Plano Divorce Lawyers Blog

Because of the increase in high conflict divorce, many family law courts in Texas, and particularly in Collin County, are appointing parenting coordinators or parenting facilitators to work with the parents in developing and maintaining a parenting plan. Generally, the judge will ask the divorce attorneys to agree to the person who will serve as the parent coordinator or parent facilitator. If the attorneys are unable to agree, the judge appoints that person. Parents and family law attorneys, in determining who to ask the judge to appoint, should be very careful to make sure that the person appointed in their case is qualified to serve in that capacity. While the qualifications for a parent coordinator are fairly easy to meet, those for a parent facilitator are much more stringent. Parent facilitators are required to have much more training than a parent coordinator is required to have.

The laws governing parenting plans, parenting coordinators and parenting facilitators can be found in the Texas Family Code, chapter 153, subchapter K. The qualifications of a Parenting Coordinator can be found at Tex. Fam. Code sec. 153.610 and the qualifications of a Parenting Facilitator can be found at Tex. Fam. Code sec. 153.6101. Any person who has at least a bachelor's degree in counseling, education, family studies, psychology or social work or who is an attorney can be a parent coordinator so long as that person gets some additional training in the areas of family violence dynamics, dispute resolution techniques such as mediation, and family dynamics, child development and the laws governing family law matters. In contrast, a parent facilitator must be a licensed social worker, licensed professional counselor, licensed marriage and family counselor, psychologist or an attorney. Being licensed is the important difference in the qualifications of a parent facilitator as compared to a parent coordinator. Additionally, a parent facilitator must receive training, not required of a parent coordinator, in the laws that govern parenting coordination and parenting facilitation and in the different models of procedures. Thus, if the judge determines that the parties should go to parenting facilitation, the parents and their attorney need to make sure the person appointed is licensed as required by the statute and has obtained the additional training.

Sharon Easley, as one of the only family law attorneys in Collin County who is also qualified to be appointed by a court as a parent coordinator or a parent facilitator, cautions other family law attorneys and their clients to make sure the person they choose has experience in handling high conflict custody cases, because most situations where a parent coordinator or a parent facilitator is needed fall into that category of family law matters. Additionally, parenting coordination and parenting facilitation are particularly necessary when a parent seeks to modify a custody order or modify an order for possession and access contained in the final divorce decree. High conflict custody cases are the ones that require the most time in a family courts. For that reason, the parents in such cases benefit most by in parenting coordination or facilitation because conflicts are often resolved without the need for court intervention.

The differences in the duties of a parent coordinator and those of a parent facilitator will be discussed in future articles.

Alimony in Texas has changed, morphed, been completely transformed in some of its most essential traits. In various aspects, it is barely recognizable since the changes became law on September 1, 2011.

Historically, the State of Texas disliked and discouraged alimony, which also goes by the nickname of "spousal support," and more formally -- "maintenance." The general rule was that former spouses should not be required to support one another after a divorce is final. But, in the event that exes were required to support each other, the alimony should not last very long.

It was not uncommon for a new client to walk in the door and announce, with either a relieved or a frustrated look in their eyes, that they know there is no such thing as alimony in Texas. I would start by saying, "Actually,..." and then rattle off the old rules:

1. With a few exceptions, you have to have been married for 10 years to be eligible;
2. The maximum payment is $2,500 per month; and
3. The longest that alimony can last, with the perfunctory few exceptions, of course, is 3 years.

Quickly thereafter, I would explain that even if you meet the requirements, alimony is still ordered very infrequently.

Allow me to give you a brief introduction to the alimony of the future, AKA alimony on steroids:

1. With a few exceptions, you have to have been married for 10 years to be eligible;
2. The maximum payment is $5,000 per month; and
3. The longest that alimony can last, with the proverbial few exceptions, ... DEPENDS!

If you have been married for more than 10 years, but less than 20 years, alimony can last five years.

If you have been married for more than 20 years, but less than 30 years, alimony can last seven years.

If you have been married for more than 30 years, alimony can last for as many as 10 years.

Some of the exceptions that can affect the general rules are when there has been family violence and when a spouse or child has a disability.

Other changes in alimony law include when and how it can be modified, terminated and enforced.

