Managing your family law case (and your emotions) when the opposing party is mentally incompetent

1. Managing your family law case (and your emotions) when the opposing party is mentally incompetent On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Managing your family law case (and your emotions) when the opposing party is mentally incompetent with the immense procedure! Houston Family Lawyers: In yesterday’s blog post we introduced the idea that if you have been served with divorce or child custody papers that were filed by your child’s other parent your brief thoughts regarding their mental stability may not be so far-fetched after all. Many family lawcases that end up turning into time and money nightmares were filed by mentally incompetent persons or those with personality disorders.

2. Once the case has been filed how can you and your attorney manage your case and keep you from feeling like your life is being taken for a ride by a person that may or may not be mentally equipped to understand the full effect of their actions. Today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC will discuss that subject. Setting your expectations when your opposing party is not mentally stable While you, your attorney and even the opposing attorney may see a situation in a certain light it is unlikely that your opposing party will agree with your assessment. Remember- reality does not apply to the person with extremely harsh and black/white views of the world and your family law case. It is a fool’s errand to attempt to convey messages appealing to their rational side. When the truth and the real world are not applicable to a person, you and your attorney will need to figure out ways to communicate ideas that do not rely upon a person’s understanding or acceptance of reality. The best way to do this is to constantly keep the focus of the case on your child. This goes for any family law case that involves child custody, but I believe it is especially true in a situation where the opposing party has a mental illness or personality disorder. It is unlikely that you will ever get him or her to see things from your vantage point or to see you as an equal or as deserving a parent as he or she. It is likely that on some level he or she wants what is best for your child and loves your child in whatever ways he or she is capable of expressing love. This can mean that while negotiating with your opposing party your attorney can utilize language that does not draw a distinction between you and the other party, but rather brings everything back to the child. This is literally the only common ground that each of you share. Your sense of reality is different, your sense of each other is different and your feelings about why you are involved in the case are different. Take the one thing that you share common ground on and base your negotiations on that. Taking the case to court: How a family law judge can impact a case involving a mentally ill party Houston Family Law Attorney: While you may not relish the opportunity to bring your family law case in front of a judge, unfortunately, your opposing party will probably not share in that feeling. While you have done “something” in the eyes of the opposing party to wrong him or her, the judge in your case is the person that can hand out justice and cause you to harm due to your “bad actions”. If you think that a judge will be able to see through all this nonsense and give you the relief that you are seeking then you may be in for a rude awakening. I say this because a judge often lacks the ability to perceive and identify a person with a mental illness or personality disorder and a result your case can be prolonged unless you attempt to call these conditions to the attention of the judge. Filing a motion to have the opposing party examined for a mental illness can be effective to at least bring to the judge’s attention the difficulties that he or she have been causing you. However, when mental health professionals become involved in a case we often see their opinions not going far enough to isolate the specific characteristics and personality traits that

3. identify a person as having a mental illness or being wholly mentally incompetent to engage in litigation involving a child. With that said, your case can continue despite having other professional persons become involved that had an opportunity to nip in the bud the desire of your opposing party to prolong the case. Many times the allegations that you make against your opposing party will be met with allegations against you. While the allegations made against you may be baseless and untrue, a judge will need to give equal weight to them until proven otherwise. If this seems unbelievable or downright stupid then you can join the club of attorneys and litigants have experienced those same thoughts. The fact remains that persons with personality disorders or mental illness can be master manipulators. A judge does not have the time to be able to perform individual assessments of your character and relies on the facts and circumstances presented to him or her to make decisions. The bottom line is that unless you and your attorney are consistent in your petitions to the court to have the mental health of an opposing party evaluated mental illness or disorders may go undiagnosed. This is bad for your child, bad for you and bad for your case. A situation that could have been resolved with relative quickness can be drawn out due to unacknowledged mental issues with the opposing party in your case. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC: Experienced advocates for southeast Texas families Divorce Lawyers in Houston: The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC represent clients from all walks of life. In doing so we have encountered opposing parties who have offered challenges that we meet in order to best represent our clients and their families. To schedule a free of charge consultation with one of our licensed family lawattorneys please do not hesitate to contact our office today. A consultation is free of charge and can go a long way towards answering your questions and providing you with peace of mind …Continue Reading divorce divorce law divorce lawyer divorce attorney family Family Law fagan bryan fagan attorney attorneys texas attorneys Houston Houston lawyers Texas Dec 18th, 2019 MORE YOU MIGHT LIKE Family Law Cases where a party is mentally incompetent

4. On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Family Law Cases where a party is mentally incompetent with the immense procedure! Houston Family Lawyer: If you have been through a divorce or child custody case involving your child’s other parent you may have stopped to ask yourself at various points in the case whether the opposing party has something “wrong” with him or her. You may have even commented to your attorney that he or she seems to be acting strangely in filing the lawsuit in the first place. It may surprise you to learn that many people involved in family law cases suffer either from mental illness or personalities disorders. While I couldn’t say that you experienced this type of situation it is not uncommon. What is a personality disorder? A personality disorder is a medical term that describes people who have exaggerated personality characteristics- to the point where those characteristics begin to dominate who he or she is. Their ability to function on a day to day basis will have become extremely limited as a result. This is opposed to a mental illness which encompasses not only a person’s mental state but also their mood, relations to other people as well as their activities of daily living.

