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Houston Family Law Attorney – As an attorney working in the area of family law I can think no more frustrating or sad sort of case than a CPS case. From the child’s perspective, it is being alleged that he or she has been the victim of abuse or neglect at the hands of a person who is legally obligated to care for their best interests. From the parent’s perspective, their life has been thrown out of whack no matter if he or she actually did abuse or neglect their child. If the abuse or neglect did occur then their rights and duties associated with raising the child will rightfully be in question moving forward. If the abuse or neglect did not occur that will not stop CPS from conducting a full scale investigation and even involving the legal system to an extent. A part of CPS cases that is not discussed near as much as the role of parents and children is the impact the case will have on other family members, notably grandparents. We’ve all heard the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child”. This situation quite literally involves your family taking on the role of the village when you are told by a court or state agency like CPS that you cannot raise your child, either permanently or temporarily. While the child is fortunate that he or she has family available and willing to care for them, the grandparents are put in a position where the ultimate responsibility to protect the child’s well being is on their shoulders without much assistance often times from outside sources. Today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan will focus on the issue of grandparents in CPS cases. How a CPS case can become a multi-generational saga is an example of collateral damage that can stem from a CPS investigation. GRANDPARENTS AS PRIMARY CARETAKERS OF CHILDREN Divorce Lawyer in Houston – Think back to your childhood and see if you can remember any friends or classmates whose grandparents were their primary caretakers. I’m willing to bet you can think of at least one child whose parents, for whatever reason, were not in the picture and their grandparents stepped up to the plate to raise him or her. Why are grandparents so often thrust back into the role of primary caregiver for a child under the age of eighteen? In situations where parents lose their jobs, find themselves involved in time consuming and expensive divorces and other life altering situations, grandparents can often find themselves in a position to fill the void left by a parent. Maybe the parent has to find work in another town and is not able to be physically present as often due to traveling back and forth for work. Parents who are going through a divorce also can rely on grandparents as a temporary caretaker until their lives are more or less returned to normal. What happens, however, if mom or dad become addicted to drugs and a CPS investigation is opened against him or her. CPS INVOLVEMENT IN A FAMILY’S LIVES MAY LEAD TO GRANDPARENTS BECOMING RESPONSIBLE FOR A CHILD Family Lawyer Houston – If your son or daughter has an addiction to drugs and alcohol, an extremely difficult set of circumstances may arise where he or she is no longer able to care for your grandchild due to CPS intervention. Any person can make a CPS report against your child is he or she has put your child at risk of serious physical or emotional harm as a result of their substance abuse. If we take a look at CPS investigations across the State of Texas there is a high probability that drug or alcohol abuse in some way has impacted the life of at least one person involved in the case. Persons who are addicted to drugs or alcohol become fully consumed by their disease and will act out in any way that he or she believes will allow them to satisfy their desire for whatever addictive substance their body calls out for. WHERE DOES TEXAS LAW COME DOWN IN RELATION TO GRANDPARENTS IN CUSTODY CASES? Divorce Lawyers Houston – It may surprise you to learn that the laws in our state do not necessarily favor placing children with their grandparents over any other similarly situated party. Rather than make known to a CPS case worker that they are the primary caretakers for the child in question, grandparents will remain quiet and act as if the child has been living with his or her parents. In so doing, grandparents can inadvertently miss out on services offered by CPS for the caretakers of children involved in CPS investigations who are no longer living at home. It is natural for you as a grandparent to be worried not only about the well being of the grandchild who is in your care, but also for your child who is possibly suffering from their own difficult circumstances on top of any pending CPS investigation. To the degree that your worrying keeps you from learning about the law, how the law impacts your life and other services available to assist you in caring for your grandchild you are put in an even more difficult position. Are you on a fixed income from social security? Are you only able to work part time due to a disability that you suffer from or that your spouse suffers from that requires additional care throughout the day? These are the sort of real life concerns that grandparents often have in relation to CPS cases involving their grandchildren where they have taken on the responsibility as primary caretaker of the child. Family Attorney Houston – There is no specific right for grandparents to have even visitation with their grandchildren, so you can imagine how the deck may be stacked against you in terms of ultimately winning legal custody of your grandchild. However, you do have rights to initate legal proceedings on behalf of your grandchild. … Continue Reading
