Tuesday, September 09, 2008

i'm still alive

I still live and breathe.  Things have been very hectic around the office with new clients (good), software malfunctions (bad) and a new project I have been working on in a further attempt to help people with their family law issues. 

The new project is a form website for do it yourself divorces in Texas, do it yourself wills, etc... This form service will be fully integrated with my existing website as you can see on my here. My service will differ from the free divorce forms and the pay for divorce forms websites in that I will provide legal review of the forms to make sure they are correct.  With the other divorce form websites you simply buy the form and you are on your own.  On mine, you get my assistance with the forms and can even just buy a la carte legal advise.  In the future I will try to integrate a do it yourself modification section for Texas so that you can do your own modifications.

I am very excited about this new service and will announce more about it in the future.

As for my blog posts, I am running a little dry on ideas, so if anyone has some topics that they think are interesting, please let me know and I will make a list.

Type to you soon.

7 comments:

fEATher said...

Is it possible to recover prepaid child support if child is 17, no longer living with the mother and signed an affadavit of choice?

Mother received a lump sum payment from father (submitted and distributed to mother through the AG's office) when she took father back for more child support earlier in the year. The mother and child's relationship has been strained since child entered high school. Child expressed to father that child was unhappy living with mother. Tensions escalated between mother and child, leading up to a physical altercation where mother assaults child by hitting, kicking, pulling hair, and backhand slapping child in the face. Child came to live with father the following day

Now that child is living with him, he is not receiving any support from the mother, nor any of his money back. (He is paying on the loan he took out to pay mother, and paying out of pocket for auto insurance, car, gas, food, and incedentals for child) while mother give child 20 bucks here and there.
Father discussed with mother giving half of the money back (in monthly increments) since child no longer resides with mother)

A petition to modify parent child relationship has been filed, but not yet served because father wanted to try and come to some agreement as to support and visitation. (parties reside in different towns, but less than 30 miles apart)

Anonymous said...

Here is a topic I'd like to see discussed/disected.

In Section 102.005 (5) of the TX. Fam. Code, what exactly constitues "another adult whom the court determines to have
had substantial past contact with the child sufficient to warrant standing to do so."

Any case law on this topic that you can direct me to? We desire to adopt a legally free child from CPS. We have been her childcare givers/respite providers while she has been in foster care. CPS approached us in Dec. 07 about adopting her. Since then, TPR was accomplished and in court, the State made a big deal about how great our family would be for her. Now, CPS is making things VERY difficult and they seem to want to go back on things.

We are already approved/licensed as a foster/adopt home and we feel that we DO have "substantial past contact" with the child.

Any thoughts?

Chris Schmiedeke said...

Anonymous, that is a very detailed discussion. This blog is designed to be more of a broad sweeping discussion as opposed to focusing on each specific issue of my readers.

I suggest that you go to a local law library and have the librarian direct you to the books that contain the case law so that you can do further research.

Another avenue would be to purchase an annotated family law book which has case law following each specific section of the code. Those can be found at www.jonesmcclure.com or west.thomson.com.

Good luck to you.

Chris Schmiedeke said...

Feather, are you sure that the child support was pre-paid child support or was it for an arrearage accrued by the father? I have never heard of the AG's office taking child support paid in advance.

If the payments for the child support are an arrearage, then the father will not be discharged from those since those amounts have already been due and owing. His future support should stop however, and hopefully he added language to the petition to modify having the change date back to the time of service or her appearance in the case.

He needs to get her served asap so that he can attempt assure himself of getting that money back. Does he have claim to get the money back that he has paid before she was served? Yes he has a claim. Will he get it? Depends on the judge and the facts.

Good luck to you.

NunyaBeezwax said...

