Regardless of whether the Supreme Court reaches the constitutionality of same-sex marriage in Hollingsworth or Windsor, this is a matter requires clarity and guidance from our legislature.
Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Two Cases Involving Same-Sex Marriage
GLBT Issues
Both Moms Have Parental Rights
So, the question is what happens when two women are in a relationship, woman #1 donates her egg to woman #2 and woman #2 gives birth to the baby? Which one is the “mother”? Under Texas divorce law, the answer is that woman #2, as the birth mother, is the legal parent and woman #1, as a donor under the law, has no parental rights….
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Dallas Same Sex Custody Dispute: Battle For Recognition of Parental Rights by LGBT Parents
Child custody battles are always difficult, and can be ugly. But a recent Dallas child custody dispute shows the lengths that gay parents must go to fight for the right to parent their non-biological children if they split up from the child’s biological parent. In the case fought out in Dallas family law courtrooms, a Texas mother petitioned for custody of a child she had raised since birth with her lesbian partner (the child’s biological mother).
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Same-Sex Divorce in Texas: Austin Court of Appeals Opens the Door
Last Friday the Third Court of Appeals at Austin affirmed a Travis County trial court’s ruling granting a same-sex divorce in Texas, in Cause No. 03-10-00237-CV, State v. Naylor and Daly. The appeal from the divorce judgment was brought not by either of the parties, as they had agreed upon the division of property and the child custody modification included in the decree the trial court approved, but by the State of Texas.
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Learning Lessons From A Tragedy
Some of you may have heard about the tragic suicide death of Debie Hackett recently. Her family drama has been played out in the local media over the past few months regarding the litigation between Ms. Hackett and her former lesbian partner Ms. Ferris.
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How Does a Gay Break Up Differ From A Straight Divorce
Frederick Hertz asks in the Huffington Post Blog Is Gay Divorce Any Different Than Straight Divorce? He points to three areas where gay breakups are different: historical legacy, legal complexities, and cultural dimensions.
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In A Dallas Texas Child Custody Suit, Making the Toughest Decision
The closing chapter was written on a long Dallas Texas child custody battle by Kristine Vowels, a non-biological lesbian mother of her former partner’s daughter, on October 8, 2010. After 3 1/2 years of battling just to have the right to sue for access to the child — called standing — Kristie decided to end her fight.
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Lesbian Custody Rights Going to Trial
Dallas Gay parenting advocate attorney Michelle May O’Neil explained that non-biological parents in custody and visitation cases have to meet what is called the Troxel standard, named after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a child custody case.
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Rights of Gay Parent Head to Trial in Dallas County, Texas
The rights of a lesbian partner to participate in parenting her former partner’s child will be set for trial in the 302nd Judicial District Court. After the Texas Supreme Court declined to hear the biological parent’s appeal challenging the partner’s right to sue for access to the child, the Dallas Court of Appeals returned the case to the trial court.
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Same Sex Couple Divorce and Parenting Issues
On Thursday, June 17, I will be participating as a panelist in the State Bar of Texas Family Law Update: Same Sex Couple Divorce/Parenting Issues webcast seminar.
This two-hour webcast is intended to inform the family law practitioner about recent developments in same-sex family law cases. Dallas and Austin have both recently litigated gay divorces; the 5th and 9th Courts of Appeal have recently issued opinions addressing standing for same-sex parents.
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