5. The most important aspect of a personality disorder or mental illness is how each of these conditions impacts the lives of the people in the immediate vicinity of the suffering individual. Considering that coming into contact with a mentally ill person on the street can be a challenge, your ability to parent and possibly engage in litigation with one can be extremely taxing. Characteristics of a person with mental illness or a personality disorder Divorce Lawyer Houston: If you have just been served with a divorce or child custody modification suit seemingly out of nowhere then you may have a mentally ill person or at least an opposing party with a personality disorder as an opposing party. Unfortunately, if you identify the traits of a personality disorder sufferer in your child’s other parent you may be in for a long and drawn out case. These folks do not live their lives based on reality or objective fact. Their own sense of right and wrong is shaped by a reality that is only apparent in their own minds. What kind of behavior can you identify to have a good idea as to whether or not a person has a personality disorder? For starters, if your opposing party has an extremely unbending view of the case and is unwilling to negotiate or move off of his or her previously held opinions that are a strong sign of a person suffering from a personality disorder. While I am not saying that every person who holds strong opinions has a personality disorder, I would say that if you are willing to compromise on a certain issue but have never seen your opposing party be willing to do so that may be time to speak to your attorney. Another characteristic that I have seen in opposing parties that have mental stability issues is deflection towards their own shortcomings. If your opposing party is volleying accusations at you of being unhinged mentally or dangerous or anything in between this is a deflection method to keep you from identifying their own personality disorders and possible mental illness. If he or she believes they are under attack or threat from you, your attorney or anyone else they can become extremely angry and will say or do anything to protect themselves and their worldview. Finally, in the world of a person with a mental illness or personality disorder, everything is either black or white. As an attorney, we operate in the “grey” in almost every case that we are involved in. So you can see from an attorney’s perspective how a person who lives in an all or nothing world can really complicate a divorce or child custody case. Their position is completely right and your position is completely wrong. Your child would be provided with the greatest life known to mankind if allowed to live with him or her. Your child would be doomed to live a life of squalor and difficulty is allowed to live with you primarily. There is nothing in between either extreme with people like this. Once a case gets moving identifying mental illness in a client or opposing party can be difficult From an attorney’s perspective, it can often be difficult to pinpoint when something is wrong with a client. Certainly, we represent people from all walks of life and backgrounds so it would not be fair, or frankly in our area of expertise, to pick out individuals as being mentally incompetent. As a result, a case is filed and the litigation process begins and the sort of

6. characteristics that we would normally associate with a person who is suffering mentally are not observed in time. As a result, a mentally incompetent person can file a child custody modification based on perceptions or thoughts that are not based in reality. This is what I meant earlier when I noted that if you’ve been involved in child custody case before you may have stopped and pondered whether or not your opposing party was living in the same world that you were. Judges are not exposed to either you or the other party to a sufficient degree to identify mental incompetency. With all this said a long, drawn out and expensive case can result due to the unchecked behavior of a person who is not healthy from a mental standpoint. Tomorrow’s blog post: Managing a case with an opposing party who has a mental illness Houston Divorce: While being involved in a child custody case where the opposing party has a mental illness is not easy, it can be managed with planning. If you understand how he or she approaches the case then you can set your own expectations appropriately. The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC will continue to discuss this subject with you in tomorrow’s blog post. In the meantime, if you have any questions about opposing parties with mental illness or personality disorders please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. Our licensed family law attorneys are available six days a week to speak to you about your case and to answer any questions you have in a free of charge consultation …Continue Reading divorce divorce lawyer divorce law divorce attorney Family Law bryan fagan fagan family attorneys texas attorneys attorney law lawyers lawyer Houston lawyers Houston Texas 1 note Enforcement Suits in Texas Family Law, Part Five

7. On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Enforcement Suits in Texas Family Law, Part Five with the immense procedure! Spring Divorce Lawyer: Today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC will discuss additional remedies that are available to a parent in an enforcementcase when there is money owed in child support. Our discussion is largely a continuation of the past few days blogs so I would highly encourage you to go back and read through each in order to have as much knowledge at your disposal as possible. If at any point you have questions about today’s blog or any other found on our website please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan in order to schedule a question and answer session with one of our licensed family law attorneys. Remedies for parents who are owed child support This section sticks out in my mind because I have seen opposing parties have to withstand these remedies due to their not having paid large amounts of child support. We’ve discussed previously that enforcement actions in Texas take on aspects of not only civil law but criminal as well.

8. That concept comes into play when jail time is handed down by a judge due to your child’s other parent’s failing to have paid proper amounts of child support to you when those amounts are due. Jail time Being found in criminal contempt means potential punishment that cannot exceed 180 days in a county jail. The punishment can be less than 180 days but it cannot exceed that amount. Also, your opposing party can be fined up to $500 per violation of the court order as well. You shouldn’t necessarily expect that this type of punishment will be handed down in your enforcement case but it is a possibility. Community Supervision If you have properly plead for jail time for the opposing party in your case, a judge can choose to award that remedy for you. An alternative is to sentence him or her to a period of jail time with the end of the sentence to be suspended in the event that he or she meets certain benchmarks set forth by the court. Often times in the area of child support payments that means simply being able to pay towards those arrearages or attending therapy or counseling sessions if violence or other issues are in play for your particular case. Remedies for Violations regarding Visitation orders Houston Divorce Lawyer: Another reason why you may be interested in filing an enforcement suit in family court would be to bring violations related to visitation to the attention of the court. Just as we have seen in the area of missed child support payments, judges have the ability to award a fairly wide range of remedies to persons who file cases like these. Let’s take a look at them in some detail here. Habeas Corpus Suppose for a moment that your child went over to his or her other parent’s home for a weekend period of visitation. At 6:00 p.m. on Sunday you expected to have your child return to your home only to find that the other parent never arrived at your home. When you called the other parent your call was not answered. Since then you have received a text message that only said your child would be staying with the other parent and would not be returned for a few days. If you find yourself in a situation like this your best remedy may be to file an enforcement suit with a habeas corpus request for relief included. The court that handed down your order has the ability and authority to put a stop to this sort of scenario when your ex-spouse has kept your child past his or her court ordered period of visitation. Habeas corpus literally translates to “bring me the body”- this is what the judge would in effect be saying to the other parent.

