Texas Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

The court will likely require that the biological father do a paternity test after you file for divorce, and you will need to indicate in your divorce petition that he is the father. The first step is to file for divorce. If you have an email for your husband in Mexico, you may get him to sign a waiver of citation so you can move forward with the divorce.... Read More

Your mother may apply for Social Security Income as a noncitizen. Whether she will get the benefit will be up to the Social Security Administration. However, she should apply as soon as possible. The forms are available on the SSA website and she can apply online. You will find more information at this link: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-11051.pdf... Read More

If the house and car were paid off prior to the marriage, then it almost certainly falls under your separate property instead of community property, and therefore your estranged husband has no legal interest in either. However, if you used any community funds on the house or the car while married, your husband may be entitled to some reimbursement. For example, job income is considered community property, so if you used money you earned from working to do an expensive repair on the car or to renovate the house, your husband may be entitled to some dollar amount for that. There is also an offset for his reimbursement claim based on how much he benefitted from that expense. For example, if you used your community funds to repair the car but it was also his primary means of getting to work, his reimbursement claim would be reduced because of that. If you're planning on getting a divorce, it's important to speak with an attorney based on the specific facts of your case to ensure that any reimbursement claims your husband may have are dealt with appropriately to protect you from having to over-reimburse your husband.... Read More

Good Morning,  You are under no obligation to speak to a detective.  It is your Fifth Amendment right to remain silent when law enforcement asks you questions meant to elicit responses that can subject you to criminal charges.  If you want to speak to them, it is best to have a lawyer present to advise you as you are being questioned.  Please remember, even if you answer some questions, you can invoke your right not to answer at any time.  Also, if you are exercising the right to remain silent or have a lawyer present, you need to clearly state that.  Asking or contemplating if you should remain silent or have an attorney does not invoke those rights.... Read More

Hello, While the specifics will vary, the general answer is no, your spouse would not be entitled to any money you inherit. In Texas, inheritance is considered separate property and therefore your spouse has no rights to it. However, the big exception to this is if you "commingle" the funds. For example, if you inherit the money from your father, place it in your joint bank account, and both you and your spouse regularly put money into and pull money out of the account over several years, then it may be hard to prove exactly how much of that money is separate vs. community property. Therefore, the wisest thing to do to protect your inheritance would be to open a separate bank account for the inherited money and not mix any other funds into that account (your wages from work are generally considered community property in Texas, so definitely don't mix those funds in!). Anything else you inherit (such as land) would also be separate property, but if any community funds are used for it, then your spouse may have some claim for reimbursement if you get divorced.   All responses are NOT to be considered legal advice nor to be relied upon in any as such nor to establish any form of attorney/client relationship. Opinions expressed are solely informational and not a substitute for proper legal advice provided by a properly retained after thoroughly researching the issues presented.... Read More

Hello, The answer is that without a will, both her husband and her children will inherit portions of her estate. As long as your sister doesn't put her husband on the title to her property and no community funds are used for its maintenance or payments, then all of her children will equally inherit the property, but her husband will retain a 1/3 life estate in it. If it's deemed community property, then her husband will keep his half-ownership of the property and her children will inherit the other half of the property. Googling "Texas intestate succession chart" can give you and your sister a better idea of how her property will be inherited after her passing in a fairly easy to understand format. Obviously, there are a variety of factors that will determine how the property gets inherited, which is why it's important to speak with an attorney after she passes. Ideally, your sister should get a will made, even just a basic one, to ensure that her property goes where she wants it to go. Best regards, James M. Ringel... Read More

When you timely apply for an I-90 application to replace your green card, USCIS will give you a receipt that extends the validity of your card. In the event that you did not receive such a receipt, USCIS just announced on 12/14/22 that it is in the process of sending out amended receipt notices automatically extending the validity of the green card of those who file I-90s to 24 months. When you receive the amended receipt notice, you will see that you are authorized to work and travel for 24 months from the expiration date of the green card. With that, you can travel out of the country and safely return. The biometric appointment notice is not a travel document. If you need to urgently travel before receiving the amended receipt notice, you can call the USCIS Contact Center to arrange an infopass at your local USCIS field office which may issue a stamp into your passport allowing the travel. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read More

