If you suspect that you spouse is cheating on you, or if you have been going through extremely rough patches in your relationship, and you suspect divorce, you should talk with a Divorse Asset Protection attorney immediately. If you are one hundred percent sure that you cannot live with your spouse and divorce is inevitable, especially if your relations have gotten ugly recently, you should work towards protecting your assets. There is one condition to Divorse Asset Protection. Your spouse must not suspect that you are seeing a divorce lawyer. It may seem deceitful to some, but seeing a Divorse Asset Protection attorney will help save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

Hammerle Law Firm can provide you with the legal advise you need to protect your assets during an ugly divorce. If you see an attorney before hand, they will be able to help you solidify your spouse’s assets, so nothing suddenly goes missing. In a few famous cases, millionaire business men moved assets to unknown locations right before a divorce to protect them from their wives. In these cases, if the wives knew about the assets, they would have been split equally between them. The assets protection in those cases was done by the rich husband. If you want to make sure that you end up with an equal portion of your spouse’s assets, there are a few things you can do while you are still married that will ensure you an equal piece of pie.

First, you must not allow your spouse to find out that you are secretly planning a divorce. Make contact with the kind of lawyer that you can trust. Once you have located a good divorce attorney, start to investigate your spouse’s assets. Monitor credit card bills and phone calls. At this point you have access to many things that you would not otherwise have if you had filed the divorce. In addition, you could hire a private investigator who specializes in asset location and solidifying. When you have solidified all the liquid assets of your spouse and know their net worth, half the battle is won. Have your lawyer look over the qualified investigator’s work and have it notarized. Once you have legally proved the net worth of your spouse you can arrange for the divorce.

By the time the divorce papers have been filed, it is nearly impossible for your ex spouse to move their assets to try and hide them. This of course is because you have had them accounted from your previous preparation. This method of asset protection is somewhat controversial because it involves a level of dishonesty and invasion of privacy, yet it has proven to work. If you trust your spouse and know he or she will treat you fairly, there is no need for such measures. However, if you know your spouse is capable of leaving you with very little support and actually hiding or moving much of their assets in the face of divorce, such asset protection methods can be justified.

There are a number of reasons why one might want to hire or consult with a lawyer. Lawyers not only deal with criminals and financial issues, but legal problems from other areas of life. Family law is an important type of legal service that can help individuals and their families deal with emotionally charged areas of the law.

Family law can be loosely defined and services may vary by firm or service. However, these services can include those that involve divorce, custody and child support issues, domestic abuse, emancipation, and property disputes. Family lawyers may also deal with contracts and prenuptial agreements. Many of these issues involve a great deal of emotion and can be upsetting and long term. Therefore, it is important to find a family lawyer who is experienced and can deal with these areas. One will want a lawyer who is understanding yet well versed in the law. Some firms or independent companies offer mediators that can help work out sticky situations, such as divorce terms. This keeps meetings and decisions civil and less stressful to all of the parties involved. Another benefit to hiring or using a mediator is that the process may be less drawn out. Going to court may even be avoided in some cases, as mediated agreements may often be accepted as court documents.

A family law layer will often work with authorities such as the police department or federal officers to help sort out the details of violent incidents such as domestic abuse or other law breaking events within a family. This can prevent such problems from occurring again and keep the victim or victims safe by working with authorities to create protection or restraining orders. They may interact with social workers when children are involved, whether the case involves adoption, abuse, emancipation, or another issue. This allows the involved parties to make the process or decision that satisfied both legal requirements and the needs of the child or children involved. A team including an experienced family lawyer and other helpful channels is often the best approach when a family case or issue is the one in question.

When a family oriented legal problem is encountered, it is important that the parties involve remember that it may not be a question of who “wins” or “loses” the battle, due to the nature of the problems. Loved ones or former loved ones are often prosecuted or otherwise damaged because of the results of the dispute. There are many critics of the United States’ family law system, but many supporters as well. As with any situation, there are those who do the right and those who do not, which can hurt the other parties involved and give the issue negative connotation.

Though family law issues are not always negative, they are almost always emotionally charged. Having the right lawyer and team of consulted professionals can make all the difference to the parties involved, allowing positive relationships to stay intact and problems to be solved.

One of the bitter aftermaths of divorce is the battle for child custody. This type of case is among the most grueling especially since children are involved and the course of legal proceedings can inadvertently inflict emotional harm of them.

Parents certainly would not want to subject their child/children to this kind of ordeal but if there is no consensus reached between divorced parties, the only avenue to settle the dispute is through the courts.

Preparing for a Child Custody Battle

An adversarial divorce almost always lead to a custody case shortly after the divorce has been finalized. In order to prepare yourself for the ensuing legal proceeding, it is necessary that you immediately consult with your present legal representative or start looking for one whose expertise lies on custody cases.

Some divorce lawyers also deal well with custody claims. However, to make sure you get the best advise on the matter, hire a custody case specialist who has a great reputation and an excellent track record.