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Houston Divorce Lawyers – In part one of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan’s series on Child Protective Services, we discussed the basic framework of a CPS investigation and how the Agency defines child abuse. Today we will examine the legal definitions of child neglect as well as who the relevant parties to a CPS investigation are. HOW THE STATE OF TEXAS DEFINES NEGLECT OF A CHILD CPS will be looking for a scenario in which you have left your child in a situation where your child would be exposed to a substantial risk of physical or mental harm. This includes not arranging for child-care and displaying an intent to not return the child by you or any other conservator. Otherwise, simply placing a child in (act) or failing to remove a child from (omission) a situation that a reasonable person would understand requires judgment or actions beyond the child’s level of maturity, physical condition or mental abilities and that results in bodily injury or a substantial risk of immediate harm to the child is a definition that CPS will apply when investigating you. The third “major” definition of neglect as far as CPS is concerned is allowing your child to return to your home without first arranging for child care when the child was away from the home for any reasons. This includes things like having been placed with a temporary family for a period or time or having left your home on his or her own without your knowledge or consent. ONCE A CPS INVESTIGATION BEGINS WHO CAN YOU EXPECT TO BE INVOLVED? Houston Divorce Attorney – The number of persons involved in CPS investigation expands if and when a lawsuit has to be filed. CPS would in that case be represented by an attorney who will represent their interests in court and will utilize the evidence obtained by the CPS case worker. The purpose of any hearing or courtroom proceeding will be to allow CPS to maintain custody of your child or to remove first remove your child from your home. Attorney Ad Litem A second attorney that would be involved with any lawsuit filed by CPS is an Attorney ad Litem. An Attorney Ad Litem’s role in the case is to represent your child’s interests. “Wait a minute, you may be thinking- I thought that I represented my child’s interests since I’m the parent.” While this is true on some levels, in the context of a legal case initiated by CPS you will be representing your own interests which may be adverse to those of your child in the eyes of the law. As a result, your child will be assigned an attorney to represent him or her. The attorney’s only objective will be to place the interests of your child first and foremost. Guardian Ad Litem Houston Family Lawyer – The ad litem will often times interview you and your family and of course meet with your child to speak to him or her if your child is old enough. Other relevant parties like teachers, counselors, therapists or doctors can be interviewed by the ad litem attorney as well. Just as in other family law cases, the attorney ad litem will act in your child’s interests during courtroom proceedings and can make recommendations to the judge as to what is in your child’s best interests. The attorney ad litem acts as a guardian ad litem in their in-court capacity as described previously. CPS Caseworker The CPS caseworker who is conducting the investigation on behalf of CPS will be your primary point of contact during the course of the case. The caseworker is put on the case approximately three weeks after your child is removed from your home. It is critical that you maintain close contact with this caseworker even if communication proves difficult. The caseworker’s job is to ask questions and collect information that can be used in the CPS investigation. You will be assigned a safety plan that will require you to accomplish certain tasks in a specific time period in order for your child to return to your home. If you follow the safety plan, communicate regularly with the case worker and the investigation does not yield any positive findings the caseworker will close the case opened against you. Divorce Lawyer Houston – Finally, if you find yourself the subject of a CPS investigation and your child has been removed from your home the most important person involved in your case should be your attorney. Especially if a legal case has been started, you should have an attorney ready to represent your interests in court. As you’ve seen, just about every other party involved in your case will have an attorney available and you should as well. In termination cases the court can appoint you an attorney if you cannot afford to retain one yourself. Your attorney will file any necessary documents for the judge to review prior to a hearing and will speak on your behalf and advocate for you during courtroom appearances. Just as we are attempting to teach you some basic information about CPS investigations, your attorney will help you walk through your case with greater knowledge and understanding of the relevant issues. Houston Divorce – Your demeanor in the courtroom and in completing the steps of the safety plan can be critical to your being awarded your child at the end of the case. Your attorney will understand what is expected of you and will help you conduct yourself appropriately in court and in your day to day life as well… Continue Reading If you have need a best suitable Child Protective Law experience, Divorce Lawyer in Spring TX the great process.
