Texas family law presumes a husband is the father of his wife’s children born during the marriage. A presumed father may challenge paternity, but he generally must do so by the child’s fourth birthday. Adjudication of the paternity of a child with a presumed father may occur later, however, if…
Courts will not generally grant a Texas divorce during the pregnancy of a spouse. Courts want to address all of the issues in the final divorce decree, including paternity, custody, and child support, and they cannot do that until the child is born. Although courts are unlikely to grant the…
Parenting is hard. Those three words are enough to capture the entire outlook of parenthood from the moment that the sweet child enters the world. In today’s world, parenting has taken on a number of new issues such as parenting after a divorce, as an unmarried couple; single parenting; and…
In a recent Texas paternity decision, the court considered the name change of a minor. The child’s mother and father married in 2012. The mother was a real estate agent and kept using her original last name as her last name during the marriage. She listed her name on real…
Many people ask: Can my children decide where they want to live in a divorce? There are many ways for a court to consider children’s input about where they want to live. The first way is simply allowing children to talk to the judge. Section 153.009 of the Texas Family…
In re Interest of PS is a Texas case that illustrates the importance of consulting an experienced family law lawyer in connection with any plans for artificial insemination. An appellate court reviewed whether a father qualified as a donor under Texas Family Code section 160.102(6). The case arose out of a…
Can a married couple get divorced in Texas while the wife is pregnant? It is highly unlikely. Most Texas courts will not grant a divorce to a married couple if the wife is pregnant. Instead, the couple will have to wait until after the baby is born to finalize their…
Surrogacy is the process of a mother carrying a child for a family who can’t conceive. The process can be a godsend for parents who do not have the option of traditional conception. As surrogacy works in Texas, it involves a life-altering event for at least three parties– the intended parents and…
This past summer, the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which held that under the U.S. Constitution, no state may forbid same-sex couples from marrying and that no state may refuse to accept the legality of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. This Supreme Court opinion,…
It’s called superfecundation– while fertile, if a woman sleeps with two men during the same fertility cycle, she can conceive twins from two separate fathers. This is not very common, but it is not impossible. 1 out of every 13,000 cases involving twins involves superfecundation. In New Jersey, a woman…