Posted on January 20, 2023 in Divorce

The highest divorce rates are among military couples compared to any other profession. At Brandon Wong & Associates, we respect the sacrifices service members make for this country and we are dedicated to protecting their rights and interests. If you are deployed in another country and have been served with a military divorce it can be emotional and overwhelming. A skilled military divorce attorney can guide you through the process and ensure that you conserve your benefits.

Qualifying for a 90-day Stay

If you are serving your country overseas, you may not know how to respond to a divorce petition - but a skilled military divorce attorney can help guide you through this difficult time and process. The Service Members Civil Relief Act allows you to apply for a 90-day stay, which places a divorce or child custody issue on hold. You would need to prove the following to qualify for a stay:

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 Posted on January 06, 2023 in Divorce

Same-sex marriages are fairly new in the United States and subsequently divorces among the

LGBTQ+ community are too. Same-sex couples may come across unique circumstances if they decide to get a divorce or fight for child custody. It is best to work with an experienced LGBT family law attorney to protect your rights if you are thinking about parting ways.

When Was LGBT When Marriage Legalized?

In 2015, the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages, enabling LGBT couples to enjoy the same rights and privileges as others in their marriages nationwide. The state of Texas recognized common-law marriages for LGBT couples beginning at the same time, although the reality is that many same-sex couples were already living together in Texas. 

For those couples that lived together and presented themselves as spouses without actually getting married, the question becomes: When did the common-law marriage start? If the couple lived together before being allowed to get married, there is often uncertainty about the actual length of their marriage. But this date is very important because all of the property and debt acquired by either spouse since the common-law marriage began is considered community or marital property. This is a continually evolving area of law for LGBT couples, with a major case involving a longstanding common-law marriage having been decided just last year. Having a competent, experienced attorney who understands the law in this area is essential for such a case. 

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 Posted on December 29, 2022 in Family Law

Marriage and divorce are complex subjects, and when children are involved they become even more difficult. Blended families (made up of children belonging to one parent or the other and often also involving children born of both parents) are among the most complex arrangements of all - especially when parents of blended families get divorced.

Divorced parents of stepchildren have often spent many years integrating these children into their lives without formally adopting them. Yet while the lack of a formal legal relationship with the child does not minimize the history of care, love, and respect between a stepparent and stepchild, it can make it very difficult to seek visitation with the stepchild after a divorce, especially if the relationship between the stepparent and the stepchild’s biological parent is now hostile. If this situation sounds familiar and you are a Texas stepparent seeking visitation rights, read on and then contact a family lawyer for help.

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 Posted on December 22, 2022 in Divorce

Relationships often end because of infidelity, but even when a relationship ends for other reasons, infidelity may still have been present with or without one partner’s knowledge. Because genetic testing is inexpensive and widely available, some fathers find out unexpectedly that the child they believed was theirs, and which they have cared for and financially supported for many years, is not actually their own.

Understandably, this can cause a man serious distress. Feelings of anger, hurt, and betrayal are common, as is confusion over whether a man who is not the genetic parent of a child wants to keep contributing emotionally and financially to that child’s life. If you are a parent who has been paying child support for a child who turned out not to be your own, you deserve to know your options. Contact a Texas child support attorney for help.

Get a Court Order to Terminate Child Support

It is important not to stop making child support payments without court permission. Even if you find out a child is not yours using a private genetic testing service, you will likely still need to seek genetic testing through the state to prove you are not the father. For sure you will need to file a petition with the court to terminate the parent-child relationship and your child support obligation. You may also need to prove that you relied on misinformation when you assumed you were the child’s parent; for example, if you were married to the child’s mother at the time of the child’s birth and the law assumed you were the child’s parent, you may have assumed so as well.

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 Posted on November 23, 2022 in Divorce

Divorce is notorious for bringing out the worst in people. Years of conflict, anger, and frustration often come to the surface when spouses are trying to negotiate the terms of their divorce, and some spouses are so intent on getting back at each other that they may refuse to cooperate altogether. Other times, spouses may decide to not cooperate with the divorce process because they genuinely believe separating would be a mistake, they believe their religion prohibits it, or because they are trying to manipulate their spouse into staying with them.

Whatever the reason, if you have asked your spouse for a divorce and they have said no, you still have options. You do not have to remain trapped in a bad marriage forever. Instead, call a Texas divorce attorney who has experience helping spouses in high-conflict divorces and start the next phase of your life today.

