It’s today!! Today is the day that many children whose parents don’t live together get to see the other parent for the first time during the 2018-2019 Christmas break! Why? Because this is the arbitrary day chosen by the Texas Legislature in the Texas Standard Possession Order for the transfer of children during the Christmas (“Winter”) break from school. In Section 153.314 the Texas Family Code says, in part: The possessory conservator and the managing conservator shall have

In Texas, there are two ways to get married, and two ways to get unmarried. You can be ceremonially married or common law married. To get unmarried – regardless of how you got married – you need a divorce or death. There is no such thing as a common law divorce. There are circumstances that would seem to warrant a finding of common law divorce, but they don’t. For example, if two married persons cease living together, haven’t seen each other in a couple of decades, haven’t sp

Going through a divorce is stressful. Sometimes, it’s very stressful. One of the stresses is the uncertainty of how much of your money you will end up with at the end of the divorce. When thinking about that issue, many people worry that their spouse may have hidden money. The thought being, “If my spouse has hidden $100,000.00 and we finish the divorce without me knowing about it, I won’t get any of that $100,000.00 and he or she will laugh all the way to the bank.” These da

Remember when you were a little kid and people would ask you what you wanted to be in life? At age 2, my answer was, "Garbage Man," because riding on those trucks and running around carrying those cans looked really fun. Do you know what you don't want to be? A Family Law client. Unfortunately, I cannot give you the complete recipe for how to avoid that, but one thing I can tell you is this: Ignoring things like Valentine's Day, Birthdays, Anniversaries, etc. is a way to get

This week, I was interviewed by Morning Dose TV to get my opinions on January being "Divorce Month." I was very happy that as a part of the interview, I was able to get in something that I have been telling people for decades -- Divorce does not solve all of your problems; it trades one set of problems for another set of problems. #SouthlakeDivorce #DallasDivorceLawyer #FortWorthDivorce #Divorce #CollaborativeDivorce #MilitaryDivorce #Custody #EricBeal #BealLawFirm #CollinCou

Can a 12-year-old decide where he or she wants to live? This area of Texas Family Law is often misunderstood. Many non-lawyers, and possibly even some lawyers, think that once a child turns 12, he or she gets to decide who will be the “primary parent.” That is simply not true. Under Texas custody law, one parent or the other usually has the “exclusive right to determine the primary residence of the child” – to most people that means where the child lives. Once an custody orde

What is Collaborative Divorce? Collaborative Divorce is an alternative to traditional divorce. In a traditional, litigated divorce the parties typically move through several stages until the case is either settled or makes it to trial. The stages are: ​ 1. Negotiation between the parties;​ 2. Negotiation between the attorneys; 3. Mediation; 4. Post-mediation negotiation; and 5. Trial.​ Throughout all of these stages, the parties can engage in formal discovery and ask the cour