9. Certainly jail time and contempt of court proceedings would be appropriate considering the seriousness of what the other parent has done in this sort of hypothetical situation. However, what you want to achieve- the safe and immediate return of your child- would not necessarily be achieved by fining your ex-spouse and having them thrown in jail to think about their actions. In a pretty extreme situation such as this a habeas corpus action is more in line with what your goals are. A visitation remedy for out of state parents Suppose that you recently moved to Texas along with your child from another state. In that state you and your child’s other parent had gone to court for a divorce which included orders associated with visitation of your child. Now that you have moved to Texas, you came to learn that while at school your child was checked out by his other parent with the intent to return to your state of origin. Obviously this is an extremely dangerous situation and you need to know what can be done in Texas to help you get your child back. Fortunately for you, Texas has joined with most every other state in our country and has agreed to abide by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). Essentially, the state of Texas will now recognize and enforce orders from another state’s court in regard to child custody and other matters. What this means is that if you fear that immediate harm could befall your child, you can request that a court in Texas issue a warrant to find your child and take possession of him and keep him in Texas. You would need to provide evidence to the court sufficient to have that warrant be issued, however. More on the subject of enforcement actions to come tomorrow Divorce Lawyer in Houston: The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC appreciates your time and attention as we move through additional remedies available to parties through enforcement actions in Texas Family Law Courts. Tomorrow a blog post will be published to our website that details remedies related to property division from a divorce decree. Our office is proud to represent clients across southeast Texas. If you have a question about anything you’ve read on our website please do not hesitate to contact our office today. A free of charge consultation is available to you six days a week in which your questions can be answered by one of our attorneys …Continue Reading divorce divorce law family Family Law fagan bryan fagan attorney attorneys texas attorneys law lawyer lawyers Houston lawyers Houston Texas 1 note

10. Postnuptial agreements in Texas Family Law On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Postnuptial agreements in Texas Family Law with the immense procedure! Houston Divorce Attorney: Earlier this week the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC posted a blog that related to premarital agreements that covered what they were and how they can impact a marriage. Today we will shift gears to discuss postnuptial agreements, the lesser known cousin of a prenuptial agreement. As they pertain to the law contained in the Texas Family Code, postnuptial agreements must be drafted and agreed to while remaining in compliance with any and all applicable State laws on this subject. If you and your spouse come to an agreement on any matter that is outside of the law then you risk a judge declaring at least that section unenforceable and void. The terminology that is used coupled with the agreements that you and your spouse eventually agree to must be coherent and then must also comply with our Family Code. Therefore, having experienced representatives on your side during a negotiation process can be extremely helpful. Let’s explore postnuptial agreements in greater detail.

11. Postnuptial Agreements- A breakdown of what they are and what they do As I noted at the outset of this blog, postnuptial agreements are not as well known as prenuptial agreements. Our culture has made prenuptial agreements a little more well known- whether it is through music, television or movies- the term “prenup” is one that we hear with more and more regularity these days. A postnuptial agreement is intended to cause you and your spouse to take a long, hard look at whatever issues in your marriage are causing you all difficulties and to figure out a solution to them sooner rather than later. The solution will ostensibly be agreeable to both you and your spouse now, and will benefit you all by creating a more amicable divorce (theoretically) should the need arise later. Benefits of a postnuptial agreement The benefit of a postnuptial agreement is that even prior to divorce you and your spouse may divide up your property, income, assets or debts in the fashion as set forth in your postnuptial agreement. There is nothing stopping you from doing so- not even the approval by a judge. Of course, you must abide by the terms set out for postnuptial agreements in the Texas Family Code but that is about it. Another benefit of a postnuptial agreement is that you and your spouse can utilize one to alter the terms of a prenuptial agreement that had been agreed to previously. We all know that your life, your spouse’s lives or some combination thereof can change over the course of a few years. That a postnuptial agreement can essentially modify a prenuptial agreement may be of some value if you and your spouse find yourselves looking at significantly different marital circumstances that had been in place at the time your marriage began. In the event that you and your spouse: > divorce or > your spouse passes away a postnuptial agreement being in place can provide peace of mind by allocating resources towards a spouse who otherwise may have lost out on their right some percentage of the deceased spouse’s property through intestate distribution upon death. Obviously I would recommend that anyone over the age of eighteen have a will. With that said, however, a postnuptial agreement can fill in the gaps in the event that you do not. Spousal support- How can a postnuptial agreement affect the need to pay Houston Family Lawyer: Texas law allows for the payment of spousal support/maintenance both on a temporary basis during a divorce and on a more permanent basis after the divorce occurs.

12. The Family Code lists the guidelines for spousal support guidelines in terms of how long a marriage has to have lasted for you to request this type of payment from your spouse. A postnuptial agreement can allow you and your spouse to come up with specific provisions regarding spousal maintenance during your marriage and upon your divorce. Likewise, if you or your spouse agree that upon divorce or death that no support should be requested or paid, then that can be included in the postnuptial agreement as well. In much the same way, if under Texas community property laws a piece of property would normally be considered to be community property you can override that statute and have the property go either into your or your spouse’s separate estates. Family run businesses and postnuptial agreements If you and your spouse own a family business then you all will want to do whatever you can to ensure that it remains profitable, well run and free from drama if you two decide to end your marriage. Many divorce cases center around what will happen with the family run business. Parties and their attorneys can spend thousands of dollars on attorneys can spend thousands of dollars on expert witnesses to prove the value of a business or at least attempt to prove when a business came to be. If after a divorce you want to shift roles within the company or have your son take over the day to day operations then you can negotiate for those terms in a postnuptial agreement. In this way, the postnuptial agreement acts as a business planning device as well as marriage planning instrument. If there is a way to divide the business at the time of the divorce that you don’t believe a judge would be too keen about but you believe it to be fair, a postnuptial agreement is a good way to help further that cause. Questions about postnuptial agreements? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC Divorce Lawyer Houston: To learn more about postnuptial agreements or any other subject in family law please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. A free of charge consultation is available with one of our licensed family law attorneys six days a week. Our office represents clients from across southeast Texas and we would be honored to do the same for you and your family. The first step in the process is to pick up the phone and call today … Continue Reading divorce divorce law family Family Law fagan bryan fagan attorney attorneys texas attorneys law lawyer lawyers Houston lawyers Houston Texas 4 notes

