Practice Areas.

Alimony & Child Support

Texas was the last state to pass an alimony or spousal maintenance provision. Even though Texas courts can now award spousal maintenance, there are strict rules regarding when it can be awarded and under what conditions. Unless family violence has occurred or the couple has been married for 10 years or longer, maintenance cannot be awarded.

Dallas - Fort Worth Alimony Attorneys

Texas courts are required to consider a number of factors in arriving at a fair alimony or spousal maintenance award, including:

• Financial needs and resources of each spouse
• Age of each spouse
• Physical and mental condition of each spouse
• Financial and other contributions to the marriage
• Length of the marriage
• Contribution of a spouse as a homemaker
• Maritial misconduct of spouse seeking maintenance

Alimony or spousal maintenance usually will be limited to the period that the court estimates will be required for the spouse to become self-sufficient.

Dallas - Fort Worth Child Support Attorneys

In the past, child support awards in Texas were unpredictable and often varied from county to county and judge to judge. Child support was often set on the basis of sworn financial statements, an arrangement that encouraged individuals to inflate their expenses and liabilities and minimize income and assets. The most important recent development in child support law has been the introduction of statutory child support guidelines. This has lent much needed uniformity to child support disputes. Child support payment obligations in Texas are set according to a formula which considers each party's net resources for the purpose of determining child support liability as provided by this section. Resources include:

• 100 percent of all wage and salary income and other compensation for personal services, including commissions, overtime pay, tips, and bonuses
• Interest, dividends, and royalty income
• Self-employment income
• Net rental income, defined as rent after deducting operating expenses and mortgage payments, but not including noncash items such as depreciation
• Other income actually being received, including severance pay, retirement benefits, pensions, trust income, annuities, capital gains, social security benefits, unemployment benefits, disability and workers' compensation benefits, interest income from notes regardless of the source, gifts and prizes, spousal maintenance, and alimony.