Our October monthly free lawyer’s continuing education presentation focused on new cases and legislation affecting Texas family law.

Here’s a link to watch the video on Facebook: https://fb.watch/8SJMhZFiJF/

Here’s the presentation with all the details: What’s New in Texas Family Law This Fall?

Here’s a link to Elisa Reiter’s excellent articles about the new legislation

We’ve seen many changes in our courts over the past week including limiting in-person hearings to essential matters only. Over the past two days, many courts have issued Emergency Standing Orders regarding possession for both the “extended Spring Break” period  and recent school closures.

Supreme Court of Texas

The Supreme Court of Texas just issued

One thing we know about COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is that new information develops on a daily basis. The court system had to respond to the situation to resolve many issues that have arisen.

Will there still be family court hearings and trials in Dallas area courts in the state of disaster?

The Texas Supreme Court

Interesting article in Texas Lawyer this week about the effect of online impersonation having growing relevance in Texas family law. People are increasingly impersonating spouses, paramours, and others online out of spite or to gain leverage. In 2009, Texas made it illegal to pretend to be another person online to harass, stalk, or defraud someone. For example, it would be illegal to create a fake website in an ex’s name and provide personal details about sexual acts. The law says a person commits an offense if he or she, without obtaining the person’s consent, uses the name or persona of another person with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate, or threaten by (1) creating a page on a website or other commercial social networking site, or (2) sending messages through an existing website or social networking site. This offense is a third degree felony, punishable by 2-10 years in prison.
Continue Reading Online impersonation in Texas divorce suits

2018-2019 change represents the new year

The Texas Legislature convenes every two years, with 2019 being one of those. Each session, proposed new laws get introduced that will affect family law in Texas. It is expected that a bill will be introduced to remove no fault divorce and require proof of fault grounds for all Texas divorce and extend the waiting period to finalize a divorce (currently 60 days). Neither of these proposals are expected to gain much traction. Reform of the child protective services system will, however, be a hot topic for the legislative session given all of the litigation there has been criticizing how CPS handles matters ineffectively.Continue Reading Changes from 2018 and looking ahead to 2019 for Texas family law

Reports surfaced today that pro-NBA player Blake Griffin has reached a settlement deal with his ex-girlfriend Brynn Cameron to pay child support of $258,000 PER MONTH for their two children. (See reports here from TotalProSports and here from TMZ.) The lawsuit, pending in California, alleges that Griffin ousted Cameron and the kids from his

In February, Senior Shareholder Michelle May O’Neil presented oral argument to the Supreme Court of Texas in Dalton v. Dalton, a case out of the Nacogdoches trial court and the Tyler Court of Appeals. Today we learned that she WON that case — the Texas Supreme Court in a unanimous decision reversed the judgment and