13. Texas Family Law Courts: Beginning the Divorce Process On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Texas Family Law Courts: Beginning the Divorce Process with the immense procedure! Divorce Lawyers in Houston: In Part Three of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC’s series of blog posts on Family Law Courts in Texas, we discussed the basic and essential knowledge that you should have prior to beginning a divorcecase in our state. If that is information that you believe that you need to learn or just want a refresher on I would highly recommend that you go back and take a look. Today’s blog will go through some of the mechanics associated with actually filing and proceeding with a divorce case in Texas. With that said, there is no better place to start than the beginning of a divorce. Just how does a divorce case originate? The beginning stages of a divorce case

14. The first step in filing for divorce is drafting a document called the Original Petition for Divorce. This is a document that goes through all of the essential information that you must inform the court of such as: > Who you are > Who your spouse is > Who your children are and > The reason (if any) that you are filing for divorce While the Petition is not long (typically less than five pages in length) it does contain a great deal of essential information. The district clerk for the county that you live in will receive the Petition, assign your case to a particular court and then collect whatever fees are necessary to file your case. Petitioner If you file the divorce petition you will be known as the “petitioner”- clever, right? Respondent Since your spouse will be the party who has to respond to your petition he or she will be the “respondent”- again, clever, right? You may be asking yourself how your spouse will come to find out about your wanting a divorce. Some spouses actually talk about filing for divorce prior to doing so, but the majority do not. It’s an uncomfortable subject (obviously) and many petitioners are not sure how their spouse will react. Notice It is your responsibility as the petitioner to provide notice to your spouse of your having filed for divorce. If you do not provide notice and then show proof to the court of their having been provided notice your divorce cannot proceed. This can delay your case in the short-term. If you’ve hired an attorney you may be paying your attorney to do no work since no notice has been provided. In the event that your case sits in the court’s files for an extended period of time with no work having been done on it the judge can make a decision to toss your case out. This is known as a dismissal in court-talk. How to provide notice to your spouse that you have filed for divorce Family Lawyer Houston: There are multiple ways to serve notice to your spouse of your intent to divorce him or her. Process Server

15. The most common is service by a court-appointed process server or law enforcement officer. You and your attorney will have hired a process server to collect the Petition from the court once it is filed. The process server or law enforcement officer then will go out to the location at which you’ve instructed him or her to serve your spouse. Once your spouse is served successfully the process server or law enforcement officer will fill out an affidavit to tell the judge when and where your spouse was served. The affidavit is then returned to the court for filing. Waiver of Citation The second most common method of providing notice to your spouse is to not actually serve him or her at all. Many spouses, if there are agreements in place on most all of the issues in your divorce, will waive their right to be personally served with the divorce Petition. A Waiver of Citation will need to be completed and signed by your spouse and in exchange, you can have your Petition delivered to him or her by yourself or your attorney. This can save money, time and encourage settlement between yourself and your spouse. Service by Publication Less common methods of service will need to be approved by the judge after you have shown him or her that multiple attempts at personal service have come up with no results. In that case, a judge may allow you to provide notice to your spouse by publishing notice in a newspaper or other publication in your area. Alternative Service Finally, sending the Petition to your spouse at his or her last address via certified mail from the district clerk is another alternative method of service but, again, this is not common and can be difficult to have a court approve absent many, many failed attempts at personal service. Once your spouse is served what happens next? Suppose, then, that you were successful your first attempt to providing your spouse notice of your having filed an Original Petition for Divorce. In that case, the clock begins to tick for him or her- your responsibility to do anything in the immediate future goes away. Your spouse now has a specific deadline in which to file an Original Answer to your Original Petition for Divorce. The deadline in Texas is the first Monday at 10:00 after twenty days have expired since your spouse was served. This sounds complex but for our purposes, you just need to remember that your spouse will have at least twenty days to file an Answer. If he or she does not meet this deadline, you have the chance to get a default judgment against him or her. This means you can come up with your own order, draft it, sign it and file it. Once sixty days has elapsed since your having filed the divorce you can show up to court with your

16. paperwork and get a divorce without your spouse ever having made an appearance or filed an Answer. Temporary Orders- The middle stages of a divorce Divorce Lawyers Houston: Tomorrow’s blog post will look into what occurs during the middle stages of a divorce- otherwise known as the Temporary Orders phase. If you have any questions about the initial stages of a divorce or any other matter related to family law please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. A licensed family law attorney is standing by to meet with you six days a week in a free of charge consultation …Continue Reading divorce divorce law family fagan bryan fagan Family Law attorney attorneys texas attorneys law lawyers lawyer Houston lawyers Houston Texas 1 note Parenting a child with special needs: Considerations to take during a family law case

