New Video- Is Texas a 50-50 Divorce State?

http://youtu.be/c9xsZyfmOoo
This is the first video in a series on Myths that people have about Texas Divorce Laws

For Smart Divorce in Texas

Diane M. Wanger
304 Harwood Road
Bedford, Texas
817-285-2855
texasfamilylaw.info

Trying New Technology

Okay,  I am trying it.  This is my first foray into youtube videos.  This is not so informational, but future ones will be.  I am just excited that I figured out how to do this.  Did I tell you how I fixed my dishwasher last week.  I am actually more proud of that.  No man help.  I will tell you more later.
Diane Wanger from 2012 Advanced Family Law Conference in Houston

For Smart Divorce in Texas

Diane M. Wanger
304 Harwood Road
Bedford, Texas
817-285-2855
texasfamilylaw.info

DIY Divorce Forms in Texas On Rise

There is a huge uproar in the legal community among professionals who practice family law.  It centers around the decision of the Supreme Court to offer DIY  forms for divorce matters. 

Family law has complexities that cannot be adequately represented with a fill-in-the-blank form.  If you are in a marriage and there are no children and no property, then the forms might be correctly used.  However, as a cautionary note, while people accurately know if they have children, they often do not accurately know if they have property as it relates to a divorce.

People have vehicles, boats, trailers, clothes, furniture, retirement accounts, stocks, mutual funds, real estate (house), mineral leases (gas lease), digital assets (internet accounts, website URLs) reproductive assets, and other things that they don't realize have an impact on how the decree should be drafted.

I have yet to review a form decree that was drafted correctly where children were concerned. Sometimes the forms have no or defective terms for child support and parenting provisions.  Imagine a case where child support is drafted in a manner that makes it unenforceable by contempt.

In Texas we have separate property and community property.  There are clear rules as to what is what and how that characterization can be changed.  It is very common for people I see in divorce consultations to have mistaken understandings of property law.  Because they received legal advice, it was not a problem, but I worry about how many people are out there that forge ahead with their incorrect ideas.

All this is to say that if you are going to try to do your divorce on your own with forms, I recommend that you have an attorney review your final paperwork.

For Smart Divorce in Texas

Diane M. Wanger

Board Certified Family Law Attorney

www.texasfamilylaw.info

817-285-2855

Always Learning more about Divorce

I was in Austin earlier this year at a continuing legal education seminar on Collaborative Law. We had a speaker who explained that brain research shows how humans under stress will grab at the first solution that they see as solving the "issue". That is true even if they have been trained to investigate and look for multiple options to be reviewed for the best result.

What does this have to do with divorce? One of the principal benefits to Collaborative Law as a divorce process is its emphasis on creative problem solving and interest based negotiations.

For the professionals in the field (for example, me) it is frustrating that clients are often so anxious to get to the settlement immediately that they don't want to fully develop settlement possibilities. Considering the amount of stress during divorce it is not surprising that clients latch on to the first option they perceive as "working".  The brain under stress does not innately have the capacity to "wait" for the creation of a more optimal solution.


Collaborative Law has the ability to lower the stress level of the process in a way that allows clients to be more open to a full inquiry of possibilities of settlement. 

Even if you are not in a Collaborative Divorce process it is worthwhile to remind yourself of the limits of the human brain under stress.  It is often difficult to  see what the "issues" are.  Even more difficult is to be calm when thinking about the options.  With hope, you have hired a divorce professional with expertise in trying open your mind to possibilities that you cannot conceive of as solutions.  If you have found such an individual, take advantage of that skill.  Not every attorney has it.

For Smart Divorce in Texas

Diane M. Wanger
Board Certified Family Law Attorney

www.texasfamilylaw.info

817-285-2855

New Year

Here's a double double wish for a Happy New Year.  Not only is it after 1-1-12, but the Chinese New Year  is today.  This is the Year of the Dragon.  The symbol Dragon in the East is not a threatening evil as is in the West.  The Dragon to the Chinese is a symbol of among other things, power. Now, not all of us have been born in the year of the Dragon.  But, I think it would be empowering to think about the qualities of the Dragon and take that feeling of power and infuse it into your thinking about divorce.

How to do that, to have "power" in your divorce?  One way is to choose to divorce using Collaborative Law. Collaborative Law is a process that I have been doing for 10 years.  It is interdisciplinary.  That means that in addition to having an attorney and your spouse having an attorney, there is also at least a neutral communications facilitator and maybe a financial specialist and/or child specialist.  The professional team guides your case along in a way that will maximize results for you and your children.  There is a lot more to say about this fantastic process and I would love to tell you about it if you come see me.

What does Collaborative Law have to do with power? In Collaborative Law you and your spouse contract to do your divorce outside of the court system.  That means that you and your spouse are able to design your divorce on your own timetable, in private, not at the courthouse and you utilize neutral specialists as needed.  It is the most powerful and empowering way to divorce bar none.

For Smart Divorce in Texas

Diane M. Wanger
817-285-2855