How Ugly does it Get?

Cases involving the custody of children whose parents are divorced are almost always hostile and distasteful. In any case, you should go over all pertinent details and strategy specifics with your attorney so that you have a better chance of getting custody of your children after the divorce is granted by the courts.

Custody Agreement through Mediation

Before resorting to the above mentioned process which can leave both parties, not to mention your children, torn apart and embarrassed, there is a less hostile way of settling custody. Mediation is very much like a forum wherein both parties will present their interests and come to a compromise that will benefit everyone.

This option should always be explored before heading out to court which can cause emotional distress on the children as well as the recently divorced couple. It is by far the least damaging of all the options seeing as it will allow the mother and father to talk through the situation sans the hostile legal strategies employed in actual custody hearings.

What is a Mediator?

A mediator is a neutral individual who presides over the process of custody agreements. He/she acts as neither a lawyer or a judge as the function of a mediator is to make sure both parties are heard and all interests are represented fairly and decently.

Successful Mediation

Custody mediation can only be successful if both parties can agree to an arrangement and feel satisfied with the outcome. Otherwise if no such agreement is entered into, the only way to solve the dispute is going through with the custody case which will be decided by a judge.

Finding Competent Legal Representation for Child Custody Cases

Texans have access to the services of one of the best legal firms in the country. Hemmele Finley is among the top firms which cater to the needs of recently divorced people who are in need of legal counsel to win a custody battle. It is better that you hire a divorce lawyer from the same firm so that the parameters of the case involving custody will be more familiar to whomever will take over. In some cases, the same lawyer who handled your divorce can also take on custody matters.

Undergoing a divorce is really painful in its own. But if you are about to get a divorce then you must evaluate all your assets and try to find out the ways to protect those assets from your ex- spouse. Don’t think it an easy one step way, it is a complex step and involves financial processes. The best option is that you hire an attorney who is well known with the procedures of dividing property among spouses after the divorce. The selection of a really good lawyer is very important to this process. If the lawyer is good enough he can suggest you a few good names of accountants and appraisers. If in case you have given power of attorney to your spouse, then you have to remove it immediately. Your attorney will help you out with this. You should get the control of your finances as well as property as soon as possible.

You have to do lots of research in order to safeguard your property. First of all, identity the stuffs which you accepted as gift at the time of your wedding. It would be better if you take out your camera at this moment of your life. Click the photos of the items which were gifted to you after your marriage. Make a list of these items and then remove these from your house. Keep these items away from the reach of your spouse. Don’t leave any items in the house because your spouse can easily claim those items. If any of you leaves the house voluntarily then you can any time come back and retrieve your belongings. If the locks of the house have been changed then also you have the rights to fetch a locksmith to assist you to open a lock. The strong point is that you should have the written proof of what was given by whom. This will do.

Then you have to decide on the community property also. Community property means the items like furniture which are shared by both of you spouses. Again the snaps of these items are required before you remove those. The snaps will help you if there are any costly items and these are too heavy to be moved. So these snaps will prevent your spouse from taking these items away.
You should engage a professional appraiser who can help you to split your physical assets as well as your retirement. The whole division of the assets is done by market value of the items in dispute. So you will definitely need a professional to estimate the accurate values of the resources. Don’t use the same appraiser whom you might have hired before. This may go against you. If you are planning to sell your home as a result of your divorce then do it prior to the divorce. This will help you save as much as $500,000 of the sale from the taxes of capital gain. If you sell the house after the divorce then your benefits will also gets halve. So it is always advisable to consult a estate agency to protect and divide your assets after divorce.
You need a very good attorney to take care of such kind of vital and sensitive topic. So do not feel reluctant to spend a few dollars on him.

Marriage is a curious institution because it involves both emotions and property. Emotions in that a man and a woman must mentally and verbally agree to be married. Property in that once the vow is taken, any property then acquired is owned as a “community,” or jointly, by the man and the woman.

That’s fine and dandy as long as the couple stays together. But oh, what a mess is created if the couple decides to divorce.

This isn’t a family law column; it’s a business law column. There is no type of lawsuit that involves more complex business issues than a divorce with assets.

The issues arise with the type of asset. After marriage, the earnings of both husband and wife become community property.

Let’s put this to practical application. At the time of marriage, you own a house with a mortgage, a brokerage account and a car with a loan. Spouse owns a dog. You earn $100,000 a year; spouse is still in school and not working.

After three years, the marriage breaks up (who knew that spouse would run off with a college professor?) and you file for divorce. Spouse gets an attorney who asks for a judgment awarding “reimbursement.”

Totally unfair, but a good claim. True, you paid the house mortgage and the car loan for three years with your earnings, but those constituted community funds. Spouse had an undivided interest in those community funds. Technically, you used spouse’s money to “enhance” your separate assets: your house and your car.

Are you seeing red yet? We’ve only just begun.

