Dallas Divorce Lawyer Blog

Kaufman County Divorce Courts

April 11, 2014 | by Guest and Gray Law Firm

There are several courts within Kaufman County, but only two of them hear divorce, custody, Child Protective Service (CPS), and IV-D or Attorney General cases. If you file for divorce or custody in Kaufman County, the case would be filed in the Kaufman County District Clerk’s office and then the clerk randomly assigns the cases between the 86^th Judicial District Court and the 422^nd Judicial District Court. Because of this random assignment, you cannot choose which court your case will be assigned in.

While some CPS and IV-D cases are heard by our district judges, most are heard by the Associate Judges. Judge Snarr is the current Associate Judge on the CPS cases and Judge Martinez is the current Associate Judge on the IV-D cases. IV-D or Attorney General cases are all child support cases started by the Attorney General’s office meaning the Attorney General is the petitioner. The courtroom for CPS and IV-D is the same one and it is located at the South Campus in Kaufman County, not the actual courthouse on the square.

As you can imagine, all four of the judges have different policies/standards in these types of cases.

Kaufman County Real Estate Lawyer: Always Consult With Your Lawyer

March 21, 2014 | by Robert Guest

Below is the story of a real estate transaction gone wrong.

What Happened?

Almost 20 years ago, Reed agreed to buy about 600 acres from Bill in Kaufman County with Reed making monthly payments for 15 years. Bill later borrowed money from American National Bank, which is primarily located in Kaufman County in Forney. To pay off the loan, Bill assigned the monthly payments to the bank, and Reed began paying the bank. The IRS later had claims against Bill and instructed Reed to pay them. Because Reed was confused on whether payments were owed to the bank or the IRS, he missed at last one payment. As a result, Bill claimed Reed was in default, that the property was forfeited, and Bill sold the property to a third party and paid off the debt owed to the bank.

Kaufman County Expunctions and Non-Disclosures

March 18, 2014 | by Robert Guest

The stuff that will stay on your record is kind of crazy. If you got into a small altercation with a family member for which you were arrested only to have the charges dropped soon after, this could show up on your record when applying for a job years later. In a case like that where the charges are dropped and the case is dismissed, you may eligible to have your record expunged. If you do what is called pre-trial diversion, you can also get an expunction. Pre-trial diversion is like an off-the-books version of probation. The District Attorney may require you to do certain things and will dismiss the case once you have completed the requirements. But no formal probation is ever ordered or agreed to. If you do agree to probation or deferred adjudication, you can’t get an expunction, but you can get an order of non-disclosure issued.

So what’s the difference between an expunction and an order of non-disclosure? When a judge signs an order for expunction, any agency with record of the arrest and court case must destroy the record. But when a judge signs an order of non-disclosure, any agency with a record of the arrest and court case is prevented from making the record available to anyone. The effect of an order for expunction and an order for non-disclosure is essentially the same. No one should be able to find out about the record.

If you’d like to know a little more about expunctions, please check out this blog post written by my boss, Robert Guest: Texas Expunctions 101. In that post, Mr. Guest goes into a little more detail about the requirements for getting an expunction and discusses several fact scenarios where an expunction might or might not be attainable.

Kaufman County Injury Lawsuits

March 3, 2014 | by Robert Guest

There are a variety of personal injury claims, and the attorneys at Guest & Gray, P.C. on Forney, Texas have experience handling all types of personal injury claims. Our personal injury attorneys have over 40 combined years of experience in personal injury litigation. Below are a few examples of personal injury claims as well as a few common questions asked in regard to personal injury litigation. Call (972)564-4644 to set up an initial consultation with one of our personal injury attorneys.

Motorcycle riders get a bad rap for recklessness and too often get blamed for the actions of others when a motorcycle accident occurs.

When products we don’t operate properly and cause harm, the manufacturer may have products liability.

Spousal Maintenance for Disabled Spouse Post-Divorce: What if I Still Need It?

February 28, 2014 | by Guest and Gray Law Firm

You are divorced and in your final orders you were awarded spousal maintenance on the basis of your disability and inability to earn sufficient income. So, you went through all of the stages of proving your disability and proving that you could not earn the money that you need to meet your minimum reasonable needs and the judge ordered that your ex-spouse a certain amount per month to you for a certain period of time. As you know, spousal maintenance is governed by Chapter 8 of the Family Code and with respect to a disabled spouse, it does state that maintenance can be ordered for as long as the disability persists (longer than the statutorily limited period of time). If it is nearing the ending date of your receipt of the monthly spousal support payments, you are becoming worried because you do not know what you are going to do at this point. Can you seek further maintenance from the Court because you are still disabled and need the money to survive?