Spring TX Divorce Lawyer – Unfortunately children suffer from abuse and neglect at the hands of caregivers or other adults all too often. With this in mind Child Protective Services (CPS) functions within the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) as a means to help ensure that the children of Texas are safe and that Texas families are educated about how to promote loving and safe homes. It’s possible that if you’re reading this blog that you were at one time a part of a CPS investigation. Maybe you are part of an active CPS investigation that is currently ongoing. If either of these situations are true, then you know that CPS encourages the participation of the parents of a child against whom abuse or neglect has been allegedly committed. The remainder of this blog post will discuss the purpose of a CPS investigation as well as the goals CPS aspires to achieve in each investigation it commences. THE GOALS ASSOCIATED WITH A CPS INVESTIGATION Spring Divorce Lawyer – When a report of abuse or neglect of your child comes in to CPS, an investigation begins in which a case worker will likely contact you to set up an interview. The overarching goal of CPS associated with your investigation is to ensure that your child is safe from abuse or neglect and then to return your child to your home as soon as possible. Until your home is determined to be safe, however, it is likely that your child will be removed from the home and placed in the care of another family- perhaps a relative of yours or your spouse if one is available. What does CPS do during the actual investigation? A CPS investigation will typically follow one of the three paths that I am about to list: 1. Take steps to create a safe environment for the child, hopefully allowing your child to remain in your home. Removing your child from your home is actually the last option that CPS will take advantage of and will not occur until and unless your home is determined to be unsafe for your child to continue to reside in. Family members or a temporary home with persons outside your family are potential landing spots for your child. 2. Help to find a substitute home for your child to live in while CPS works with you and your spouse to help ensure that your home is going to be a safe environment for your child to reside. 3. If necessary, CPS will seek legal recourse to ensure the safety of your child. This can range from filing a family lawcase to place your child with another family on a temporary or permanent basis. The most extreme example of a mechanism that CPS can use to ensure the safety of your child is to file a petition to terminateyour parental rights. A CPS INVESTIGATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOUR CHILD WILL HAVE TO LIVE APART FROM YOU Houston Divorce Lawyer – Just because CPS opens an investigation against you does not mean that your child is going to be removed from your care. The potential risk of harm apparent in your home is what CPS will look to in order to determine whether or not it is appropriate to leave your child in your care. Even if your child is removed there are steps that you will be asked to take, including attending classes and other training programs that will allow you to regain your child once you complete the coursework and counseling. WHAT HAPPENS IF A CPS INVESTIGATION RESULTS IN A FINDING AGAINST YOU? Divorce Lawyer in Houston – In the event that CPS conducts an investigation into alleged abuse or neglect that you committed against your child and the result of the investigation is that they determine that abuse or neglect did occur then your child will certainly be removed from your home. This may be a confusing time for you since how you define “abuse” and “neglect” may be different than how a CPS investigator does. As a result, knowing how CPS defines these terms can give you a better idea of how you will be judged by a case worker. Abuse as defined by Child Protective Services means either an act or omission (the failure to act) by a person that causes physical or mental harm. The mental injury must be such that there is an observable and substantial impairment of your child’s development and growth. An example of how an omission can potentially constitute abuse is when you have permitted your child to be in a situation that causes him or her to sustain a mental or emotional injury as discussed in the previous sentence. Likewise, if your child suffers physical injury due to your failing to have removed him or her from a situation in which the injury was preventable is also a type of abuse. Physical injuries of course count as abuse under the law in Texas that CPS will apply to your case. The key is that “substantial harm” or the threat of substantial harm must have occurred as a result. An accident or reasonable disciplinary measures are not counted among the kinds of abuse that CPS can remove a child over. Divorce Attorney Houston – Sexual conduct and abuse related to sex acts are included in the definition of abuse as well. You can consult the Texas Family Code to learn the multiple sexually based offenses that can potentially constitute child abuse in Texas… Continue Reading If you have need a best suitable serving your Family Law experience in Spring Divorce Lawyers in Houston Texas the great process.
