Jason Simmons, a 36-year-old, living in the 15000 block of Tallshadows confronted his wife, Nancy Simmons, in the front yard of their house after she came back from having dinner with a friend named Ramon. Once she went inside the house she found the stove burners in the on position and Jason Simmons apparently started flicking the striker of a cigarette lighter.
]]> At some point after this alleged incident, Nancy Simmons told Jason Simmons that their marriage was over. He then cut his wrists before leaving the house.There aren’t yet any facts available to determine if Nancy Simmons had filed for a Texas protective order. If she has not, she may want to consider it.
Texas protective orders allow for people in domestic violence situations to gain protection. The Texas protective order laws can be found under Chapter 82 of the Texas Family Code. Under Section 82.002, an application for a protective order to protect the applicant may be filed by an adult member of the relationship.
Of course, the definition of what constitutes domestic violence is broad. So, for example, if a marriage is coming to an end, that would probably still be within the definition, though you may want to check with a local family law attorney. Usually these attorneys are also the same ones that handle other family law issues such as divorce, child custody and spousal support.
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Goodman, the heir to a fortune from air-conditioner manufacturing, legally adopted 42-year-old Heather Laruso Hutchins. The move, it is speculated, is designed to allow Hutchins to control a trust fund that Goodman set up for his other two children. Since the trust is set up so that beneficiaries can't take from it until they are 35, Hutchins can take from it, since she is 42-years-old.
But adopting his girlfriend may not just be for giving a girlfriend access to a trust-fund.
]]> It turns out that millionaire John Goodman allegedly struck and killed a Floridian named Scott Wilson whose parents have since filed a wrongful death suit against Goodman. There is some speculation that the adoption is linked to protecting assets from a possible verdict, though the experts are stumped as to how exactly it helps, because the trust-fund money already would most likely not have been accessible to Scott Wilson’s parents.For purposes of the ongoing civil trial, the judge has decided to recognize the adoption as legitimate.
While this case raises many interesting legal issues, from estate planning to personal injury damages, obviously what the Texas adoption laws are also come up.
Section 162.001 of the Texas family code lists “who may adopt and be adopted.” Most of the specific rules are intended to make sure that there is no doubling up of parental rights. Other than that there is no specification on age limits — say, for example, prohibiting you from adopting a 42-year-old. A child’s consent is needed if he or she is older than twelve.
So if the adoptee is your girlfriend, then consent is probably easy to get.
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It turns out that the Los Angeles Department of Children & Family is recommending that Berry and Aubry take parenting classes, reports the Huffington Post.
]]> The Berry and Aubry parenting classes requirement comes during the course of the custody battle in which Berry has accused Aubry of having a temper and tried to strip him of parental rights.But judging from the reaction of the courts, it seems that they are more inclined towards teaching Berry and Aubry to attend parenting classes with an eye towards learning how to co-parent better.
Co-parenting in Texas is pretty much the same concept as it would be in California. According to a report issued by the Texas Attorney General's office, "co-parenting (sometimes called shared parenting) is when both parents work together as a team to raise their children, even after the marriage or romantic relationship is over." This may not be a skill most people are taught, so, as with Berry and Aubry's custody, they might have to sit down and learn it.
Basically, good co-parenting focuses on the child. "Try to keep all arguments away from your kids, and don't make negative comments about the other parents to your kids. If you treat communication between yourself and the other parent as a job, then conflict and arguments should be less likely to occur," says the guide.
Here's hoping that the Berry and Aubry custody battle gets less antagonistic and after their parenting classes.
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A recent rumor to come out from the Kardashian hive was that Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian are either considering fertility drugs to have a baby or are already or on them. And though this particular Khloe fertility rumor was quickly shot down, it is still making for good marketing for the Kardashian reality show, reports the Huffington Post.
]]> The discussion about Khloe Kardashian’s fertility treatment comes up at an interesting time in the timeline of FindLaw’s Houston Family Law News Blog for a couple of reasons. First, because Khloe and Lamar are now living in Texas because of Lamar’s move to the Dallas Mavericks. And second, because recently, this blog began having a more general discussion about laws that affect parents that are not biologically able to have children.Certainly, fertility treatments are one way such parents might produce children. Another way might be to pursue a gestational surrogacy, which, very generally speaking, is when a man and woman’s sperm and egg are implanted in another woman, who then carries the fetus to term.
The Texas gestational surrogacy requirements are laid out in Tex. Fam. Code §§ 160.751-160.763. Perhaps the most important among them are the fact that a gestational mother may not use her own egg and that the intended parents must be married and must undergo a home study. Also important is the fact that the gestational surrogacy agreement has to be validated in court.
