with their children as much as usual. While shared parenting is becoming more of a norm, there are still many parents whose work schedules and lives make 50-50 parenting plans unattainable.

If that’s your reality, it’s important to make the most of your visitation time with your child. Whether you have your child only on weekends or even less, you can maintain your bonds — and even make them stronger. Here are some suggestions:

Give your child a space

If possible, your child needs a room of his or her own at your new residence. If that’s just not feasible, then make sure that your child still has a “reserved” spot somewhere in the house. Use a dresser or a bookshelf if necessary.

Focus on the routine

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 Posted on July 25, 2018 in Divorce

Since Texas is a “no-fault” divorce state, is it okay to start dating again before your divorce is final?

While it can be frustrating to sit around waiting, it’s not a good idea to start dating before your marriage is officially over. You could quickly complicate what might otherwise be a relatively straightforward divorce.

Your spouse may become vindictive

An uncontested divorce, where the two parties basically agree on everything, is far quicker — and cheaper — than a contested divorce.

If your spouse feels betrayed (even if it’s irrational), he or she may retaliate by fighting over big and small issues. Unless you want your divorce delayed for months while you fight over everything from the custody of the cat to spousal support, it’s wiser to wait.

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 Posted on July 22, 2018 in Firm News

You have your reasons for preferring to limit or eliminate contact between your children and their grandparents, whether these grandparents are your parents or your ex’s parents. However, the grandparents may be talking about going to court for the right to see your child.

Could they be able to visit your children over your objections?

Parental rights tend to come first

Your parental rights come first in most situations. As such, you have the right to control who gets to spend time with your children unless a situation is exceptional or a co-parent is in the picture. For instance, say that you have never liked your ex’s parents because they are crude. However, your ex is close to them and allows interaction between them and your children on your ex’s time. In such cases, it is unlikely that you could do anything legally to force your ex to ban his or her own parents from seeing the children.

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 Posted on July 20, 2018 in Family Law

Despite being the target of a lot of jokes, the millennial generation may be the savviest generation yet when it comes to marriage and finances.

That’s because they’re realistic about the possibility of divorce — even when they’re in love. According to a recent survey, more and more millennials are hedging their bets before marriage and using prenuptial agreements to protect their property and wealth in the event of a divorce.

Alimony and real estate are two hot-button issues for many millennial couples. Alimony, or spousal support, is less common than it used to be — but it can still be awarded if the circumstances are right. Prenups can either eliminate alimony or set down terms that make everyone comfortable.

Real estate is another issue that can become complicated in a divorce. Even if the property was owned by one member of a couple prior to marriage, marital money that goes toward improvements could give the other spouse a stake in the property in the future. Millennials with investment property also often seek to insulate their holdings and gains in a property’s value against any claims from a spouse.

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 Posted on July 13, 2018 in Divorce

Mediation is often presented as a great alternative to a litigated divorce — and it can be! However, it does have its limitations. There are times when all the good intentions in the world aren’t going to help you avoid litigation and mediation is simply a waste of money, time and effort.

So, how do you know when it’s better to skip mediation altogether? These are the signs:

Your spouse is only doing it to please the judge

Some judges heavily encourage mediation, but a spouse that doesn’t want to be there can make his or her demands so outrageous that there’s really no point. What they want is to go back to the judge and say, “I tried it.” They’re not really interested in an actual resolution.

You feel intimidated by your spouse

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 Posted on July 05, 2018 in Child Custody

Joint custody often sounds like a nightmare to divorcing parents. The idea of working together with your ex-spouse on anything, let alone the kids, can sound just about impossible.

These days, however, joint custody agreements are generally preferred by the courts. There’s been a lot of evidence presented that shared custody is beneficial for the children — and that’s the guiding principle behind the judge’s decisions in a case.

Experts suggest the following to help make joint custody work:

1. Treat the situation like a business deal.

If you view your ex-spouse as a caregiver to your children and nothing more, it may be easier to separate your feelings and get down to the business of simply taking care of the kids. View your ex-spouse as an asset to your time management and childcare needs, not competition.

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