Houston Family Law Lawyer – In a recent 14th Court of Appeals decision out of Houston, a Mother appealed the final order of a trial court that awarded the Father a modification in child custody case. This case presented a unique set of circumstances that I thought would be interesting for you all to read about in one of our blog posts. Let’s introduce the parties and their particular circumstances before we discuss what happened in the Court of Appeals. BACKGROUND OF THE DUFFEY FAMILY Family Lawyers in Houston – The case that we are going to discuss is Duffey v. Duffey (No. 14-16-00144-CV). The case involved a Mother, Father and two children. The parties began their journey through our legal system in 2010 when Mother and Father got a divorce from one another. The Final Decree of Divorce that came out of that case resulted in Mother being appointed the Sole Managing Conservator of the two children. Father became merely a Possessory Conservator who had supervised visitation. There is a presumption in Texas that appointing parents Joint Managing Conservators is in the best interest of the children, but in this instance the father had a history of committing family violence which trumped that presumption and resulted in Mother being named the Sole Managing Conservator of the children. Two years later, in 2012, an allegation was made against the father that he touched one of the children inappropriately. Mother made a call to the Department of Family and Protective Services and started taking their other child to therapy. Child number two made an allegation during one of her therapy sessions against the father and the therapist was duty bound to contact the Department as well. As Child Protective Services began to investigate the allegations, Father was allowed to continue with his supervised visits. MOTHER FILES A MODIFICATION AND FATHER FOLLOWS SUIT Family Law Attorneys Houston – Based on the aforementioned information, Mother filed a Modification in order to further restrict the contact the her ex-Husband would have with their children. Father filed a countersuit alleging that he had not been able to see his children over the prior year due to the Mother not allowing him contact with the children. He alleged that it was only recently that he was able to have supervised visits with the children through a hosting facility for supervised visitation called Guardians of Hope. Throughout the dual-modification case, Mother was contacting law enforcement about the allegations made against Father. She also took the children to a new therapist who also contacted the Department about what the children were saying about their father. Ultimately when all of the investigations were concluded, there were no findings made against Father and the cases were closed. Based in large part on the failure of the Department’s investigations to lead to any findings against the Father, Mother decided to have her case against the Father dismissed. However, Father’s modification case was still active and that case went to trial in front of the same judge who heard their divorce case. The trial had extremely favorable results for the Father. Not only was he named as a Joint Managing Conservator of the children along with Mother, but he was granted the exclusive right to determine the primary residence of the kids. This meant that essentially he gained a tremendous amount of rights and duties over the children while also gaining the right to have the children live with him primarily instead of Mother. On top of all of this, Mother was ordered to pay Father’s attorney fees and was on the hook for child support moving forward. AN APPEAL BY MOTHER CONCLUDES OUR STORY Houston Family Law Lawyers – Mother disagreed with the decisions made by the judge and she appealed the case. Let’s walk through two of the more relevant issues that Mother presented and discuss what the Court of Appeals did in response to each. Issue No. 1 Mother argued that during the trial the Father had answered a question whereby he basically admitted to sexual abuse against their daughter. The situation was that during the trial, Father’s attorney asked him why he thought the Mother had filed the modification in first place. Father stated that it was due to his having done something to the daughter. However, father also testified that he did not harm or abuse the daughter and as a result the Court of Appeals did not believe there to be enough evidence to support this argument. The Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court did not make an error in this regard. Issue No. 2 Mother argued that in appointing the Father Joint Managing Conservator, the court had made an error. The Court of Appeals noted that the trial court had laid out multiple reasons as to why it was in the best interests of the children for the father to be named a Joint Managing Conservator. As the Court of Appeals determined that there was sufficient evidence to back up these reasons, this point was overruled as well. How parental alienation figures into our discussion is that the trial court agreed with Father’s assertions that Mother had been keeping the children from Father to an unreasonable extent and alienating them from him. Family Law Lawyer Houston – The allegations of sexual abuse were determined to be unfounded and without merit. While the children were attending counseling sessions, Mother did not follow the recommendations of the counselors. The Court of Appeals found that there was sufficient evidence to support the lower court’s decision that parental alienation did occur. … Continue Reading If you have need a best suitable Law experience in Family Lawyer in Houston Texas the great process.