For more information on Texas gestational surrogacy requirements you might consider speaking to an expert attorney. He or she may not, however, be able to satisfy your appetite for the Khloe fertility gossip.
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In a gestational surrogacy, an embryo is transferred to the woman who agrees to gestate the baby, the gestational carrier. The baby has no genetic material from the carrier. Here is where it gets confusing: The gametes can come from either of the intended parents (or both), or from an egg donor or a sperm donor, or both.
It is important to create parenting presumptions in law so that the intended parents are the legal parents. Texas is one of the states that has taken steps to legally clarify gestational surrogacy.
]]> The Texas gestational surrogacy requirements are laid out in Tex. Fam. Code §§ 160.751-160.763. They are as follows:There may be more requirements that come up as part of the study or during the proceedings with a court.
Asking someone else to give birth to a child that one cannot carry to term herself can be an expensive but ultimately fulfilling experience. However, it is important to be well informed about the legal requirements. To learn more, talk to an experienced attorney in your area.
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Turns out that in 1998, after the death of her husband Claude Franklin, his widow, Mary Ann Franklin, joined in a class-action lawsuit against a number of oil and chemical companies.
The lawsuit alleged that companies such as Mobil Oil and DuPont exposed their workers to asbestos and that Claude Franklin died as a result of cancer in 1999, which was believed to be directly due to the asbestos.
]]> Fast forward ten years later. Mary Ann Franklin received a settlement from Chevron USA, Unocal, Goodyear, PPG Industries, Owens-Illinois, Bridgestone, and B&B Engineering & Supply.That was when things became familial.
Two women claiming to be Claude Franklin's daughters, Carolyn Harris and Pamela Terry, intervened in the case. They wanted part of the proceeds.
Now a whole set of hearings on Claude Franklin's paternity of Carolyn Harris and Pamela Terry are set to take place. Jury selection for the case starts on January 24. Mary Ann Franklin's side believes that the women can show that they are sisters, but not that they are Claude Franklin's daughters.
All of this goes to show the importance of getting paternity issues resolved. Typically, our focus is on encouraging women to get the paternity of their children sorted out so they may be able to receive child-support and have parenting support.
However, as the Claude Franklin paternity case shows, it is also important for fathers to work out their paternity, so that in the event that their financial circumstances suddenly change for the better, mysterious people don't show up claiming to be their progeny.
Under Texas paternity law, a child born to a man and woman who are not married has no legal father. There is a difference between a biological father and a legal father. When the child's parents complete an Acknowledgment of Paternity (AOP) to establish legal fatherhood, this helps to secure the legal rights of both the child and the father.
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Tracy Morgan apparently lost consciousness at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah and was taken to a hospital. It was then that his mother learned about the episode and tried to contact the hospital, where no information was provided to her.
]]> She claimed that she was trying to find out what was happening in his life.Tracy Morgan’s estranged mother’s story is not well known. It turns out that while he spent his childhood with her, he left her to be with his father. His mother, meanwhile, had a gambling problem that she eventually overcame and Tracy maintains he loves her, reports Flaunt Magazine.
Of course, estrangement affects families all across the country. Nor is it the only way that biological parents lose touch with their children. In fact, parents that give their children for adoption, sometimes never get to know their children. While others reconnect later on in life.
Some parents, meanwhile, are not sure if they should consider giving their children for adoption.
Many parents who are unwilling to be parents, or are unable to take care of their children, may not realize that they can put their children up for adoption at any age. Generally, any person who has the legal right over a child may place a child for adoption.
Most states allow parents to do a “nonagency” placement of the children, often called a “private” adoption or an “independent” adoption. In such a situation, the parent can find someone on their own. One of the benefits of a private adoption is that it may not be necessary to find a married family, as a single person might be able to adopt.
A family law attorney can answer questions or get the adoption process started.
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In the face of statistics like these, it is heartening to see a federal defending childhood initiative that is aiming to tackle violence against children. It is called the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence and it was launched towards the end of 2011.
]]> The inititive is composed of leading experts from different fields that will look at the nature of childhood exposure to violence and try to craft policies to counter the crisis.Recently, the United States Attorney General, Eric Holder, wrote a description about the childhood violence prevention program, reports The Justice Blog of the USDOJ.
