As McKinney family attorneys, we stay up-to-date on developments and trends in family law that impact our clients.  Two significant developments in Texas family law came from the Supreme Court in 2018.  First, the Court applied a broad definition of “actual care and control” over a child,  thereby making it easier for a nonparent, such as a grandparent or step-parent, to sue for custody.  Second, the court reinforced the binding nature of premarital agreements.

When preparing for a divorce, one of the first steps in the process is to familiarize yourself with the terminology involved. During your divorce, you will likely become intimately familiar with a number of terms that you don’t know now. Clearly understanding these terms will be important to making informed decisions; and, while your divorce lawyer can explain everything you need to know, many people find it helpful to familiarize themselves with some of the key terms prior to their initial consultation.

Do you need an estate plan if you are single? What if you are in your 20s or 30s? Is it okay to buy an estate plan online? These are all common questions about estate planning; and, unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there. Here is the truth behind five common myths about estate planning in Texas:

So, you have decided to file for divorce. You are ready for your marriage to be over, you want to put the past behind you, and you are excited for your new life to begin. This checklist will help you get the process started:

Being married offers a number of potential benefits when it comes to preparing an estate plan. From tax benefits to health care decision-making and the ease of transferring certain types of assets outside of probate, married couples will find that many aspects of the estate planning process can be fairly straightforward.

In Texas, if you are ready to get divorced, you have the option to file on either fault-based or no-fault grounds. Cheating is considered a form of “marital fault” in Texas, and Section 6.003 of the Texas Family Code provides that, “[t]he court may grant a divorce in favor of one spouse if the other spouse has committed adultery.”

For many people, a revocable living trust can be an effective tool for addressing a variety of estate planning needs. So, is a revocable living trust right for you?

In the approximately three-and-a-half years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, many same-sex couples have used the Supreme Court’s proclamation of equal rights to bring their marriages to an end in Texas. While gay and lesbian couples continue to face some unique challenges, when it comes to getting divorced, the core legal principles apply equally to spouses seeking to end same-sex and opposite-sex marriages. If you are thinking about filing for a same-sex divorce in Texas in 2019, here is a list of the key legal issues you will need to consider:

Although same-sex couples now have full marriage equality in the United States under the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, from a practical perspective, gay and lesbian couples can still face some undesirable challenges when it comes to having their relationships acknowledged and respected in Texas and other parts of the country. This makes it particularly important for same-sex spouses to thoughtfully prepare comprehensive estate plans. A comprehensive estate plan will address much more than the distribution of a person’s property after death, and will provide clear and unambiguous direction for limiting court involvement to the greatest extent possible.