Houston Family Law Attorneys – For families where all of its members do not live under the same roof, technology can greatly enhance the bond between parents and children. Gone are the days where the only ways to get in touch with someone who was apart from you were by letter or telephone. Instantaneous communication methods like text messaging, video conference and e-mail are wide spread and available to most every person in the State of Texas. Improvements in technology and their mass appeal have led to opportunities to build relationships that were never before possible. If you are a parent who for whatever reason is not able to exercise visitation with your children by the standard means of physically being with your child, virtual visitation offers families the “next best thing” in terms of togetherness. What does virtual visitation mean and how can it play a role in your life? Today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan seeks to explain this topic further. INTRODUCTION TO VIRTUAL VISITATION Divorce Attorneys Houston – Texas is among several states that have worked virtual visitation into state laws concerning custody and visitation. Any technology that puts you in the same room as your child when you can’t physically be there counts as virtual visitation. Skype, webcams, cell phones with video capabilities and any similar technologies all count as platforms for virtual visitation. If the goal of a set visitation schedule is to encourage a long lasting relationship between a child and their parent, then virtual visitation can be a key tool to utilize when “normal” visitation is not possible. An easy example is to consider the parent who is away from home due to their serving in the military. These are parents that are deserving of an opportunity to raise their child and with the help of technologies that allow for virtual visitation they can do exactly that. WHERE THE LAW ON VIRTUAL VISITATION STANDS IN TEXAS Divorce Attorney in Houston – As I touched on earlier, Texas law does reflect the possibilities for virtual visitation. It’s not as if many other states don’t allow for it. It’s just that our State Legislators went the extra step and created statutes that reflect the reality of virtual visitation and made it possible for a judge to work this visitation method into child custody orders. We see virtual visitation implemented on a daily basis by family law courts when periods of electronic communication are either agreed to or ordered by a judge to appear in a child custody or divorce order. These periods of electronic communication would be ordered in addition to the in person visitation that is a part of child custody orders. The key for each court is to make a decision as to whether or not a virtual visitation schedule is appropriate for a particular family. The number one factor that a judge must consider is whether or not doing so would be in the best interests of the child in question. If you’ve read any blogs on the website of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan then you knew this one was coming. Number two, the judge must look to each parent and determine whether or not each of them have the ability and wherewithal to get the technology necessary to have virtual visitation sessions. Even though many of us can take these sort of technologies for granted, they are not as readily available as we may think. As a result, it is a real concern to judges that if he or she award virtual visitation rights to one parent the same right should be extended to the other parent as well. PROS AND CONS OF VIRTUAL VISITATION Houston Family Attorney – Like anything else in life, virtual visitation offers its own set of advantages and disadvantages that judges and parties to family law cases need to seriously consider. We’ve already touched on the biggest advantage of virtual visitation, in my opinion, that of allowing parents who are not able to be physically present with their child the opportunity to continue to build a strong parent-child relationship. This means being able to do things like attending sporting events of their children virtually, taking part in holidays and birthdays virtually as well as assisting with school work and other educational matters. Simply being present in some manner in a real way can make a tremendous difference in the life of your child’s life … Continue Reading If you have need a best suitable helping your School Child Custody Law experience in Family Lawyer Houston Texas the great process.
Family Attorney Houston – As we begin to enter the last stretch of the school year prior to summer vacation, you may have run into some issue in your child’s school-life that has caused you to reflect upon whether or not it would be a good idea to have him or her home schooled rather than attend the public or private school that he or she is currently enrolled in. However, your perceptions and opinions on this subject may be the polar opposite of those of your ex-spouse. Coming together and working out a solution given differing opinions can be hard enough for married people but is even more daunting for divorced parents. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan has seen parents that are divorced disagree sharply on whether or not their child should be home schooled. The question goes beyond whether or not the public or private schools in their area are “satisfactory” and hit on subjects relating to parenting philosophy and religion. AN EXAMPLE FROM OUR OFFICE RELATED TO HOME-SCHOOLING A prior client of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan saw their child, who lived with her mother primarily, become enrolled in a home school program rather than the public school that she had been attending for the entire length of her academic career. This gentleman came into our office to see first all whether or not his ex-wife had the ability to do this without his permission. Let’s walk through the discussion that he and I shared. We pulled a copy of his Final Decree of Divorce off the Harris County District Clerk’s website and had a look at what it said. Parental rights and duties are laid out in a section in Final Decrees called Conservatorship. Every parent in Texas shares rights and duties with their child’s other parent. Whether or not the parents are married depends on how those rights and duties are allocated. Specifically, issues related to educational, psychiatric and medical decisions are outlined within your court order. Many divorced parents have to work together in order to make a change to their child’s educational path. If you are in this position then you would need to contact your ex-spouse to determine what he or she thinks about a particular change that you would like to see made for your child. If your ex-spouse agrees that a change needs to be made but you cannot agree on the specific change in question then a third party is usually specified in the order who can play tie breaker. Divorce Lawyers Houston – Our former client’s order had he and his ex-wife sharing in a majority of the rights and duties of raising the child, but educational rights were almost entirely held by his wife. This got him to remembering that at the time of their divorce he was travelling a lot for work and was not able to be a part of many of the discussions that would be necessary to have if he were to share equally in the rights and duties as to school related matters. His ex wife did have the ability to pull his daughter out of public school and enroll her in a homeschool program. The fact of the matter was that his daughter was not doing well in public school and he believed that his ex wife did not take an interest in her