Even when a spouse is eligible to receive alimony, there are still many facts that affect whether it will actually be awarded. Those facts include things like whether the recipient spouse needs financial support, whether the payor spouse can afford to pay it, and whether the recipient will walk away from the divorce with sufficient funds or assets to make ends meet.

The biggest change is the new emphasis on the equities involved as they relate to the length of the marriage and the de-emphasizing of alimony's function as very short-term financial aid.

Alimony has always been, and it appears that it will continue to be, a very fact-intensive issue. The law, which is set out in Chapter 8 of the Texas Family Code, is filled with many more details than can be included here. And this commentary on some of the changes made by the legislature is just that -- a commentary, and is certainly not intended as legal advice.

Kelly Hurt

Among the many issues facing divorcing parents is how or when passport issues might affect them and their child in the future. Until recently, the children's passports were often an overlooked issue in Texas divorces. Because of the increase in international travel, international marriages and the security issues presented by international marriages, the isssuance and maintaing of passports for children has become a much more important consideration. Experienced family law attorneys, particularly those in a high-tech area such as Plano, are mindful of the unique situations that can arise with passports and strive to educate parents on these issues.

Plano family attorneys advise divorcing and divorced parents about carefully considering international travel and what safeguards a parent wants in place when international travel is being contemplated. More significantly, however, is that the obtaining and use of passports has become a huge issue due to international child abduction. With international marriages increasing in number, the number of divorces among international citizens is also increasing. When international citizens are involved in a divorce, passport issues can become a critical element in preventing a parent from hiding the children in a foreign country, particularly one that is not a member of the Hague Convention.

The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is an important agreement in protecting parents and children who have or could become victims of international abduction. This international child custody agreement sets forth procedures and requirements to aid in the return of children who are wrongfully removed from a country. These procedures help simplify and expedite the process of getting children back.

A list of countries that have signed the Hague agreement can be found here. Eighty-Five countries have signed the agreement. However, some countries that might be expected to sign have not. For example, Japan is one country that has not signed the Hague agreement. The New York Times reports that the Japanese cabinet is now taking steps toward getting the proper legislation in place to sign the agreement, but the actual signing may take a while.

Divorcing parents need to be mindful of which countries have signed the Hague agreement because, without the procedures and requirements set forth in the Hague agreement, a child might never be returned. Our Plano family law attorneys are mindful of the Hague agreement and help divorcing and divorced parents understand these complex passport issues so that parents can make the best decisions for the safety and welfare of their children.

Child custody disputes are difficult enough without the added complication of the threat of a parent taking the child out of the country, particularly to a country that has not signed the Hague agreement. Our attorneys routinely include language in a custody agreement or custody order that provides for the conditions under which a passport for a child will be obtained, how and by whom it will be maintained and the procedure for one parent being permitted to have possession of the passport so the child can travel internationally. If the custody dispute includes a concern that a parent could remove the child from the United States to a country not a member of the Hague Convention, a family law court can and should order special provisions that give added protection for the child.

The lawyers of the Plano-based Family Law firm of Easley & Marquis believe that both parents should have loving relationships with their children. Sharon Easley, who frequently represents parents who are concerned that their children are being alienated from them by the other parent, has found that children of divorced parents are frequently the victims of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). She has worked diligently to encourage family court judges to consider more creative solutions when the signs of parental alienation are present.

Parental alienation is the action of one parent in an attempt, even if subconscious, to turn the children against the other parent. Parental Alienation Syndrome is the result of the conscious or unconscious efforts of one parent to alienate the children from the other parent. This alienating behavior may start during the divorce process itself or begin later, such as upon the remarriage of one of the parents. Sharon Easley, a partner of Easley & Marquis, is a seasoned attorney specializing in all areas involving child custody matters, including PAS.

The affects of PAS are devastating to both the children as well as the alienated parent. One of the most significant signs in a child that one parent may be alienating that child from the other parent involves unexplained and unwarranted anger by the child toward the potentially alienated parent. Other warning signs of PAS, which were developed by Dr. Douglas Darnell, include the following actions by the alienating parent:

• Blaming the other parent for the divorce or financial difficulties;
• Barring or trying to bar the other parent from the child's activities;
• Allowing the child to choose whether or not to see the other parent;
• Providing the child details of the divorce;
• Encouraging the child's anger toward the other parent;
• Asking the child to spy on the other parent;
• Eavesdropping on phone conversations between the child and the other parent;
• Acting sad when the child enjoys time with the other parent;
• Arranging activities that interfere with the visitation schedule; and
• Preventing or trying to prevent access to school and medical records.
• Preventing or trying to prevent access to school and medical records.