Some of the child abuse statistics Holder mentions are damning:
We learned that the majority of our kids - more than 60 percent - have been exposed to crime, abuse, and violence -- many in their own homes. Ten percent of children in the United States have suffered some form of abuse or neglect; one in sixteen has been victimized sexually.
Thus far Texas has been trying to tackle its violence against children on its own. One of the statutes that covers child abuse in Texas is Family Code 261.101(b). This law requires teachers, nurses, doctors, day-care employees, employees of a clinic or health care facility that provides reproductive services, juvenile probation officers, and juvenile detention or correctional officers to report any suspected child abuse. The aim of the law is to use the community help recognize, reduce and eradicate child abuse in Texas.
Now it is nice to see that there are more federal programs trying to help states like Texas stem the tide of abuse and neglect.
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Making devices your child uses pornography-proof is particularly difficult in the age of "apps" or applications, which can be downloaded at any time and hidden very easily.
]]> In almost all of these situations, parents are put in the position of having to learn the settings for each app and browser on a child's mobile device, reports the Times.The researchers at FindLaw have been looking at a lot of the literature associated with the risks children face online and have put together some warning signs parents should consider:
In the event that you find your children exhibiting any of the aforementioned behavior, you should immediately open communication with the child. You can also use software blocking controls to take a more proactive approach. Other suggestions include moving the computer away from the child's room. It is much easier to spot signs of online danger when the computer screen is visible and in the open.
For more information about the risks children face online, from both mobile devices and home comupters, please see the resources below.
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New grandparents need to get vaccinated against pertussis (also called whooping cough) in order to protect babies less than six months old. This is because children less than six months can’t receive the whooping cough vaccine themselves.
The recommendation comes down from the American Academy of Pediatrics, reports the Globe. As a result of the recommendation, anyone that is over age 65 and caring for a baby needs to receive the so called Tdap vaccine — tetanus-diptheria-acellular pertussis. (Try saying that even slightly faster).
]]> What vaccinations a grandparent has may not seem important at first, but it is something that could come up during a grandparent custody issue in Texas.After all, it may sometimes be the case that the biological grandparents of a child might try and get full custody of their grandson or granddaughter. Perhaps the parent of the child has been incarcerated and is unable to take care of the child, or maybe the biological parents are dead and the child needs to be placed with a new legal guardian.
FindLaw states that it could be very difficult for grandparents to attain custody of a child if it is against the wishes of the child's biological parent or parents. A judge in Harris County will most often consider the child's best interest as the main factor in making any child custody decision, including decisions that involve grandparent custody.
If the grandparent is awarded custody of a child, then he or she has the same rights as any other parent and can legally make decisions about the child's upbringing. The Texas Attorney General's Office reports that grandparents can even sometimes receive child support money if a grandparent is declared to be the custodial parent of a child.
For more information about grandparent custody in Texas, please see below.
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]]>It turns out that the Texas Supreme Court suspended Judge William Adams from his position, reports The Stir.
The Hillary Adams beating was chronicled in a video dated 2004 and which was uploaded to Youtube. It went viral.
]]> The video was extremely graphic. It showed a T-shirted man hitting a teenage girl with a belt and instructing her to “bend the (expletive) over.” A woman in the video — apparently Hillary Adams’s mother — looked on and screamed, “You turn over like a 16-year-old and take it, like a grown woman!”No charges had come against Judge William Adams because of the statute of limitations having been run. The fact that no remedial action was being taken was not against the letter of the law, but did seem to run counter to Texas public policy.
One of the statutes that covers child abuse in Texas is Family Code 261.101(b). It requires teachers, nurses, doctors, day-care employees, employees of a clinic or health care facility that provides reproductive services, juvenile probation officers, and juvenile detention or correctional officers to report child abuse. One aim of the law is to use the community help reduce and eradicate child abuse in Texas.
Obviously, the state supreme court was aware of the statute, and did not want the public to think that the statute had no teeth, or that a judge could be above the law.
Child abuse can take many different forms. And preventing it is a community-wide task. In that job, local attorneys are very helpful. They can help get temporary restraining orders or simply advice as to what the best step might be.
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And, obviously, many of the personnel go through the same family difficulties as the rest of the citizenry, including divorce. In fact, it turns out that the military divorce rate has been steadily increasing, reports Military.com News. Much of the increase is a result of long deployments.
Still, on the whole the numbers are not that bad, reports the article:
]]>Since the start of operations in Afghanistan in 2001, the overall divorce rate among military members has risen from 2.6 percent in 2001 to 3.7 percent in 2011.
These numbers are helped by various intervention programs that the military uses, including one called Strong Bonds. It puts on events around the country to strengthen family life according to Military News.