education to the degree that he believed to be necessary. He was now in a place where he could take a more active role in the education of his daughter and sought a court order that would send his child back to public school. WHAT OUR CLIENT NEEDED TO SHOW A COURT IN ORDER TO SEND HER BACK TO PUBLIC SCHOOL The quality of the home school education that our client’s daughter had been receiving was the real issue. She was attending an online school that allowed her to work at her own pace and supposedly offered one on one tutoring and teaching when and if she needed it in any particular subject. The classes were taught by licensed, experienced educators in Texas on top of that. Divorce Attorneys in Houston – Our client was able to gain access to the curriculum for the program that his daughter was going through and it was not at all detailed compared to what even a basic public school curriculum would ordinarily feature. The program jumped around from subject to subject and there did not seem to be a common thread on any of the subject matter in any given subject. I’m not an expert on education whatsoever, but even I could tell this. In attempting to modify his court order to provide him with an equal say in the educational life of his daughter, our client was able to get access to his daughter’s test scores from the online school that showed her doing even worse in the online school than she was in public school. It is difficult to compare the educational merits of public and online schools in many situations, but test scores are one way to do so. Further strengthening his case were the attendance records of the child. We were able to show a judge that his daughter was failing to turn in classwork on a regular basis and not checking in for her lessons each day either. The point we were attempting to argue, that the online environment allowed for missed classes with greater ease than a public school, was hammered home when our client’s ex-wife was called to testify. She noted that the poor attendance record was due in part to her being unable to log her daughter into the online program for sometimes days on end. It came out that his ex-wife not only was not computer savvy but barely knew how to work a computer. Houston Divorce Attorneys – The judge was not impressed by the curriculum, the child’s attendance or grades and saw little benefit to drastically changing the educational plan of child who was already struggling in an environment that offered greater support systems. Couple these factors with the reality that our client’s ex wife enrolled their child in an online school when the mother herself did little research into the program and the judge ordered the child back into public school and did allow our client greater decision making in areas of academics… Continue Reading If you have need a best suitable helping your Child Law experience Divorce Attorney Houston in Texas the great process.
Houston Divorce Lawyers – You don’t need to read a blog post to know that your divorce is going to be difficult on your child. Children thrive on stability and consistency in all facets of their lives and when those characteristics are removed then their behavior and outlook may change significantly from what they once were. The worst part is that your divorce probably has little to nothing to do with your child and everything to do with the relationship between you and your spouse being flawed beyond repair. Now that the decision has been made by one of you to file for divorce you can try to help the divorce occur as quickly as possible so that you and your child can move on with the rest of your lives. While coping techniques for adults are widely promoted and encouraged- such as attending counseling and therapy sessions, meditation, seeking solace in friends and family- we often just think of our children as being resilient and able to “bounce back” from emotional setbacks like their parents getting divorced. From my experience in working with parents going through a divorce I can report to you that this is not always the case. What we will discuss in this blog today are tips to help your children make their way through your divorced and out the other side the same happy, well adjusted child that he or she was prior to the divorce beginning. KEEP YOUR LEGAL MATTERS BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE Never, ever discuss your divorce case with your child. For one, it’s likely that there are temporary orders in place in your case that bar you from doing so during the divorce. Once the divorce is finalized your Final Decree of Divorce will do the same. Your child, while seemingly mature in some areas, is not going to be able to understand and contextualize your divorce like an adult would. Family Law Attorney Houston – Furthermore, while you may be looking for a person to talk to during the divorce do not seek out your child no matter how convenient it may be. Confide in friends, family, members of your church or a therapist. Let your child hang on to their childhood as long as possible, especially during a difficult time like a divorce. DO REPEAT THAT YOU (AND YOUR SPOUSE) LOVE YOUR CHILD- NO MATTER WHAT Unconditional love is a concept that parents know good and well, but children do not. Your child’s emotional development is not near complete and what’s more it’s likely that he or she feels especially vulnerable during the time in which you and their other parent are divorcing. Having a sit down conversation with him or her to confirm how much you and their other parent love them can be incredibly important. Reaffirming this love throughout the process can go a long way towards helping your child feel whole and cared for in this difficult time. STABILITY AND CONSISTENCY DON’T HAVE TO COMPLETELY GO AWAY DURING THE DIVORCE Houston Divorce Attorney – At the outset of this blog post I noted that children thrive on consistency and stability. While it is unavoidable that your child’s life will change not only temporarily but also permanently as a result of your divorce, you and your spouse can make an effort to minimize those changes at least initially. Allowing your child to remain in the home, attend the same school and participate in their normal extracurricular activities can provide your child a welcomed respite from the upheaval that may be going on in other areas of their lives. An area that is, in my opinion, not discussed as much as it should be is the ability of your child to maintain relationships with members of both your and your spouse’s families. It may be difficult for you to do but I encourage you to encourage your child to keep in touch and spend time members of both sides of his or her extended families. Again, it may be unrealistic to expect to be able to spend the same amount of time with these people after the divorce but those relationships provide a level of routine and stability for your child. Completely disregarding them during the divorce is an error that I believe is avoidable. BEGIN TO CO-PARENT YOUR CHILD DURING THE DIVORCE- DON’T WAIT UNTIL IT’S OVER Houston Family Lawyer – The months that your divorce lasts offers you and your spouse a “dry run” to co-parent together. I realize that attempting to work together with the person that you are divorcing may seem difficult- that’s because it will most likely be difficult. Here’s the thing though- that unconditional love that you have for your child that we were discussing earlier? Your spouse has that same sort of love for your child. The faster each of you understands that the better… Continue Reading If you have need a best suitable Law experience Spring Divorce Lawyers in Houston Texas Residents the great process.