This question was directly addressed in Stephanie Ann Novick v. Andrew A. Shervin by the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas. There, the trial court held that the wife was “presently disabled” and ordered that the husband should pay her “$2000 per month for 24 months.” When the time was drawing near for the husband’s payments to cease, the wife filed a motion to modify to continue the support payments and the trial court dismissed that claim to which the wife appealed. Therefore, the Dallas Court of Appeals had to determine whether or not the trial court erred in failing to honor the wife’s request in continuing the spousal support payments. In doing do, the Court reviewed a few other appellate cases involving this particular issue to seek guidance which led the Court to render a bright line rule to determine whether or not the support payments could be continued.

The Court held, “An award of spousal maintenance in a divorce decree is properly the subject of a motion for continuance only if the decree indicates the trial judge intended to make the award pursuant to section 8.054(b) rather than 8.054(a).” Section 8.054(b) allows a trial court to find the spouse disabled (giving guidance as to how and what it means) and in finding the spouse to be disabled, the trial court will make an award of maintenance. This award can be made subject to periodic request based upon the request of either party and also subject to a motion to modify. However, Section 8.504(a) places a duration limit on how long the court can award the maintenance for (5 years) and states that a trial court must render the shortest period possible unless the spouse’s ability to earn income is totally diminished by physical or mental disability. The key for this Court was that you can seek continuance of the maintenance if the award was under Section 8.054(b). An example of this type of award would be where a spouse is found to be permanently disabled, awarded spousal maintenance for longer than 5 years, and the Court also order that the spouse receiving support can seek continuance beyond the court-ordered termination date.

The Dangers of Handling Family Law Cases Without an Attorney

February 27, 2014 | by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Unfortunately, there are several horror stories about parties appearing pro se (without legal representation) in divorce, child custody, child support, etc. cases. In fact, most of the time people make the mistake thinking that they can take care of the case themselves and then realize after the fact that they completely screwed it all up. They then come to hire an attorney to unscrew those problems, which is most of the time easier said than done. The best advice that can be given is to hire an attorney right at the beginning to ensure that you are fully protected and correctly advised throughout the entire proceeding. You do not want to go through an entire divorce and then realize that you did something very bad and then try to appeal it, also on your own. Because it can almost be guaranteed that if you attempt the second feat, appealing a case, on your own it will most definitely not go in your favor.

This issue was directly addressed in In the Interest of C.M., A Child by the 5^th District Court of Appeals in Dallas. In that case, the mother and father appeared and agreed to the terms of their divorce, including the child custody terms. The Court, on the record, ensured several times that the mother understood what she was agreeing to and that this was in fact the final hearing and final orders to which the mother replied that she did understand. Unfortunately, the mother realized what she had agreed to post-prove up and realized that basically stripped her of parental rights and left her with only supervised visits. Therefore, without representation she thought she would appeal the divorce orders with respect to custody stating that she did not understand and she did not consent to the terms as they were based on “false accusations that were not proven.” However, the Court of Appeals revealed the record of testimony (which is made at all prove ups) and discovered that she did consent to the terms, several times, and even stated she understood several times.

What most people do not understand when they represent themselves is that they do have a right, when facing a consent judgment or agreed order, to withdraw your consent at any time before the judgment is rendered by the court. So, the problem in this case was that mother had failed to do that and was trying to withdraw her consent post-divorce which the Court of Appeals held cannot happen. In fact, the Court stated, “Agreed judgments, once rendered, are contracts between the parties that excuse error and operate to end all controversy between the parties.” Pate v. Pate, 874 S.W.2d 186, 188 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, writ denied. Therefore, the Court held that they believed the mother’s appeal “was intended to constitute a withdrawal of her consent to the terms agreed upon at the bench trial” which was improper. In the Interest of C.M., at page 11.

Post-Majority Expenses/Support—You May Have an Order, But Is It Enforceable?

February 25, 2014 | by Guest and Gray Law Firm

You have a pending case involving a child (divorce, SAPCR, modification) and child support has been established. However, like most parents you are concerned about the future—what happens when the children go to college, how will I afford their expenses then? Most people say that you can “save the child support” but that is not ideal. Children are expensive and it is highly likely that you will spend all of the child support and then some with all of the things that come up throughout their lives until they turn 18 or graduate from high school. Child support ends on “removal of the child’s disabilities for general purposes, the marriage or death of a child, or a finding by the court that the child is 18 years of age or older and is no longer enrolled in high school or a high-school equivalent program.” In the Interest of W.R.B. and B.K.B., Children. So, what are your options to ensure that your children can get a college education and have support from the other parent?