17. On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Parenting a child with special needs: Considerations to take during a family law case with the immense procedure! Houston Divorce Lawyer: If you are the parent of a child with special needs then you know the challenges and opportunities that are presented to a family in your situation. Whatever the special needs may be, physical or mental, your child will be loved and cared for just as much as any other child with some slight variations to account for his or her disabilities. It may be that extra attention needs to be paid to his or her school work, or you may need to spend more time to get him or her ready in the mornings, but these are relatively small efforts to make in the grand scheme of life. Having a child with special needs also presents an opportunity for you and your family to sacrifice your own “wants” and to instead focus on the “needs” of your child. We all would like to get a little extra sleep, or to be able to go out for the night on occasion, but if your child needs additional care or attention the reward for spending the time with him or her is greater than a nice meal or half an hour’s worth of shut-eye. Not knowing the future makes parenting a child with special needs similar to but also different than raising a child without special needs. While none of us can see into the future, we can

18. assume that the path of a non-special needs child will follow along a path similar to the ones that we all took. School, career, family, etc. is a tried and true method of succeeding in our country. For special needs children, this path isn’t nearly as straight and may not be possible. Working with educators, doctors, and other professionals means that more attention will likely be paid to your special needs child’s life course. Be aware of your emotions and how you expose them to your special needs to child Divorce Lawyer in Houston: Being a parent is emotional in and of itself. If you are not emotionally invested in your child and their well being then I don’t know how you would parent at all. Helping your child establish a strong sense of self-worth in order to succeed in life can be difficult in even the best circumstances. It is your job as a parent of a special needs child to establish a balance between accounting for the disabilities of your child while allowing him or her to flourish in whatever setting he or she finds themselves. Feeling sorry for your special needs child is probably not a strong method to parent the child. If your instinct is to constantly feel bad for your child this may lead to you preparing the “path” for your child rather than your child for the path. What I mean by this is that I’ve seen parents, good- natured and caring parents, attempt to micro-manage every aspect of their child’s life. School, friends, family, no matter what their child was involved in the world would need to be tailored to their child. While I understand the motivation I would argue that preparing your child for the path is a more efficient and effective manner of parenting. Prepare your child for experiencing the “real world” in a way that is appropriate for him or her based on their specific special need(s). Making sure that he or she is aware that you understand the struggles that they face on a daily basis, but showing him or her that there are ways to overcome their disabilities and succeed in spite of them can be empowering and liberating for a child with special needs. Sometimes as a parent you need to remind yourself as well as no matter what you as a family are facing, there are people in your community that can relate to you and your special needs child. Why not become as involved as possible with support groups, associations and charities that assist children with the same special needs as your child? Fostering a sense of giving back in your child can allow him or her to understand that is important for all of us to give of ourselves and our time no matter what circumstances we may be facing personally. Medical care for special needs children is essential in many cases Depending on the special need of your child, he or she may require fairly consistent medical treatment and care. This can mean a lot of different things for a family, specifically that the costs associated with such care can eat away at a family budget very quickly. One of the many important discussions that we as a nation are having right now concerns health insurance and access to care for American families. No matter where you fall on the spectrum of ideas associated with this subject, I think we can all agree that allowing the most vulnerable among us access to quality services is extremely important.

19. This need for specialized health care can be made even more difficult to achieve for families who are facing divorce. Taking away a parent’s income and replacing it with child support only can cost a child dearly if their special needs are not accounted for. Tomorrow’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC will discuss considerations to make if your child with special needs does require medical attention that is over and above a non-special needs child. Questions about parenting a special needs child during a divorce or child custody case? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC today Divorce Attorney Houston: The attorneys and staff with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC stand ready to assist you and your family with whatever family law issue you are currently encountering. Our office has represented clients with special needs children on many occasions and are happy to discuss just how we can help you to manage your case in this type of situation. A free of charge consultation with one of our licensed family law attorneys is only a phone call away …Continue Reading divorce divorce law divorce lawyer family Family Law fagan bryan fagan attorney attorneys texas attorneys law lawyer lawyers Houston lawyers Houston Texas 3 notes Filing a Suit Affecting Parent Child Relationship

20. On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Filing a Suit Affecting Parent Child Relationship with the immense procedure! Kingwood Divorce Attorney: Many times you will hear about divorce in connection with family law cases in Texas. I will say that the majority of people that walk through the door of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC are interested in discussing a divorce with us, but there are other sorts of family law cases that our attorneys represent clients in. One of those sorts of cases is called a Suit Affecting Parent Child Relationships, or SAPCR cases for brevity’s sake. These cases involve a child whose parents were never married. If this describes the situation that you find yourself in then this blog post should be helpful for you. SAPCR cases deal with the same sort of rights and duties for children that a divorce would. Conservatorship, possession, access, and support of a child are all covered in a SAPCR case. If you would like to file a case for your child you would file it with the same court that you would a divorce and would have to serve your child’s other parent just as you would a spouse if you wanted to divorce him or her. It is even possible for a married person to file a SAPCR against their spouse just to have orders established for these issues with their children. The marriage would remain in place but there would be court orders that pertained to their children in the event that issues arose between them.

