Posted on December 01, 2019 in Divorce

For many families, the holidays are about coming together. This means spending lots of time with loved ones while juggling all the different needs that come with that. These few weeks are a time of celebration, not division.

This is precisely why someone who is thinking about divorce may choose to hold on a bit longer, waiting until life settles back into the normal routine in the first quarter of the new year before officially filing.

Divorce interest, filings spike right after the holidays

Waiting until after the holidays to file for divorce is not an uncommon strategy, as a recent report from USA Today explains:

• Google searches on the topic of divorce peak in early January
• “Divorce party” search figures on Pinterest rose 21% during January in recent years
• A University of Washington study found divorce filings increased during the first month of the new year in multiple states

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 Posted on October 01, 2019 in Divorce

Divorce may be one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to endure. Having it happen for all to see can make it even more painful.

During a divorce, your private business could be available for everyone to see. Such information may be highly personal and could damage your reputation or career. There are ways to prevent such information from being seen by employers, neighbors and friends.

Privacy matters

While divorce proceedings in Texas are public, there are ways to keep everyone in Collin County from following your case:

• Collaborative divorce: This procedure happens mostly outside of court. Sessions look to resolve your divorce amicably while maintaining privacy. You then submit your final agreement to the court without the details that got you there.
• Confidentiality order: If you’re worried about specific details coming out in court, such as an affair or private medical records, a confidentiality order may be your best option. Put harmful testimony and anything that relates under lock and key with a prior agreement or allowance from the court.

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 Posted on October 01, 2019 in Divorce

You and your spouse are getting a divorce, but it's more than just your partnership that is splitting. Everything you acquired together must get split as well.

Texas is a community property state, which means the court will attempt to divide your assets by what is “just and right.” This isn’t always as simple as drawing a line down the middle. Understand how the court defines a fair split to make sure you get your fair share.

What is community property?

The court can count most anything that you gain during your marriage as community property, which is up for grabs. Income, commingled property and debt can all fall in the community pot.

What is separate property?

Separate property, which is likely yours to keep, can live outside of the community property if no commingling occurs. Once you start muddying the waters on ownership, independent assets can quickly become community property. Truly separate property may fall into several categories:

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 Posted on September 01, 2019 in Divorce

An ex-spouse in Texas has the right to legally enforce a court order to collect any unpaid alimony and child or spousal support that was not received. In an example circumstance, an executive residing in McKinney, Texas, failed to make his mandated monthly spousal support payments to his ex-wife. Through their divorce decree, the former music-industry mogul was ordered to pay his former spouse $13,500 each month for support. As reported by the Dallas Observer, when those payments stopped, his ex-wife sued in Collins County and asked the court if she could sell his sailboat as a means to collect on his past-due support commitments.

While it may not always result in a devastating setback to receive an occasional late payment, serious harm could result when anticipated and much-needed financial support stops altogether. To collect on unpaid support, a spouse may need to take civil action and report their ex for being in contempt of a court order.

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 Posted on September 01, 2019 in Fathers’ Rights

Ironically, all property rights once belonged to men, including children treated as property under the law. Women did not have any legal rights to their children.

As women gained more influence, laws relaxed and public attitudes eventually changed to the other end of the spectrum. Society reasoned that up until a child reached the age of four years, maternal care was essential for optimum growth and development.

Parental rights to share custody

Divorce courts awarded child custody to mothers unless they were grossly unfit. The courts’ reasoning was in line with the “tender years doctrine” that young children up to the age of four years old needed nurturing by their mothers.

In modern times, courts respect decisions parents make to share custody based on the parents’ fitness, not on the doctrine of tender years. If parents cannot agree on a parenting arrangement, the court steps in and ostensibly awards custody to the parent—whether father or mother—who is best able to meet the needs of the child.

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 Posted on July 01, 2019 in Child Custody

Summer break is here for many families in McKinney, Frisco, Allen and Plano, Texas. The children get restless and everyone wants a vacation. You may be wanting a fresh coat of paint for the inside or flowers for the outside. Or you may just want to move. If you are divorced and have children, you need to check your divorce decree before you do. Chances are you may be limited in your move options.

It is the policy in the State of Texas to encourage frequent contact between parents and their children when the family is no longer intact. So, after a divorce or custody case, the Court, more often than not, imposes a geographical restriction on the child's residence. You may have heard of parents saying their divorce decree prohibits them from moving. Well, the divorce decree only restricts the child's residence.

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 Posted on July 01, 2019 in Divorce

The Ramage Law Group is proud to present our new divorce brochure. For more information, click here to read our new divorce brochure.

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 Posted on June 01, 2019 in Fathers’ Rights

In Texas, the Office of the Attorney General explains that to establish a legal connection between father and child, you have to establish paternity. With established paternity, your name appears on your child's birth certificate, you receive legal rights in accordance to childcare and you can protect the child's legal connection. You also receive a father's right to medical records and school records. Likewise, paternity provides a foundation for custody rights.

If you are not married to the mother, to establish paternity, you need to sign an Acknowledgment of Paternity form. You can complete the process quickly by simply signing a form with the mother. Parents have an opportunity to sign an AOP before the child's birth, during and after.

In other situations, you may use a court order to establish paternity. After you open a case with the Office of the Attorney General, you go through the process to determine paternity. There will likely be DNA testing to prove paternity.

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 Posted on May 01, 2019 in High Net Worth Divorce

As you proceed with your plans to obtain a Texas divorce, you may experience an uneasy feeling that your spouse has set about attempting to hide marital assets from you, especially if you and (s)he represent a high-asset couple. As you probably already know, Texas is a community property state in which, per law, spouses own all marital assets 50/50 and must divide them up that way in a divorce. Consequently, should your spouse indeed be hiding some of these assets, (s)he will receive more than (s)he should during the divorce and you will receive less than you should.

Unfortunately, due to today's technology, spouses have more opportunity to hide assets and more ways in which to do it. In addition, as FindLaw explains, such hidden assets may be exceedingly difficult to find and therefore require the services of a forensic accountant to discover and track them.

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 Posted on April 01, 2019 in Special Education Law