Divorce Lawyer in Spring TX – One of the least common family law cases that attorneys and courts run into are annulments. Divorces, child custody cases and even adoptions are more prevalent than annulments. Let’s spend today’s blog post discussing this subject and the grounds for achieving an annulment as opposed to a divorce. WHAT EXACTLY IS AN ANNULMENT? In a divorce, the court is legally terminating the marriage between yourself and your spouse. This isn’t taking an eraser to the marriage, it’s more or less crossing out the marriage on a piece of paper. The marriage is still in the record books but it is no longer valid. An annulment on the other hand formally dissolves a marriage on the basis that it was invalid to begin with and should not have been granted. This is the clean sweep, eraser to pencil type of dissolving that a divorce cannot achieve. It is much more difficult to be granted an annulment compared to a divorce, however, due to the grounds being harder to satisfy in order to qualify for one. VOID VS. VOIDABLE MARRIAGE- WHY THIS DISTINCTION IS IMPORTANT Spring TX Divorce Lawyer – A voidable marriage is one in which the marriage itself is valid and recognized by the State of Texas until the time that the annulment is granted and the marriage is declared invalid as a matter of law. A void marriage is one in which the marriage was never valid and never recognized by the State of Texas. Let’s look at an example in order to make this distinction a little more clear. A marriage can be classified as voidable and is therefore able to be annulled if the parties to the marriage were under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the exchange of vows/time the marriage was being formalized. This marriage is a valid marriage in the eyes of the law until an annulment is sought and granted by a court. An example of a void marriage is one where one spouse was already married at the time of the marriage vows being exchanged. This sort of relationship is not a legal marriage, is not valid and is not recognized in the eyes of the law. AN ANNULMENT- EASIER SAID THAN DONE For the most part, annulments are not as easily achieved as you might ordinarily believe. There are circumstances that meet the requirements for an annulment but there must be evidence that can be presented to a court in order to allows the annulment to be granted. The remainder of this blog post will detail the grounds that parties may cite for their reason for asking for the annulment. MARRIAGE OF PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF 18 Spring Divorce Lawyer – An annulment may be granted in the event that one of the parties is 16 or 17 years of age and did not receive parental consent prior to the marriage. If a party to the marriage is under the age of 16 the marriage is void and an annulment is not necessary as the marriage is not valid and cannot be recognized as a matter of law. A parent or legal guardian may file for the annulment but must be done before the minor’s 18th birthday. ONE OR BOTH PARTIES TO THE MARRIAGE WERE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS OR ALCOHOL This is perhaps the most well known ground for asking for an annulment. There have been so many TV and movie plots surrounding this scenario that we could spend all day listing them. A person who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol lacks the capacity to consent to the marriage, rendering the marriage voidable. A key point to understand, however, is that you cannot argue that the marriage is voidable on the grounds of intoxication if you have been living with your spouse since the time of the origination of the marriage. It probably is not a good idea, therefore, to shack up or continue to shack up with your spouse if you seek to annul the marriage on these grounds. IMPOTENCY If either you or your spouse were impotent at the time your marriage came to be you can present evidence to that affect in order to be granted an annulment in Texas. If you are the spouse seeking the annulment you must prove that you were unaware of the impotency of your partner at the time of your marriage and must also show that you have not been living with your spouse since having found out about the impotency. FRAUD, DURESS OR FORCE A shotgun marriage will not suffice. If your spouse forced you or otherwise used duress or fraud to induce you into a marriage you can request an annulment. Again- do not live with your spouse since you became aware of the fraud or after the force or duress ended. MENTAL INCAPACITY Houston Divorce Lawyer – Either you or your spouse can seek an annulment on grounds that either of you were mentally incapacitated at the time of the marriage. To prove the incapacity you or your spouse must prove to a court that you lacked the ability to consent to the marriage and since the marriage took place you have not lived together during a time in which either of you gained the ability to recognize and consent to the marriage. If basing the annulment on the incapacity of the other spouse, you must show that you were unaware of the mental incapacity of your spouse during the time of the marriage. CONCEALED DIVORCE You can also annul your marriage if you can show a court that your spouse got a divorce immediately before your marriage began and that you had no clue about your spouse’s prior marriage or divorce. Additional requirements include the divorce having occurred within 30 days before marrying you. You must bring your annulment action before your one year anniversary of marriage. Here’s a shocker- you can’t have lived with your spouse since finding out about the prior marriage and divorce. GETTING MARRIED WITH 72 HOURS AFTER OBTAINING YOUR MARRIAGE LICENSE Divorce Lawyer in Houston – You must wait at least 72 hours from the time you obtained your marriage license. If you did not, … Continue Reading If you have need a best suitable Child Custody Law experience Family Law Attorney Houston in Texas the great process.