Do Both Spouses Have to Consent to Divorce?

Texas does not require both spouses to consent to divorce in order for the divorce to be finalized. In fact, if your spouse absolutely refuses to cooperate, you may actually get the upper hand in a divorce; when one partner will not respond to a divorce petition or appear in a court summons, a judge is more likely to give you the things you are asking for in your divorce decree.

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 Posted on November 14, 2022 in Divorce

Prenuptial agreements are legal documents that couples can create and sign before getting married. Provisions in the document include directives regarding how property and assets will be divided in the event that the marriage ends in divorce, as well as plans for how finances will be handled during the marriage. Prenuptial agreements are often misunderstood, and there is quite a bit of misinformation circulating on the internet regarding them. The good news is that an experienced family law attorney can help you learn the truth about these potentially helpful tools.

Myth 1: Getting a Prenup is Planning for Divorce

The most commonly held false belief when it comes to any premarital agreement is that only couples who plan to divorce create these arrangements. This is simply not true. Although short-lived celebrity weddings have given prenuptial agreements a bad reputation, many couples benefit from prenups and never end up divorced.

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 Posted on October 26, 2022 in Divorce

Families often spend years, even decades, in the same house. Wonderful life-long memories are made in homes, and so it is understandable that if a couple decides to get divorced, it can be very difficult to decide what to do with the family home. However, because marital assets must be divided in a Texas divorce, the value of the home needs to be allocated between spouses - even if one spouse ends up deciding to keep the home. If you are wondering whether you want to keep your home in your divorce, read on and then meet with a Texas divorce attorney to examine your options. 

What to Consider When Thinking About Divorce and the Family Home 

Every divorce is different, so the answer to the question of whether you should keep the family home is not cut and dried. Many factors will go into the planning and execution of how marital assets are divided. 

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 Posted on October 14, 2022 in Divorce

Deciding whether or not to get a divorce can be one of the most challenging decisions a person ever has to make. It is common for people considering divorce to go back and forth, sometimes wanting to separate, and other times wanting very much to keep their family together. Considering that divorce has the potential to have negative consequences for both spouses and children, it is not a decision to take lightly; and yet, at some point, the decision must be made. 

If you have been thinking about divorce and are wondering whether your reasons are “good enough,” it may be helpful to read what psychological experts say are rational reasons for divorce. Of course, no matter what the experts or anyone else says, your own judgment and intuition should guide you in this important decision before anything else. To learn about common reasons for divorce, read this blog and then contact a Texas divorce attorney to find out more about the divorce process, including issues regarding child support, alimony, custody, and property division. 

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 Posted on September 21, 2022 in Divorce

When both parties of a married couple agree that getting a divorce is the best thing for them, they may be interested in working together to pursue the most peaceful resolution possible. Often, this means getting an uncontested divorce, or a divorce in which all applicable issues have been resolved before filing a divorce petition and going to court. While an uncontested divorce is not available to every couple, it can be a great way to go your separate ways while keeping the peace. If you and your spouse think you may be interested in pursuing an uncontested divorce, read on to learn more about this process and then contact a Texas divorce attorney for help. 

Do We Qualify for an Uncontested Texas Divorce? 

Uncontested divorces in Texas are not available to everyone. The most commonly disqualifying issue is a couple who shares minor children. If you have minor children, but agree about everything else, you will instead need to file for an “agreed divorce.” You also cannot get an uncontested divorce if the wife is pregnant, or if you have a disabled adult dependent child. 

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 Posted on September 06, 2022 in Family Law

While establishing paternity is not always easy or straightforward, doing so is important for a number of reasons. Every child deserves to know his or her father, and extensive research on the subject is very clear that children do better by every measurable outcome when fathers are involved in their lives. Furthermore, a mother deserves help from a child’s father, even if it is only in the form of child support. Finally, fathers deserve to be given a chance to uphold the responsibility they share for bringing a life into the world. 

Despite many good reasons to establish paternity, some men resist cooperating. They may hope that the mother will eventually give up or that, by dodging DNA testing or court dates, they will not be saddled with child support payments. Fortunately for mothers, Texas courts give them options as they seek to establish paternity, even when a child’s father is trying to avoid responsibility. To learn more about proving paternity, read on and then contact a Texas paternity lawyer for help with your case. 

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