This is a copy of the CPS complaint I sent to the State today, what do you think will happen or what should I prepare for? Emily is 8yrs in age:

Emily has medically diagnosed ADHD. She has a knack for
retelling a story incorrectly, deeming her as a victim, for attention purposes. Yesterday, 12/11/2008, during school she showed her teacher marks on her back and said that it was from her brother, 16 years in age, punching her.
CPS immediately went to visit all 3 of my children during school that
day. That evening, prior to my knowledge of any of these events, CPS is at my home. For 3 hours. The first thing she, Michelle, told me was that she would be leaving me with a safety evaluation plan. This was before
we engaged in any conversation.
I answered all of her questions. Shortly after her arrival, my husband had to leave for work, she said she would come back another day to speak with him.
I explained that Emily did not tell her story the true way
that it happened and that she has a history of this behavior as a means for attention. Even Emily herself told Michelle that her and her brother were play wrestling and that she likes hitting him hard. She was laughing when the event in question was happening between the two of them.
He would never cause her harm, he plays with her more than anyone
else does. Emily loves rough-housing with her brother. I have seen her drop kick him in the face, she loves it. I can fuss at them to stop and as soon as I leave the room... there they go again.
Michelle repeatedly gave me advise on a separate issue, visitation with Emily's biological mother, of which there were also complaints submitted to CPS at this time from Emily and the school. I explained to her that I will support Emily's decision as far as if she wanted to visit her mother or didn't want to but that I would be in danger of violating the court order.
I told Michelle that I had spoken to Emily's Assistant Principal about not knowing what I should or could legally do at this point. Michelle advised that she does not think Emily should go her
visitations. ... now I am truly confused. I do not want to be accused of allowing Emily to visit into a harmful environment, but on the other hand, there is a court order. (?)
Today, 12/12/2008, Emily has a dollar. A dollar that she was given by Michelle, in the nurses office at her school. I asked why, "For being good and telling her the truth", I said "But you didn't tell the truth, and even if you did you shouldn't get paid for it". Emily then said that Michelle also told her not to tell anyone that she gave her the dollar
because she could get in trouble. I explained to my daughter that it was wrong for her to be offered the money and that Michelle was out of line for asking her to withhold information for her. Emily replied "She's just like my mom". Emily's mother asked her to be dishonest in the past
and I explained to her back then that she is not obligated to comply
with such inappropriate requests and that she should not be subjected to
such requests.
I have asked to meet with the school today but they can not squeeze me in until Monday. I accepted and explained why I was requesting this conference, asking if she was aware that the school nurse was present during Emily and Michelle's conversation and what took place during this conversation. The school nurse told my husband today that both she and Emily's teacher assured Michelle that Emily has a history of dishonesty and false complaints for extra attention and that they knew we were very good, involved parents.
Also, the 'Plan' that I signed is dated incorrectly and had additional information added to it after I signed it. I told her I disagreed with the statement on it, they were just brother and sister - playing around like they always do.. like most kids do. She stated that she just wrote what "they wanted to hear" and that it's nothing. She said "usually it's all filled out with detail" but that she wasn't going to do that. I asked "what if I sign this and them two are goofing off and she gets a bump, I don't want to get in trouble because I signed this paper saying that I would monitor their play" she replied, "That won't happen". She said she was just writing something to satisfy the reader (basically).
This is my family, we are happy and healthy and all love each other.
I fear that the manner in which this is being handled could result in a continuation of misinformed decisions.

Anonymous said...

Custodial mom owes $500 in back medical bills to non-custodial dad. Mom refuses to pay. Often when kids come to dad's house they haven't eaten all day. Mom didn't give them any lunch money, and they had to starve all day. What to do?

Shannon said...

This is an awesome Blog! Thank you for doing this. Here is a topic I'd like to discuss. If a couple enters into Join Managing Conservatorship with alternating weekly visition (one week with father and one week with mother) one parent cannot execute their visition for a period of 6 months due to a loss of home, can this be a basis for Motion to Modify or is the remedy only contemp? After the entry of the Decree, both parents effectuated visition and at one point the mother was placed in jail after fleeing to California for a term of 3 months. The father took the child and allowed the mother to get on her feet. She was then put in rehab for alcohol abuse for a period of 4 months. Again the father took care of the child until she was on her feet. Then 6 months ago the father looses his home due to the economic downturn. She is now threatening to get sole custody and make him pay child support. He was staying in cheap hotels until he found a house. The father is now back on his feet and is effectuating his visitation again. Also, when a Modification is filed, does the Respondent have (Monday following) 21 days to answer and then a discovery period before the hearing? Many Many thanks!