A Texas couple is challenging a 30-year-old federal law designed to promote the adoption of Native American children by Native American parents. Foster parents Karen and Cecil Couie say they want to adopt the boy, who is part Choctaw, but Child Protective Services hope to place him with a Native American family in Oklahoma.
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November 2009
Fair market value vs. Intrinsic value: Which one to use?
I received a question from a client today asking how the court would determine the value of the piece of property in the community estate. Often times, the parties will litigate over the value of a piece of property, so it is important to know how, in the absence of an agreement, the court will determine a property’s value.
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More Fathers Are Getting Custody In Divorce
Not long ago, men usually paid the child support and doled out the alimony. Moms (working or not) almost always got the kids in messy divorce wars. Years of changing diapers, wiping noses and kissing boo-boos gave them the edge. But now the tide is turning.
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Will it be held against me if I get another woman pregnant before my divorce is final?
I frequently get questions from potential clients about what are the effects of adultery in the outcome of a divorce. Recently I was asked: “Will it be held against me if I get another woman pregnant before my divorce is final?” This post will be one of several where I’ll answer questions I receive from the trenches.
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Co-parenting Goes Online
Parents can now coordinate parenting time schedules, health records, immunization histories, expense sharing, school information, virtual document storage and much more on a website specifically designed to deal with the issues that arise in co-parenting situation. OurFamilyWizard.com is intended to remove conflict and improve the lives of children.
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Dallas Court of Appeals grants mandamus: trial court imposed greater burden for relocation than law allows
Last Friday, November 12, 2009, its opinion styled In re Cooper, No. 05-09-00995-CV, the Dallas Court of Appeals conditionally granted wife’s petition for mandamus relief, holding the trial judge abused her discretion by imposing a residency residency restriction pending final trial in a divorce case that required wife, temporary primary conservator of the parties two children, to relocate from North Carolina, where she had secured employment and owned a house, to Dallas and contiguous counties, where she had neither.
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Happy birthday to the Texas Lawyer’s Creed!
The Texas Lawyer’s Creed turned 20 years old on November 5, 2009 marking a milestone in the Texas Bar community for the promotion of professionalism and civility in the legal profession. Being an attorney in the great state of Texas (any any other state for that matter) is a privilege. With this privilege comes a great amount of responsibility. Unfortunately there are some bad attorneys out there who have tarnished the image of the legal profession. The lawyer’s creed set forth a model of behavior which, if followed, helps to improve the public image of the legal profession and bolsters good will among members of the bar.
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Dallas Divorce Law Blog Receives National and Local Attention
Yesterday was a great day for us here at the Dallas Divorce Law Blog. We started the day with recognition from the Dallas Morning News Momsblog. Dallas divorce lawyer Michelle May O’Neil has been honored…
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Parent Coordinator v. Parent Facilitator — What’s the diff?
A question was asked of me today — what’s the difference between a Parent Coordinator and a Parent Facilitator? The Texas Legislature changed the law in September 2009 to clarify the duties of a Parent Coordinator and added a new category called Parent Facilitator.
A parent coordinator (PC) is a person who…
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Lawyer Fined For Wrong Case Citation
A Wisconsin lawyer has been fined $100 for getting a citation wrong in a brief submitted to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. The appeals court expressed its frustration in a footnote to an unpublished opinion, Espitia v. Fouche, Legal Blog Watch reports. The court imposed the penalty and explained the reason for it in a footnote to a 2008 unpublished opinion, Espitia v. Fouche. Here is the entire footnote:…
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