Legal Blog | Chris A. Spofford, Family Law Attorney

26 06 2017

Child Custody Evaluation: Changes to Texas Family Law

By Chris A. Spofford|2017-07-07T09:24:11-05:00June 26, 2017|Categories: Family Law Updates, Children & Family|Tags: child custody, children, Texas Family Law, Texas legislative updates|

Texas Family Law Changes in the 85th Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature closed its biannual session for 2017. Although a Special Session may be called by Governor Abbott, it will not affect any Family Law issues. The Legislature did pass several bills that impact Texas Family Law. Here is one. Child Custody Evaluation The statute dealing with Child Custody Evaluations was revised this year. A significant change now offers more protection to child custody evaluators from being liable for civil damages arising out of the [...]

29 12 2014

Texas Family Law in the 84th Texas Legislature

By Chris A. Spofford|2014-12-29T09:00:28-06:00December 29, 2014|Categories: Family Law Updates|Tags: Texas Family Law, Texas legislative updates|

84th Texas Legislature Begins January 13, 2015 The Texas Legislature will convene on Tuesday, January 13 and run through June 1, 2015. The Law Office of Chris A. Spofford will watch the topics related to Texas Family Law and provide legislative updates and insight to our friends and clients about the 2015 Texas legislative session. As always, it is our commitment to be proactive in protecting our clients’ interests under Texas Family Law, which will continually evolve at the legislature and in the courts.

30 04 2013

Paternity and the Texas Family Code – How Long Do You Have To Prove You Are the Dad?

By Chris A. Spofford|2013-04-30T12:00:23-05:00April 30, 2013|Categories: Children & Family|Tags: child custody, children, paternal rights, paternity|

Fathers have paternal rights under the Texas Family Code and the Texas Paternity Registry helps protect your legal rights

10 04 2013

Divorcing As Non-Native Texans: Divorce Laws in Texas for Property in or Accumulated in Another State

By Chris A. Spofford|2023-05-24T10:37:34-05:00April 10, 2013|Categories: Community & Separate Property|Tags: alimony, community property, divorce laws in Texas, marital agreements, out of state divorce laws, property division|

Do divorce laws in Texas prevail over out of state divorce laws? There are many jurisdictional issues to consider when divorcing in Texas if you and your spouse lived elsewhere before moving to Texas. The attorneys at Chris A. Spofford, P.C. can assist you in navigating these issues to reach a suitable outcome.

12 02 2013

Child Support Guidelines and Additional Support Above and Beyond The Guidelines

By Chris A. Spofford|2023-05-29T11:52:40-05:00February 12, 2013|Categories: Children & Family|Tags: child support, child support guidelines, children, Texas Family Law|

This blog cites Texas Family Law and provides guidelines for calculating child support under the law, and going above and beyond the guidelines

22 10 2012

Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights Under Texas Family Law

By Chris A. Spofford|2023-05-18T23:33:09-05:00October 22, 2012|Categories: Children & Family|

Texas Family Law and parental rights In Texas Family Law, the most common grounds for termination of parental rights in a step-parent adoption are: Natural parent is deceased; Abandonment of a child or children; Failure to provide support (emotional as well as financial); Imprisonment; or Abuse. To make the step-parent adoption process go as smoothly as possible under Texas Family Law, every effort should be made to gain consent of the absent parent. There many remedies that we can pursue in helping you [...]

31 05 2012

Summary of Texas Family Law Updates – Effective Changes Now in Effect

By Chris A. Spofford|2012-05-31T11:00:02-05:00May 31, 2012|Categories: Family Law Updates|Tags: alimony, child custody, community property, paternity, protective orders, spousal maintenance, Texas Family Law, Texas legislative updates|

The Texas Legislature made changes in 2011 that impact many in the area of Texas Family Law. All of these Texas Family Law updates are now in effect: Termination of parental rights by a father after DNA testing New “fraud on the community” statute Protective orders enforced anywhere in Texas without transfer Guidelines for ordering possession for children under three years Spousal maintenance orders Voluntary termination of parental rights for men mistakenly adjudicated a child’s biological father. Senate Bill 785, codified into [...]

18 05 2012

Children and Texas Family Law: What is Reasonable?

By Chris A. Spofford|2012-05-18T15:00:50-05:00May 18, 2012|Categories: Children & Family|

Child Custody and Time The term “reasonable” appears at least once in virtually every order involving children in a Texas Family Law divorce or child custody matter. So what does “reasonable” mean? In Texas Family Law, “reasonable” is considered to be what an ordinary person would think it means, without considering the emotional motivation of a parent involved in a Texas Family Law divorce matter. This is a delicate situation that arises with child custody and we offer this article to help parents understand how [...]

11 01 2012

Spousal Maintenance (Alimony) – Texas Family Law changes by the Texas Legislature in 2011

By Chris A. Spofford|2012-01-11T16:00:30-06:00January 11, 2012|Categories: Family Law Updates|Tags: alimony, spousal maintenance, Texas Family Law, Texas legislative updates|

In addition to the changes I discussed in my earlier blog entitled “Texas Family Law changes by the Texas Legislature in 2011,” significant revisions were made to the Spousal Maintenance (Alimony) statute by the Texas Legislature in 2011. In 1997, the Texas Legislature passed the first Spousal Maintenance (Alimony) statute under Texas Family Law. Until 2011, that statute remained basically unchanged. They made up for that in 2011. The primary changes cover: duration of the spousal maintenance order doubling the maximum spousal maintenance [...]

7 12 2011

Property Division not restricted to 50-50 in Texas Family Law

By Chris A. Spofford|2011-12-07T09:00:05-06:00December 7, 2011|Categories: Community & Separate Property|Tags: 50-50 divorce settlement, community property, property division, Texas Family Law|

Contrary to what many people believe, Texas Family Law does not mandate a 50/50 division of property in a divorce. Under Texas Family Law, the Court is charged with a duty to divide marital property in a manner that is “just and right.” Appellate Courts have found in some cases that an 80/20 property division was “just and right.” However, depending on the size of the estate, we generally see disproportionate property divisions falling somewhere in the range between 51 percent and 60 [...]