Military divorces are often complicated by the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act.
The law allows a state to treat military retired pay as marital property and therefore divide it in a divorce action; in short, retired pay is treated as a regular pension, and can be garnished for child support and alimony obligations, too. Also a former military spouse can continue receiving various benefits.
As for how a former military spouse qualifies under the Act, the requirements are as follows: “To establish eligibility for a court-ordered division of retired pay as property, the former spouse must have been married to the member for 10 years or more during which time the member performed 10 years creditable service.”
Military divorces, emotionally speaking, are just like those of average civilians; but they are complicated by various elements of law that do not affect regular divorces. As such, if you are about to marry or divorce someone in the military, you would be well-advised to speak to a family law attorney.
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Blue Ivy Carter came into the world in New York's Lenox Hill Hospital, which is located in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Beyonce checked into the hotel under the name Ingrid Jackson (because Beyonce really looks like an Ingrid, or because the name Sasha Fierce was already taken).
]]> Because magazines pay a lot of money to celebrities for a child's first picture, to prevent images from getting leaked to the public, hospital workers "placed tape over security cameras and are forcing employees to turn in cell phones when they arrive for their shifts," reports the Daily News.It is possible that hearing such a different sounding first name might be prompting some Texans to wonder if their own first name is, how shall we put it, perhaps too unique? In those cases where you may be named for a color, or something else that you are not too fond of, you may consider legally changing your name. Note, we are not talking about correcting misspellings on your birth-certificate, but a full first name change.
To change your first name in Texas you have to fulfill the requirements under Chapter 45 of the Texas Family Code.
Basically, the statute lays out a process where you file a petition with the local country's clerk. You may want to bring some cash along because there will be a filing fee. After the petition is filed, you will be finger-printed so background checks can be done on you (turns out that criminals also like to change their first names!). After that, sit tight and wait patiently to change your name in Texas. A judge's clerk will get in touch and you will sign a form that finalizes the name change.
Since Blue's mom is from Houston, it is possible that she might live in Houston one day. And maybe, just maybe, this information might be useful to her then.
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The actor was ordered to stay 100 yards away from soon-to-be ex-wife Michelle Howard (Michelle Ghent,) as she took out a restraining order against Terrence Howard, reports the Contra Costa Times.
Michelle Ghent alleged that Terrence had been abusive to her in marriage and more recently via text messages. Howard denied her allegations in his sworn reply. Howard further claimed that Michelle Ghent had threatened to ruin his reputation and career.
]]> But countering Ghent’s accusations is not all Howard did. He filed a restraining order of his own. His accusations against Ghent argued that she had transformed from a “loving, gentle person … into a monster,” reports Artist Direct.The couple will have their orders heard on January 17, at which point either, or perhaps neither, of the temporary restraining orders will become permanent protective orders.
While celebrities normally use attorneys to fight their restraining orders — and that is the best advice generally speaking — there may be times you have to file a restraining order yourself. FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life has set forth the five steps for how to get a restraining order.
The general process involves filing a form and an affidavit, which is to be filed with a clerk of the local court. At that point, you can get a temporary restraining order, which will come with a court date. After notifying the other party via official service of process, you have a hearing where the judge will determine if the temporary restraining order should become a permanent protective order.
Such information is particularly useful as domestic grievances and disturbances are not a purely celebrity phenomenon.
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Beyond being killed, Dustyn Roff was discovered in pretty bad shape. He had black eyes, a cut on his chin, and nearly a hundred bruises, as well as multiple injuries to internal organs. Some of the bruising had been healing, from which the police inferred that the child had been beaten for weeks.
]]> Dustyn Roff's mother, 23-year-old Britni Glover, used to ask Michael Allen Seaton to babysit her child while she worked. She had previously seen the bruises on the child; but had been told that the child had fallen.There is further complication in the case because it is unclear if the child should've even been with the mother. Turns out that Charles Blake Roff, Dustyn's father, had been searching for Britni Glover and Dustyn for four months after she disappeared with the boy. Until that time it had been Charles Blake Roff that had been the boy's sole caretaker and he had been trying to gain full legal custody of the child. The couple was in the middle of a divorce.
This case, beyond its tragedy, speaks to why child custody is probably the most important element of a divorce. It is important for the divorcing parents to square away the custody issues so there are no abductions. Further, in those cases where a parent might be dating someone with violent propensities, proper custody procedure could help assure that the child would not be put in harm's way. None of that child custody protocol was followed here and now a child has died.
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