February 2010

When spouses own a business and they are getting divorced, the value of the business becomes a major focus of the division of property. Dallas Texas Board Certified Divorce Lawyer Michelle May O’Neil explains the concepts of valuation of a closely-held business entity that affect and even minimize the value of a closely-held business entity:
Continue Reading Minimizing Your Business Value in Divorce

As Dallas Divorce Lawyer, I frequently am asked questions that touch on “legal separation” and its place in Texas family law. Texas law does not recognize legal separation as a status, so in Texas, you’re either married you are aren’t. The other day I had someone ask me whether she could marry someone who was legally separated from his spouse in another state. To answer this question, we need to look at who can and cannot get married in Texas.
Continue Reading When can we get married?

Many parents have long distances to bear between their children and themselves. On Fridays and Sundays at the ariport, one can see many parents escorting kids to and from flights. Airlines have regulations addressing flights for minor children flying without an adult — called Unaccompanied Minors. The regulations and fees charged vary between the airlines. Here’s a summary of the various airlines policies:
Continue Reading Long Distance Visitation — Airline Policies

How not to get divorced — that type of advice is strange coming from a Dallas Divorce Lawyer. But, really I’d love nothing more than to be out of business and into some other line of work, all because people stayed married. Marriage is a great thing if you are with the right person. Unfortunately, divorce is necessary in many circumstances. But, I seriously doubt that anyone enters marriage with the idea that they want to get divorced. So, for those out there trying to hold it together, here’s some advice:
Continue Reading Valentine’s Day Tips from Dallas Divorce Lawyer

Dallas divorce attorney Michelle May O’Neil and her client prevailed yesterday, February 4, 2010, when the Fifth Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Kee v. Kee, Cause No. 05-08-00013-CV. The appeal in Kee arose from an ex-wife’s appeal of the trial court’s refusal to garnish ex-husband’s wages to satisfy his contractual alimony obligation. The trial court in this case rightfully found the garnishment that ex-wife requested would violate ex-husband’s constitutional rights. The Dallas Court of Appeals agreed
Continue Reading Dallas Divorce Attorney Prevails On Appeal: No Garnishment for Contractual Alimony

As a Dallas divorce lawyer, one of the most frequently asked questions I receive is how can a client control the costs of his or her divorce. Understandably, clients expect top notch service in a cost effective manner. One of the more costly aspects of any divorce involves dividing up the community estate. I recently came across a great blog post that offered some practical ways to help keep costs down in dividing the community estate. Although the focus of the post dealt with dividing personal property contained in the home, a lot of the suggestions are applicable to dividing other parts of the community estate.
Continue Reading How to get the property you want and help keep costs down.

A Dallas Divorce client raised an important question this week. She owns a small professional practice that is an S-corporation. Her business has some cash flow that allows her to pay the business expenses and payroll, but not much extra. Her husband requested the Dallas Divorce Judge to make the wife turn over the cash she presently had in her business to help pay the husband’s marital debts.
Continue Reading Can the Divorce Judge Make Me Turn Over My Business’ Cash to My Spouse?