This issue is addressed in In the Interest of W.R.B. and B.K.B., Children from the 5^th District Court of Appeals in Dallas. There, the Dallas Court of Appeals addressed the issue of post-majority support which is defined as applying “only to a non-disabled child who is 18 years of age or older and is no longer enrolled in high school or a high-school equivalent program” Tex. Fam. Code Section 154.001(a). Therefore, this creates or allows for a specific scenario in which the other parent would still be required to make support payments. In this case, the Court held that the trial court cannot order post-majority support on its own volition but the parties can agree to post-majority support in writing. In the agreed modification orders, the parties had done just that. Therefore, the Court of Appeals held that it was proper for the trial court to render the order of post-majority support. However, the issue then became that the obligor parent stopped paying the post-majority expenses and so the recipient or obligee parent filed an enforcement action seeking reimbursement of all of the expenses, attorneys’ fees and interest.

The Dallas Court of Appeals held that for post-majority support, this is after the child ages out and was based purely upon the parties’ agreement and so therefore it is not enforceable in a family law court under the Texas Family Code. Rather, the proper avenue is breach of contract. This is because the agreed orders, with respect to the post-majority support, are considered a contract because it is an agreement of the parties not based upon legal authority. This is unlike the issue of child support that was ordered which remains enforceable even post-aging out of the children because the Court still maintains jurisdiction over that issue as it was awarded under the family code.

Kaufman County Accident and Injury Lawyer

February 24, 2014 | by Robert Guest

Guest & Gray, P.C. is the largest law firm in Kaufman County and has a wealth of experience with personal injury cases. Our personal injury attorneys have more than a combined 40 years of experience litigating personal injury claims. And our personal injury attorneys have secured multiple settlements in excess of $1,000,000. If you or a loved one has been injured, our experience personal injury attorneys would be happy to meet with you during an initial consultation to discuss your case, the options available to you and how we can help. Below are some links to our discussion of some specific types of personal injury claims.

The difference between assault and battery might surprise you, and assault and battery aren’t just criminal matters. A victim of either may have a personal injury claim.

If you’ve been injured in a bicycle accident, this post will tell you what kind of damages may be available to you.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: What You Can Do When Creditors Are Harassing You

January 28, 2014 | by Robert Guest

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

The debt defense team at Guest & Gray in Forney has helped many clients defend lawsuits brought against them by debt collectors. In 2013, we saved our clients over $150,000 via settlements and dismissals. But there are times when it’s the client that should be bringing the lawsuit against the debt collector and not the other way around.

If you’ve ever had a debt collector after you, you know how aggressive they can be. And that aggression often crosses the line. Thankfully, the law provides consumers some protection from over-aggressive debt collectors. Both Texas law and Federal law have a fair debt collection practices act in place to give consumers the ability to sue these debt collectors when they cross the line.

Texas’ Recognition of an Out-of-State Divorce Decree: A Look into the Court of Appeals’ Approach

January 17, 2014 | by Guest and Gray Law Firm

Chapter 8 of the Texas Family Code governs spousal maintenance, Texas’ own form of “alimony”. Spousal maintenance is not easily obtained by divorcing parties; in fact, the legislature has created a pretty high threshold. But, the issue becomes what if you have an out of state decree that speaks to spousal support and then you have the spouse ordered to pay subsequently wanting to get out of that arrangement? This is the exact issue that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals addressed in In the Interest of L.T.H., R.R.H., and A.W.H., Minor Children.

In that case, the wife appealed a trial court’s ruling to refuse to enforce a California divorce decree modification and the husband’s obligation to pay spousal support. In California, husband and wife were divorced, subsequently modified the divorce decree in California with a settlement agreement, and entered a reformed decree. Then, everyone subsequently moved to Texas. Later, the wife sought to enforce against the husband several times due to his nonpayment of the spousal support and child support. After the first enforcement, the parties signed a mediated settlement agreement agreeing to certain terms regarding the spousal support (payment was definitely one of those terms) and then an order was subsequently entered. The wife had to seek a subsequent enforcement due to the husband not paying again pursuant to the orders and in that case, the trial court ordered that they could not enforce the modification of the California decree and ordered that wife take-nothing. However, the Court of Appeals thought differently and reversed and remanded ruling that they would strictly comply with the parties’ MSA, uphold the MSA and the parties’ agreement.

The Court of Appeals reviewed this case under contract law, which is sometimes unusual when discussing family law cases. However, most people forget that every agreement entered into (when the proper elements are present), create a contract between the parties that can be enforceable as such. The Court of Appeals looked to previous appellate decisions to reach this decision such as Schwartz v. Schwartz which held that “When such an agreement is executed by the parties and incorporated into the judgment of a divorce, it is binding upon the parties, and is interpreted under general contract law.” Schwartz v. Schwartz, 247 S.W.3d 804, 806 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2008, no pet.). Therefore, the Court would not review the MSA under Chapter 8 of the Texas Family Code stating that this was a contract turned into a court order which did not effectively create court ordered maintenance under the Texas Family Code.