A post-divorce case in which several PAS warning signs were present was recently handled by the Plano-based family law firm of Easley & Marquis. In that case, the father, who had been living a great distance from the children, sought and was awarded temporary custody of the children. While the case was pending, the mother, with whom the children had been living, communicated with her children about ways to make their father angry, encouraged them to talk disrespectfully to him, and called their friends' parents and made false claims about abuse by the father toward her and the children. The Texas judge, who was very familiar with the research on PAS, interviewed the children, who told him they hated their father and wanted to return to live with their mother in Texas. Following the trial, the judge suspended all of the mother's access to the children for 90 days to give the father an opportunity to re-establish his bond with the children. The judge advised the father that he would order that the children return to Texas at the end of the 90 days, if they still wanted to live with their mother.

A judge making such an order has been a very rare occurrence in Easley & Marquis' experience in handling custody disputes. His ruling in this case, however, was very successful for their client and the children. After the children had the opportunity to get to know their father better without interference by their mother, they told the judge they realized their mother had been trying to make them hate their father and they now wanted to continue living with their father. He was awarded permanent, primary custody.

Parents should remember, that PAS does not occur overnight. The case discussed above lasted several years and was very expensive for all the parties involved. To minimize the effect of parental alienation, therefore, if you observe any of the above-mentioned signs, you should act immediately to address this disturbing behavior, whether that be through counseling with a therapist knowledgeable about PAS or through the courts. The lawyers at Easley & Marquis have successfully tried cases involving PAS and work diligently to prevent any further alienating behavior. The road to a successful conclusion, however, is very long, especially when the alienation has been occuring over a long period of time.

From the beginning of their family law practice, the lawyers of Easley & Marquis have made the best interest of children a top priority. They have done this for good reason.

Children are the unintended victims of divorce. They do not ask for the divorce. They often feel pulled to take sides. Even though they love both parents, they generally do not want to choose one parent over the other. If asked, most children will tell you that they wish their parents would get back together.

Even adults, whose parents were divorced during their childhood, will tell you that they wish their parents had been able to get along and stay married. The desire of children for their parents to get along and stay together is true for the many families we represent, whether it's in one of the Collin County towns, such as Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney or Wylie, or in Dallas or Denton Counties. We feel confident the same is true for children of divorce everywhere in the country.

The negative impact of divorce on children does not always show up during the divorce. They may continue to perform well in school while the divorce is ongoing and, later, show the signs of stress and anxiety they have felt while the divorce was pending. In fact, studies have shown that the impact of divorce frequently does not show up until much later in the lives of these children. For example, children of divorce receive far less help paying for college expenses than children whose parents are not divorce, which can impact their ability to be self-sufficient adults. Other studies have shown that children of divorce do not perform as well in school,particularly in the area of mathmetics, and do not have as developed interpersonal skills as those whose parents have not been divorced

At Easley & Marquis, we encourage parents we represent, particularly those who are involved in a high conflict cutody dispute, to stay focused on the best interest of the children at all times. We show them examples of how a parent, unintentionally, can say things to a child or in the presence of a child that could be considered parental alienation.

Children love the attention of their parents and they learn quickly how to manipulate a parent with that parent's need to one-up the other parent in a custody dispute. The result often will be that the litigation becomes even more expensive and emotionally charged because now the parents are accusing each other of parental alienation. Social studies will be ordered. Everyone will be sent to counseling. The divorce process will take longer and be more expensive. No one "wins" in those situations.

Parents will continue to get divorced. Children will continue to be negatively impacted. That is not going to change. However, parents can choose to take a path, whether it be through collaborative law or just using good judgment and good behavior during the divorce, to focus honestly on what the children need rather than what serves their own purposes.