21. What happens, though, if you are not a parent to a child and want to file a SAPCR case to have your own rights and duties established as to a child? Can you even do this? The answer to those questions will be discussed in today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. To start off, we will need to determine if you can file and have a court hear your case. Standing in a SAPCR case The Texas Family Code contains the laws that are applicable in a family law case brought in our state. There are multiple different situations that you can qualify under in order to bring a SAPCR case. Obviously, if you are a parent to the child you can bring a SAPCR case. A governmental body like Child Protective Services (CPS) can file a SAPCR case on behalf of a child as well. We see this with some frequency (unfortunately) when it comes to situations where CPS has received word of a child who may be the victim or abuse or neglect. In this situation, CPS would need to file a SAPCR case in order to get temporary conservatorship rights over the child in order to remove him or her from the home. A key to having standing to file a SAPCR case in Texas is having had control and care of the child for six months preceding the filing of the SAPCR case- so long as the six months ended no more than ninety days before the day that the SAPCR was filed. This is important if you are an aunt, uncle or grandparent that has had to shoulder the responsibility of caring for the child or a relative. Likewise, if you are a step-parent and the child and the child’s biological parent have resided with you for the same time period you also may bring a SAPCR suit under this standing requirement. Mom vs. Dad The Woodlands Divorce Attorney: By far the most common sort of SAPCR case involves you and the child’s other parent. If you are the mother of a child you may be interested in filing a SAPCR soon after the birth of your child in order to have the father legally recognized as the father of your child. This may take some genetic testing to be accomplished unless the father is willing to admit to paternity. Once the father is established as a matter of law, you can have child support, possession, access and other rights and duties assigned within the final orders of your case. If you have friends or family members that have been through a divorce then their divorces likely covered the exact same areas for his or her children. The only difference is that divorces cover aspects related to community property of spouses, as well as spousal support, while SAPCRs relate only to a child. The Parental Presumption can hurt your chances to win conservatorship of a child The actions of a parent are presumed to always be in the best interest of their child. With that said, if you are a relative like a grandparent then you have an uphill battle to fight in order to win conservatorship of a child in a SAPCR case. In that case, you must show that if a judge names

22. the parent as a conservator of the child then the child’s health or emotional development will be significantly impaired. The evidence that must be presented in court cannot be circumstantial or a “he said, she said” sort of thing, either. Rather, the evidence must be extremely specific and show a particular behavior in the parent that will cause harm to the child. Basically, you cannot file your SAPCR and then expect to win conservatorship rights to a child based on a general idea that you would be the better parent to a child. That will not overcome the parental presumption and will cause you to have a negative outcome in your case. Questions about SAPCR cases? Please contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC today Spring Divorce Lawyers: If you are in a situation where you need to have orders established for a child but are not now and never were married to the other parent, you will need to file a SAPCR. To do so it is best to speak to an attorney to learn about your rights under Texas law. The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC stand ready to meet with you to discuss the services that our office is able to provide to you in a SAPCR case. A consultation with one of our family law attorneys is always free of charge and we are available to meet with you six days a week. Across southeast Texas, our attorneys have represented clients to successful results in SAPCR cases and we would be honored to speak to you about doing the same for you and your family …Continue Reading divorce divorce law family fagan Family Law bryan fagan attorney attorneys texas attorneys law lawyer lawyers Houston lawyers divorce lawyer Houston Texas 1 note Texas Family Law Courts: How a court determines child custody in a divorce

23. On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Texas Family Law Courts: How a court determines child custody in a divorce with the immense procedure! Family Lawyer in Houston: By far the most frequent question that I field from potential clients of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC has to do with custody. Concerned parents come to talk to us all the time about how their impending divorce will affect the lives of their children. The word that parents use frequently is “custody” to frame their questions. What about sole custody? How do I get that if I don’t trust my spouse to take care of the kids after the divorce? Or what about split custody? I want to see my kids just as much as my wife once the divorce is finalized. Custody is on the lips of almost every parent that walks through our door. Would it surprise you to learn that the word “custody” doesn’t appear in the Texas Family Code even one time? This is absolutely true. What we all commonly think about when we use the word “custody” is encompassed by the word “conservatorship” in our state laws regarding the relationship between children and their parents/guardians. Broadly speaking conservatorship has mostly do with the rights and duties that parents/guardians have in raising a child. How these rights, duties and other aspects of parenting relate to your divorce will be the subject of today’s blog post.

24. What does conservatorship mean for you and your children? Being a conservator of a child means that you have the ability to make decisions for that child until he or she reaches the age of majority. Where your child lives primarily, where the child will attend school, decisions regarding medical procedures and decisions regarding mental health and psychiatric treatment are all important aspects of any discussion on conservatorship. These are the meat and potatoes issues of parenting a child in Texas. The type of conservator that you are determines the breadth of responsibility and ability, in general, to make these sort of decisions for your child, or at least be involved in the discussion with your ex-spouse after your divorce. Parents can share these sort of rights, and in the interest of full disclosure typically do share in these sort of rights absent extreme circumstances. Should a court deem it in the best interest of your child, you may hold certain rights that your spouse does not and vice versa. In the event that you and your spouse do not agree on how to allocate these rights and duties to raising your child it will be left up to a judge to make those determinations for your family. Visitation, Possession, and Access: How these subjects relate to one another in a family law case The term visitation seems straightforward enough. It doesn’t take a detective to figure out that visitation has to do with either your or your spouse’s ability to visit and spend time with your child. The concept of visitation is wrapped up inside possession and access to your child in a Texas family law case. Possession more specifically refers to your and your spouses right to have actual, physical possession of your child during a certain time period that is predetermined by your Final Decree of Divorce. Instead of coming up with a schedule on the fly, your divorce decree will very specifically lay out a visitation schedule that you and your spouse will be expected to follow. However, if you and your spouse are able to work together after the divorce on modifications where need be, that is probably the best case scenario for both of you and your child. What can your spouse and you agree to in the context of visitation/conservatorship Houston Family Law Lawyer: You and your spouse are free to hammer out an agreement between yourselves and your attorneys that do not involve the court and a judge one bit. As I stated a moment ago, this is by far the best case scenario as you all will be much better equipped to do so as compared to a judge. While well-meaning, a judge will not have the time to learn enough about you and your family, even after a trial, to make a well-informed decision when compared to your spouse and yourself. It is not enough, however, to tell a judge that you and your spouse will “play it by ear” after the divorce as far as a possession schedule is concerned. The State of Texas has within the Texas Family Code a Standard Possession Schedule that you can mimic or you all can come up with your own arrangement based on your particular family circumstances.