Houston Family Lawyer – Many, many potential clients of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan have walked into a free of charge consultation with me and have let me know that their number one goal for their divorce or child custody case is to win “full custody” of their child. To be fair, I do always ask what a person’s goal is by pursuing a lawsuit because I want to know their mindset. I don’t tell them anything about they law before he or she answers. Full custody, however, is not a legal term but the point the person is trying to communicate is clear- he or she would like more time with their child than the other parent gets. INTIMIDATION IS THE SOURCE FOR PURSUING FULL CUSTODY MUCH OF THE TIME I will grant you that many people, perhaps you can be included in this group, have legitimate reasons in your own mind as to why you want “full custody” of your child. Maybe your child’s other parent is unreliable and neglectful in his or her parenting. It could be that your child or yourself have suffered abuse at their hands. I’m not diminishing your position if that is indeed the case. A lot of time, though, one parent will attempt to scare the other by telling him or her they their plan is to file a lawsuit in order to win full custody of the child and to limit the access that the other parent has to their child. At that point the parent who made the full custody threat will list out some demands and the threatened parent will either give in or risk a child custody lawsuit being filed. Many people outright want to have the other parent’s rights terminated, as if he or she never existed before. Other folks merely want to restrict the amount with which their child has to visit the other parent. Regardless, you should know that it is very, very rare for a parent’s parental rights to be terminated by a Texas court. When we talk about physical possession of your child and the ability to make decisions for him or her that is placing a tremendous amount of responsibility on your shoulders while eliminating a source of income and stability for the child as well. Making threats to potentially take a child away from a parent is usually a recipe for disaster- or at least a long, drawn out lawsuit. TERMINATING THE RIGHTS OF A PARENT IN TEXAS IS DIFFICULT Houston Family Lawyers – If you’ve ever spoken to your child’s other parent out of frustration or anger then you can count yourself among a large group of persons. Even married parents speak to each other in ways that in retrospect probably was not appropriate or warranted. With that said, even though your emotions can get the best of you when it comes to the well being of your child, a termination lawsuit in the Texas family courts is not based on how badly you want to see someone’s rights be terminated. Rather, the law in Texas holds that a court must find that there is sufficient evidence to terminate the parent’s rights and that doing so is in the best interest of your child. It is somewhat easy by comparison to meet one of those standards but much more difficult to meet both. REASONS WHY TERMINATION MAY BE ALLOWED The Texas Family Code in section 161.001(b) sets forth the situations that warrant the involuntary termination of a parent’s parental rights. The laundry list includes voluntary acts like leaving the child with another person with no intent to return (abandonment), failing to support the child for six months continuously, committing certain crimes such as murder or simply placing the child in a situation where it the well being of the child is in danger. While these type of offenses should not surprise you, what may be surprising is learning that the offense that the other parent has committed against you or your child is not included in that list. Failing to pick the child up for weekend visitation on time, making snide remarks about you in front of your child and not always paying your child support on time are not included in the Family Code as reasons why parental rights could be terminated. BE PREPARED TO PRESENT EVIDENCE IN THE EVENT YOU PETITION A COURT FOR PARENTAL RIGHTS TERMINATION Houston Family Law Attorney – The bottom line is that asking a court to terminate the parental rights of your child’s other parent is a big deal… Continue Reading |
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December 2018
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