Just as families are typically more satisfied with a custom-built home as opposed to a cookie-cutter model, the collaborative divorce process allows divorcing couples to create a custom-made solution for their family. Divorce is never easy, particularly when children are involved. However, if the parties going through a divorce can take a step back and approach the transition of their family with courtesy and respect, the children, and the family, will be much better off.

Enter the collaborative divorce process. Lisa Marquis of Easley & Marquis, PLLC, has been handling Collin County collaborative divorces for almost ten years. While the process took a while to gain popularity in Plano and surrounding communities, it has picked up momentum in the last few years. Most collaborative attorneys in Collin County prefer to use the team approach whereby the parties and their respective attorneys use the specialized assistance of financial and mental health professionals to create their custom-made parenting plan and property settlement.

A collaborative divorce that Lisa recently handled involved a child who was battling cancer. The parents were able to create a custom-made parenting plan that took into consideration the ages of their children, their respective job obligations, as well as the special medical needs of one of the children. Having a sick child can bring stress and strain to an otherwise healthy marriage. Imagine the stress that it can bring to an already strained relationship. While the collaborative divorce process cannot remove all of the pain of a divorce, it can provide the divorce couple with tools for having an effective, healthy co-parenting relationship after a divorce.

Couples who are considering divorce who want to maintain their privacy and want a creative, custom-made solution for their family after divorce should consult with a collaborative divorce attorney, such as Lisa Marquis with Easley & Marquis, PLLC to find out all of their options and whether the collaborative process is the best solution for their family.

Social networking sites can be a divorce lawyer's best friend or worst enemy, depending on who is doing the posting and who the custody lawyer represents. Our Collin County family lawyers are very familiar with the difficulties presented by postings on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. An example of such a situation is a case recently handled by Easley & Marquis.

The parents were divorcing and the mother claimed that the father drank too much so he should not have unsupervised access to his child. The father claimed that he never drank any more and that the child would be safe with him. Just before the temporary orders hearing, a friend of the father posted a picture on her Facebook page of the father with several other individuals at a bar, holding a beer, bragging about how he could handle his liquor! Easley & Marquis represented the mother in this case and used the Facebook post to catch the father in a lie.

Another instance, where Easley & Marquis represented a Plano father who was seeking custody of his son, occurred when the father learned of the mother's affair because she posted pictures of herself with her "friend" on her own blog site. She thought the post was private but one of her friends showed it to the father. He got custody of the child. The moral of the story is not that, if you are getting divorced or you are already divorced, don't run around and don't drink!! The moral is DON'T POST IT ON FACEBOOK or any other social networking site.

According to the NY Daily News in their article titled, Marriage over? Divorce Lawyer Says Facebook Is Used in 90 Percent of Cases, Facebook pages and postings on other social networking sites are used as evidence in approximately 90% of divorce cases--making the lawyers job much easier--or more difficult, depending on the side the attorney represents.

A North Texas man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the fatal shooting of his 10-year-old daughter while he was drinking on Christmas Eve in 2009. The shooting occurred when, in a drunken state, he was giving his daughter a lesson in handling firearms. The father, who lives in a town near Plano, had installed a video camera to gather evidence in a child custody fight. The shooting was witnessed by his son.

Frequently, the safety of children, particularly when one of the parents abuses alcohol or drugs, is an issue in child custody battles. Our family lawyers have found that proving a parent is abusing alcohol or drugs is becoming easier because of the increased willingness of judges to order random drug and alcohol testing for the alleged abuser. However, proving that a parent is drinking excessively or using illegal drugs is only half the fight. A parent who seeks to limit visitation or possession by a parent because of alcohol or drug abuse must also prove that the child is not safe with that parent. This recent event, where a child custody battle had already ensued, will increase the awareness of our judges that the safety of a child is paramount to allowing the parent who has a problem with alcohol or drugs to have unsupervised access to the child.

Moreover, this incident also proves the benefit to a parent seeking to limit custody of children by a parent who abuses alcohol or drugs of videotaping what is transpiring during the visitation period. Frequently, that parent has no proof that the abuse is taking place or that the children are unsafe in the situation. At Easley & Marquis, our Collin County family lawyers encourage parents in those circumstances to engage a private detective agency to videotape the other parent at times and places where the suspected parent will be with the children and likely to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. While hiring a private investigator may be costly, putting a price on a child's safety is something most parents in a child custody fight find difficult to do.

