Best Family Law Attorneys in Mckinney, TX

A: Schedule an appointment to consult with one of our attorneys as soon as possible. Bring all papers you were served with to your consultation. If you delay, you could miss an important deadline. If you miss a deadline, your spouse may be able to divorce you without your participation and get from the judge whatever your spouse asks for if no one is there to represent your interests in the case.

A: There is a misconception that if you cohabitate with a partner for x amount of time, you are common law married. In Texas, there is no such time limit for when a common law marriage is created. In Texas, a common law marriage occurs when 3 factors are met: 1) the parties agree to be married, 2) the parties cohabitate, and 3) the parties hold themselves out to others as being married. Whether or not those three factors are satisfied can be hotly contested depending upon if you are claiming a common law marriage or defending against a claim of one. It is important to speak to an experienced attorney who can analyze your unique circumstances and offer legal analysis regarding whether a court would find that you are in a common law marriage.

A: Be organized and concise. Understand that each time the attorney uses time to work on your case, you will be billed for the time. The time used is rounded up to and billed by quarter of the hour. Having good organizational skills and gathering and organizing documents quickly by the requested deadlines will help your attorney not have to remind you to send the required information and in turn, that will keep your costs down. On the other hand, calling or emailing frequently is one of the fastest ways to drive your costs up and is not an efficient use of your attorneys' time. Instead, if they are not time-sensitive, let your questions accumulate. Emailing or calling with a list of questions or discussion topics instead of one to use up the full quarter of the hour at a time will be more efficient and less costly.

A: You technically can, but it is not without consequences and thus is not advisable. Texas courts can grant a fault-based divorce on the grounds of adultery if a party is dating during a divorce, even if the parties are no longer living together. This could result in you receiving a lesser portion of the martial estate or spousal support. It is best to wait until after your divorce is finalized to date others. Many people make the mistake of thinking of their spouse as an ex-spouse as soon as they decide the marriage is over. You stop being married when your divorce is final. Remember, you are married until your divorce is finalized.

A: Maybe. With the assistance of attorneys, most couples are able to settle divorce matters outside of court. Occasionally attending court may be required when parties cannot come to an agreement and they need a judge to be the tie breaker. The most common kinds of hearings are temporary orders hearings to make orders for while the case is pending or final trials that finish the divorce case. However, there may be a variety of other kinds of hearings that may be needed on a case-by-case basis.