Both you and your wife have equal rights to allow visitors in the house. While you may certainly express your disagreement, you will not be able to keep her from having her family in the home. However, you said you have an open divorce case so the judge could order that one of you have exclusive use of the home. If you get exclusive use of the home during the pendency of the divorce, this issue would not be a problem because your wife would not be living in the home.... Read More

The new agreement takes the place of the old agreement as long as it covers all the provisions required in an order. A final order modifying the old order needs to be drafted based on the Mediated Settlement Agreement. Sometimes, the provisions of a previous order are still in affect if they are not modified by the new order. However, in this case, the provisions for no child support would replace the previous child support order. (Be aware that in some counties, the attorney general will contest this type of order if the child is on Medicaid.)... Read More

Because they have been gone for over 6 months, you would probably have to go to Missouri to file a petition with the court to at least get a visitation schedule with your son. It is unclear whether you want a divorce or not, but you certainly could get an order giving you a schedule to see your son. You might want to consider moving wherever your son is to make it easier for him to see you both frequently.... Read More

Yes. In Texas, when a couple divorces, all property they have is considered community property unless it was acquired by gift, by a Will or by inheritance. In this situation, your mom and dad were married when they built the house. The house and all other property they acquired would be subject to being divided in a divorce. Common law marriage is treated the same as ceremonial marriage in Texas in that the couple would need to get a formal divorce before they could marry someone else.... Read More

If you have a standard possession schedule, it probably says that either of you can send a competent adult to pick up/drop off the children. While your concerns are reasonable, the dad has the same level of responsibility as you in making sure the child is safe at all times. You should not use the situation to deny dad his possession time because that could come back to hurt you if he files an enforcement. However, if you are concerned about the drive time, maybe you could offer to meet her and/or the dad halfway.... Read More

You need to know whether you're the father or not before you consider child support issues. In Texas, when determining child support, the court would want to know if you had reason to know that you were the father or if you had no idea you were the father. Since it's been so long, it's not likely that you would have to pay child support for 10 years of the child's life. You should also find out if the mother told some other man that he was the father and if the child knows that man as the father. If you are the father, requesting to terminate your rights is not a good idea unless there is another man who has been acting as the child's father. The Texas Family Code contains a lot of reasons to request termination of parental rights, but avoiding child support is not one of them.... Read More

Unfortunately, it is common for the noncustodial parent to seek a 50/50 schedule with the goal of paying no child support. If the coparenting relationship is not good and if the dad does not already exercise his full possession time and ask for more time, it is not likely that he will get a 50/50 schedule ordered by the court. If a parent is not already super active in the children's lives, the court generally sees the request for 50/50 as a ploy to get out of paying child support. Also, a court could order a 50/50 schedule and still order child support to be paid. As far as your next steps, you should attend all the hearings. Your ex should file a suit for modification to be heard on his 50/50 request. However, the AG may ask you if you agree to the 50/50 schedule. If you do not agree, make sure to let the AG and the judge know that you want to keep the standard possession order in place.... Read More

Hello, Unfortunately, with you not being married, your right to stay on the property is extremely limited (assuming it's solely in his name). Unless you have a contract or lease with him, he can simply give you a notice to vacate, and if you fail to leave, he can begin eviction proceedings against you. The notice to vacate must give you three days to leave before he can file an eviction suit and then you have at least 10 days after those three days until there's a hearing. Please see the following helpful link from the Texas State Law Library for additional information: https://guides.sll.texas.gov/landlord-tenant-law/eviction-process. Should you receive a notice to vacate, I would suggest talking to a lawyer, but there may not be much an attorney can do for you and you'll likely just have to vacate the premises. I will note though, that given you have 5 children together, him kicking you out may not look great to the Court if you have to go to in front of a judge for a custody dispute. Best, James... Read More

Hi Stefani, Generally, yes. Depending on your county and your judge, if you show up at the hearing on Monday even without having filed a Motion for Continuance, the judge may just give you a continuance regardless. Obviously, if you can, it would be best to file a formal Motion for Continuance and in that Motion you would state that the purpose is to have time to retain an attorney. Please note though, that for many judges they will give you once continuance to find a lawyer, but if you haven't found one by the next hearing, they may not give you another for that purpose, so I would recommend you try to find one quickly. Best, James Ringel... Read More