FAMILY LAW
Family law encompasses a wide variety of subjects dealing with children and marriage. It is much more than just divorces. To be sure family law includes divorces and divorce subparts (child custody, child support, child visitation, marital support and property division). Family law, however, also incorporates pre-marital agreements and post-marital agreements.
Divorce
Divorce is one of the ways to legally dissolve a marriage. Often divorce is emotionally charged and highly stressful. It can also be economically costly and time consuming. William C. Dvorak handles both contested and uncontested divorces including child custody, support and visitation issues as well as complex property matters.
Child Custody
It is public policy of Texas that children have frequent and continuing contact with parents who have shown the ability to act in the best interests of the child, provide a safe, stable, and nonviolent environment for the child and encourage parents to share in the rights and duties of raising their child after parents have separated or dissolved their marriage. Above all the best interest of the child shall always be the primary consideration of the court in determining issues of custody, possession and access to the child. Generally, this means that both parents are named joint managing conservator with one parent being given the right to establish the child's residency. Each divorce or custody case is different, however, and specific facts will control.
Child Support
The court may order either or both parents to support a child in the manner specified by the order. Child support normally continues until the child is eighteen years of age or graduates from high school, whichever occurs later. Under certain circumstances child support may terminate earlier than this and under other limited circumstances child support may continue past the later of the child's eighteenth birthday or graduation from high school.
In determining the amount of periodic child support the court normally follows particular guidelines established in the Texas Family Code. If the court follows these guidelines, it is presumed that the amount of child support ordered is reasonable. The court may consider additional factors in ordering periodic child support which may justify a variance from the guidelines. Application of the guidelines applies to the net resources of the party paying the child support. The specific facts will control.
Visitation
The public policy of Texas is that children have frequent and continuing contact with parents who have shown the ability to act in the best interests of the child, provide a safe, stable and nonviolent environment for the child. In this regard the Texas Family Code establishes a minimum visitation schedule referred to as standard possession. Generally the standard possession schedule provides the noncustodial parent every other weekend with the child, alternating major holidays and a thirty day summer vacation period. Parents with employment schedules which make the standard possession order unworkable such as shift workers or airline flight crew members are often awarded possession schedules that accommodate their working schedules. It is noteworthy that the standard or modified standard possession is the minimum possession and access schedule and the parents are encouraged to work together to provide more contact with the child or children than that ordered by the court. The specific facts will control.
We have many years experience and represent clients in a wide variety of family law matters:
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