The Plano-based Family Law firm of Easley & Marquis is committed to making sure that children from divorced families have relationships with both parents. When a new client with a Child Custody matter comes to Easley & Marquis, the case is usually referred to Sharon Easley, who immediately begins to assess the case for evidence of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). When evidence of PAS is present, Sharon knows that the "fight" to insure that her client has the opportunity to have a quality relationship with his or her children, after divorce, will be very tough and require very specialized treatment in order to succeed. The following is an example of one such case in which Easley & Marquis succeeded in stopping a mother from alienating her children from their father, who was ultimately awarded custody of both of his children by a Family Court judge in McKinney, Texas.

The case came to Easley & Marquis when a father, who lived in Wisconsin, was contacted by Child Protective Services (CPS) in Plano, Texas, and told that his children's living environment was being investigated and that they might be removed from their home, which was also in Plano, and placed in foster care somewhere in Texas. Child Protective Services had become involved when the older child, a boy about 12 years of age at the time, called to report that his mother and step-parents were fighting and that the fight had become physical. The other child, a girl, was only 11 years old.

The history of the case is that the parents were divorced in another state and the mother, who had primary custody of the children, had moved to Plano, Texas, a few years before the Plano Law Firm was contacted. The mother was remarried and had another child by that marriage. After she moved to Plano, the father moved where he could find employment, which was not in Texas.

The father and mother did not get along and the father had experienced a great deal of difficulty seeing his children after their move to Plano. He was frequently told by the mother that the children did not want to go see him, she would tell him they had other plans and she would not make let him talk to them on the phone. The father learned during the case in Texas that the mother had also told the children many bad things about him, such as that he abused alcohol, that he was physically and mentally abusive and that he did not love his children. Alienating parents frequently say bad things about the other parent to their children, even if untrue.

After a very long process that included a custody evaluation, the father was awarded primary custody of the children. That was not the end of the story, however, and was not the end of the mother's efforts to alienate the children from the father. For several months, she consistently e-mailed and called the children, making very negative and derogatory statements about their father. He became suspicious and recorded some of the calls and was successful in downloading some of the e-mails. (Before deciding to record telephone calls between your child and another person, you should read articles on illegal wiretapping and consult with an attorney.) In this case, the father had a "good faith" belief that he needed to record the calls. In one of the recordings, the mother advised the children to turn the air conditioning temperature down so the father would get mad at them and send them back to Texas. There was another trial at which the father asked that the mother be punished for her bad behavior. The judge met with the children, who told them they wanted to live with their mother in Texas, and listened to all the evidence of what the mother had been doing, including listening to the recorded telephone conversations.

After that trial, the judge suspended all contact with the mother for 90 days so that the father and the children could have an opportunity to bond. He told the father, however, that if the children still wanted to live in Texas with their mother, he would allow them to return at the end of the 90-day period. After the 90 days, the children changed their minds and said they wanted to stay with their father. The mother would not give up and yet a third trial occurred, following which the children were allowed to stay with their father. They are now living happily with their father, who allows them to see their mother whenever they want to see her.

Easley & Marquis has been handling cases where "parental alienation" is a factor in child custody disputes for a very long time. Some of the family law attorneys at our Plano law firm have become very experienced in handling cases where one of the parents is intentionally alienating the children from the other parent. Sometimes the alienation becomes so extreme that the children align themselves with the alienating parent against the non-alienating parent. Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is a factor when the alienation reaches the point where the children are aligned so completely with the alienating parent that they desire no contact with the non-alienating parent and will actually join in the alienation.

Sharon Easley is a founding member of the firm and she is the attorney who has the greatest amount of experience in handling these kind of cases. Kelly Hurt and Brittney Moon are additional attorneys with the firm who work very closely with her to make sure clients who are the victims of parental alienation get the best possible representation. These three women are very passionate about doing everything they can as family lawyers to make sure children have quality time with both parents and that a parent who seeks to use the court system to alienate the children from another parent fails in that effort.

The Easley & Marquis lawyers will be posting entries on the subject of parental alienation and their experience in this very special area of family law over the coming weeks. If you have questions that you would like answered or have stories to tell about your own experiences, please share them with our readers.