25. Joint Managing Conservatorship is not the same as split custody As parents, what we want most with our child is time- or so we think. While spending time with our kids is important what we really need is the ability to play a role in their upbringing in the form of decision-making abilities. A joint managing conservatorship is the default setting for parents in Texas as far as sharing in the rights and duties to parenting your child. What this means is that except for a few differences, you and your spouse can have pretty much equal say in raising your child and determining the course of his or her young life. This does not mean that you and your spouse will necessarily have “split custody”. If you want to have your child as much as your spouse it is likely that you all will have to think up and agree to a means of sharing custody that is outside what the Texas Standard Possession Order sets forth. This may not be a problem, but it will require some negotiation Conservatorship will be discussed tomorrow on this blog as well Family Lawyers in Houston: Come on back for a continuation of our discussion regarding conservatorship tomorrow. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC wants to provide you with the resources and information to assist you in learning about your family law case. If you have any questions about this subject or any other in family law please do not hesitate to contact our office today …Continue Reading divorce divorce law family Family Law fagan bryan fagan attorney attorneys texas attorneys law lawyer lawyers Houston lawyers Houston Texas 3 notes Texas Child Support: A word (or two) on Net Resources

26. On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Texas Child Support: A word (or two) on Net Resources with the immense procedure! Family Law Attorney Houston: With great regularity, people walk into the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC to speak to one of our attorneys about the subject of child support. This is a subject that is almost always an issue that is debated during divorce and child custody cases for a number of reasons. For one, both parents want what is best for their child. This is no matter if you are the parent who is set to receive child support or you are the parent who will be on the hook to pay child support. Everyone wants what is best for your child. However, different parents have different beliefs about how to best care for their children. This is especially true when it comes to the mandatory payment of money directly from one’s paycheck. That creates a whole new level of intimacy that this process connects to. Seeing as how we have so many people stop by with so many questions I figured it would make sense to spend some more time on this subject. Today we will go through a few different situations that deal with child support in Texas. Where is child support calculated from?

27. Is it your income that child support is based on in Texas? Is it the total amount of money that you have access to? What about other sources of income like investment properties, second jobs and things of that nature. Do these count for the purposes of child support? This is a very common question because it is extremely relevant. Before you know what your responsibility is as far as child support is concerned you need to know from what source the State will pull your money. You probably know that the way that Texas calculates child support is based on a percentage formula. Beginning with 20% for one child and going all the way up to 40% for five or more children your monthly net resources are tapped to pay whatever level of support is necessary for you and your family based on the number of children you are responsible for. Monthly net resources is not a term that rolls off the tongue nor is it one that is self-explanatory in terms of what goes into calculating this figure. Your net resources for the purposes of Texas child support calculations are the total of all the income you derive on a monthly basis. This includes assets that you own that produce income. Tips, overtime pay, wages, salary, and bonus money are a few of the most common sources of income that go into your net resources. Beyond these more common sources of income, we see things like retirement pay, social security benefits, unemployment benefits and worker’s compensation benefits are also fair game when calculating your monthly net resources. However, the ten or so items that I listed in this blog post are not the only sources that can be considered income for your purposes. The Texas Family Code contains an all-encompassing list that if you are curious I would recommend you go and take a look at yourself. Social security taxes, federal income taxes, and cash medical support paid for your child will be deducted from your income to arrive at the net monthly resources figure that is appropriate for you. Whatever your yearly total is, divide that number by 12 (for the total months in a year) and you have your monthly net resources. What percentage will be applied to my monthly net resources for child support purposes? Houston Divorce Attorney: It took us a little bit to get there, but we now have the amount of monthly net resources that will be considered for your payment of child support. The next step in the process for you will be to take the appropriate percentage and multiply that by your monthly net resources to get your monthly child support obligation. The concept that we need to keep in mind is that the court will be concerned not only with the number of children that are presently before it, but also how many other children you are responsible for that are not before the court presently. If one child is presently before the court then twenty percent of your monthly net resources will be paid in child support. However, if you have another child for whom you pay support that is not presently before the court your obligation, in this case, will be decreased by 2.5%. You will be credited for the support paid to the other child and will only be responsible for paying 17.5% of your net monthly resources towards the support of this child.

28. Advice: Hire an attorney to represent your interests when child support is at stake If any of the aforementioned paragraphs don’t make a ton of sense don’t worry. Any time math and the law are done in combination it becomes confusing for most people. As a result, having someone by your side to help guide you through the process can be extremely helpful. Having an experienced family law attorney to not only provide peace of mind but to combat any attempts by your spouse’s attorney to artificially increase the amount of support you should pay is advisable. This is especially true if you are a parent who has multiple streams of income that would be in consideration to be counted among your net monthly resources. Questions on child support? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC Houston Family Lawyer: From the Golden Triangle to The Woodlands and Sugar Land, the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC represents clients from all walks of life and backgrounds with pride. It is our duty and obligation to put your interests ahead of our own and we pledge to always do so. If you have any questions on the subject of child support or any other in Texas family law please do not hesitate to contact our office today. A free of charge consultation where your questions can be answered is only a phone call away …Continue Reading divorce divorce law family Family Law fagan bryan fagan attorney attorneys texas attorneys Houston Houston lawyers Texas case child 6 notes Mistakes to Avoid at the Outset of your Texas Divorce, Part Two

29. On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Mistakes to Avoid at the Outset of your Texas Divorce, Part Two with the immense procedure! The Woodlands Divorce Attorney: In part one of this series of blog posts from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, I discussed some tips to help avoid making common mistakes at the beginning of your divorce case. I would certainly advise you all to go back and read as I think the tips are straightforward and helpful for any person going through a divorce. Today’s post will follow that line of thinking and discuss a more in depth mistake litigants often make within their divorce pleadings as well as interpersonal advice for working with your spouse even when that does not necessarily come easy. Unless you need to, do not file a Temporary Restraining Order

