Marriage can be confusing enough on its own, but several states still have laws on the books that may make you scratch your head.
If a court has determined that you have met the burden of proof for needing spousal maintenance, the next step is determining for what period of time you may be eligible to receive spousal maintenance. The Texas Family Code previously stated that a party could only receive spousal maintenance for a maximum of three years. The Code was recently amended and now states that a person is eligible to receive spousal maintenance for the maximum of:
Your family law attorney is there to guide you through the process of a divorce or family law dispute and understands that you are going to have questions about the process. But every communication with your attorney will result in being billed, so save your small questions for a weekly status email with your attorney. This does not mean you should avoid communicating important information to your attorney, just think twice before you send off a quick email asking for information that could be found elsewhere or saved for another time.
The primary reason we charge for attorney consultations is customer service. Our goal is to provide the highest level of service possible while keeping attorney fees under control. Years after opening our doors, we found that free consultations were negatively affecting the level of service we were able to provide to our clients. During this time we unable to timely respond to client inquiries and in some cases had to start setting trial dates further out to allow the firm to better prepare for each case. While a short delay is the better option than going to trial unprepared, we felt that to provide better service we needed to expedite all cases whenever possible.
Under Texas Law and the Texas Family Code, a child born during a marriage is presumed to be the child of the husband and wife. This means that the husband of the marriage is presumed to legally be the father, not the biological father. So if a woman gives birth to a child whose father is not her husband, her husband is still presumed to be the father unless additional steps are taken to adjudicate the paternity of the biological father. Dads if you have a divorce where you are not the father call today!
So you were awarded child support. What next?
If you are the party awarded child support in Texas, you will understandably want to know when and how you will begin receiving child support payments. This is a multistep process as outlined below.
First, some basic information and terminology. The party awarded child support is known as the Obligee. The party ordered to pay child support is known as the Obligor. All child support payments must be paid to the Child Support Disbursement Unit located in San Antonio. Your final decree or order has a paragraph which states that any informal payments do not constitute as child support. If the money is not paid directly to the Disbursement Unit it is not being counted by the State as child support and the Obligor could be held in contempt for nonpayment. It is very important that all child support payments go through the State first.
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