30. There are circumstances where a Temporary Restraining Order is necessary for your protection and for that of your children. I will not debate you there. However, I have seen divorce cases that could have been resolved in short order- ones where the parties are in basic agreement on almost all of the issues of their case- and the filing of a TRO sunk any hopes of a quick resolution. The reason for that is simple- people get up in arms when they are told that there is a court date pending and, by the way, in the meantime there is a list of about thirty items that the judge is barring you from doing. As if being sued for divorce were not bad enough your life is already been curtailed to some extent by a person you’ve never even met before. The reason isn’t always clear as to why the hearing has been called and until your spouse hires an attorney he or she will likely be worried, afraid and upset as to why he or she needs to be in court in less than two weeks. If your spouse is harassing you, your children or taking money out of bank accounts to do stupid things then it is appropriate to ask a court to tell him or her to stop and then to inform him or her that a court date is upcoming wherein he or she will have to explain their actions to a judge. If bills need to be paid and the impression is that your spouse will stop doing so go ahead and request that the court get that requirement in writing so the lights don’t turn off or the mortgage doesn’t fall behind. In the event that you and your spouse are able to work together to see to it that your lives remain as “normal” as possible during the divorce then there probably is no need to set your case for a temporary orders hearing and risk the creation of conflict where there ought not to be any. Some conflict is inherent in a divorce but there is no need to fan the flames. Do not let your attorney file your divorce papers without reviewing them first Spring Divorce Lawyers: Even if you don’t know anything about the law ask your attorney to walk you through the Original Petition for Divorce and any other paperwork that will be filed to initiate your divorce. Some counties require that standing orders go into place or that temporary orders be included in your Petition. That’s unavoidable, but filing an unnecessary temporary restraining order or pleading for spousal support when that is not what you want to do can eliminate miscommunications. I have received Divorce Petitions that have seemingly accused our client of infidelity, the wasting of community income and other offenses that could have negative effects on the client’s case. After telling our client about that, he or she will invariably speak to their spouse only to find out that their spouse’s attorney did not tell them that the Petition was being filed. Lawyers only know as much as their clients tell them and vice versa. Communicate well with your attorney, review their work and avoid miscommunication with your spouse. Speak for yourself when the circumstances allow it I recently had a potential client come into the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC for a consultation. He came in with a woman who I assumed to be a relative or friend. I was a little surprised to learn that it was in fact his wife. They came in together to discuss an amicable divorce. I told them that this was possible if they agreed on the issues that would arise in their case. They did an honest evaluation and determined that while they knew they did not want their

31. divorce to be a fight that they had not done the legwork necessary to learn what sort of resolutions they wanted to come to. I advised them to take their child to a relative’s house and to sit down together, with the television off, and talk about their finances, their home, their child and any other issue that may arise in their case. If they could talk through the issues and arrive at comprised solutions then their divorce case would be relatively painless. If they found that they had differing opinions on particular subjects that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Each could hire individual attorneys and use their lawyers to communicate essential messages if need be. The ability to communicate with your spouse during the divorce is an invaluable tool to possess. The risks of miscommunication or simply the failure to communicate with promptness can harm negotiations and generally upset the parties involved. Talk with your spouse when and where you are able and use your attorneys to do so only when necessary. This will save you both money and will go a long way to help ensure the proper message is sent. Divorce isn’t easy, but the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC is here to help Divorce Lawyer in Spring TX: For a free of charge consultation with a licensed family lawattorney please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC today. Our office works with and on behalf of clients across southeast Texas and we would be honored to do the same for you and your family …Continue Reading divorce divorce law family Family Law fagan bryan fagan attorney attorneys texas attorneys law lawyer lawyers Houston lawyers Houston case Texas Show more RECENTLY LIKED infplease-love-me mychxmicalromxnce sandersonsistersspellbook do you ever think about how the series of events that lead to Dumbledore’s death in HBP was literally set into motion by Oliver Wood’s passion for Quidditch sandersonsistersspellbook okay but literally I can’t stop thinking about this -

32. it is of course possible that Draco would have gotten the Death Eaters into the school some other way if the Vanishing Cabinet hadn’t created the perfect opportunity, but it wasn’t looking likely. so like, it’s reasonable enough to assume that Dumbledore’s death (at the hands of Snape specifically, obviously I know he was going to die soon enough from the curse, but the timing does make a difference so I’m still focused on this) occurred because of the Death Eaters getting into the school. the reason the Death Eaters were able to get into the school was because of the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, which Draco repaired. the Vanishing Cabinet ended up in the Room of Requirement over the summer of 1996, presumably (reasoning for this is in the next paragraph), and Draco discovered it there sometime in his 6th year. but the only reason he had even known what it was, and what it could do, was because he had spoken with…. Graham Montague, a Slytherin who was in 7th year in 1995-1996 (when Harry & co were in 5th year). Montague was shoved into the Vanishing Cabinet in that year by Fred and George Weasley, because he was a part of the Inquisitorial Squad and was presumably about to take points from the Weasley twins for doing something disruptive. and we know that Montague got stuck in a limbo between the two connected cabinets, due to one of them being broken - he could hear things being discussed in Borgin & Burkes, which is how he was able to let Malfoy know that the other “end of the tunnel”, or basically the other cabinet, was in Borgin & Burkes (which, Draco would already have seen as a 12-year-old, in the summer before his 2nd year, when he visited the shop with his father - fun fact, Harry hid in that exact cabinet while Lucius Malfoy was transacting with Borgin). Montague would never have had this experience at all if the cabinet hadn’t been broken in the first place. but in fact, we know exactly how, when, why, and by whom the cabinet was broken.