If you added to your brokerage account during those three years, spouse is entitled to a portion of that, plus the accumulated earnings. Spouse is also entitled to a percentage of any 401(k), pension or retirement account.

Spouse may also be entitled to alimony, but that’s another column.

Now let’s add a complication: a family business. Your interest has to be valued by an expert, and the spouse either receives an ownership interest in the business or is paid off. If you haven’t been taking an adequate salary, spouse could receive a dollar value for that, too.

Shall we proceed to dividing the debt? Each person has debt coming into the marriage — that’s sole debt. The other person isn’t responsible for paying sole debt. Then there’s the debt created during the marriage — which, except in rare circumstances, is considered community debt.

The divorce court will try to divide the debt fairly — if wife borrowed money to feed the family, then the debt goes to both husband and wife. If she ran up $10,000 on her credit card at a department store on dress clothes, then she should get the debt to pay.

But wait! There’s the creditor to consider. The creditor isn’t a party to your divorce, and has a right to go after both of you for payment.

And that’s divorce, Texas style.

Ain’t love grand? For six glorious weeks in the summer of 2000, Michael Curtis and Michele Anderson thought so. Michael proposed marriage and, when Michele accepted, gave her a diamond engagement ring.

Then Michael broke off the engagement because, he said, Michele had some sexual hang-ups and a very volatile temper.

Michael asked her to return the engagement ring. Michele refused, so Michael sued her. He said they had a “mutual understanding” that the ring would be returned if the engagement was broken.

Michele said there was no mutual understanding. The record is silent on that point, but if she truly had a volatile temper she probably said it in stronger terms.

The resulting court of appeals opinion should be required reading for couples everywhere.

The court noted that engagement rings are special symbols in our culture and are traditionally given in contemplation of marriage. A verbal agreement during an engagement — termed “on consideration of marriage” — however, isn’t enforceable unless it’s in writing and signed. Michael and Michele never reduced their “mutual understanding” to writing, so the court wouldn’t consider it.

Having tossed out that argument, the court decided that the “conditional gift” rule applied. The ring was given on the condition that the marriage would take place. If the couple jointly agreed that the marriage was off, or if the woman “unjustifiably” decided, then the ring should be returned. There are several Texas cases supporting that point.

But what if the man, justifiably or not, called the whole thing off? The court wasn’t so sure about that, and needed to analyze engagement ring cases around the country.

It turns out that Kansas, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey and Montana mandated that the ring should be returned to the man, reasoning that engagements are meant to be a period of evaluation and a party should not be penalized for ending a doomed relationship. New Jersey put it in even stronger terms: “The fault rule is sexist and archaic, a too-long enduring reminder of the times when even the law discriminated against women.”

The court thoughtfully considered the other states’ decisions — and then ignored them.

In Texas, the return of the engagement ring hinges on fault. If Michele had called off the marriage, she would have had to return the ring. Since it was Michael who terminated the engagement, Michele got to keep the ring.

For Texas men, the moral is clear: If you want to hedge your bets, interrupt the romantic moment by requiring a written agreement, or be so obnoxious that your fiancée cries off first.

Love in Texas. Ain’t it grand?

The law is full of presumptions — like the presumption of innocence. In order for you to be convicted of murder, the state has to prove you murdered someone; you don’t have to prove that you did not. That’s because the law presumes that you didn’t commit the crime.

Broadly speaking, a presumption is a legal inference in favor of a particular fact.

Family law is the one of the most fertile areas for legal presumptions. For example, every marriage is presumed valid unless the law expressly makes it void. The corollary presumption is that a person’s most recent marriage is presumed valid as opposed to prior marriages.

That seems simple, until someone marries again without getting properly divorced. In 1966, Charles Davis wedded Mary Nell. Charles then went overseas and married wife No. 2, Nancy. He apparently forgot to tell either wife about the other. Charles supported both families, then inconveniently died. Both Mary Nell and Nancy gave birth to baby girls the following month.

Ultimately, the case went to the Texas Supreme Court. The marriage to Nancy, being the most recent, was presumed to be the valid marriage. But Mary Nell produced records from most of the jurisdictions that Charles had resided in to show that there had never been a divorce. So she overcame the presumption. Mary Nell’s marriage was valid, and Nancy’s was not.

Another big presumption: All property owned by a husband or a wife at the time of divorce is presumed to be community property. If you have property that you inherited from a parent, you’ll have to prove that it is yours. Otherwise, it falls under the community umbrella and your spouse has a claim to it. Other common separate property categories include gifts and property that you owned before marriage.

A couple can give each other gifts, and those become that person’s separate property. The rule includes income from that property. Suppose your wife gives you a 5,000-acre ranch as a gift; the ranch and the income from it are your separate property.

The law carries a presumption against paying alimony. The exceptions are few and the cases many where a court has denied alimony.

Moving to kid issues — there are six ways in which a man is presumed to be the father of a child:

* Be married to the mother, and the child is born during the marriage;

* Be divorced from the mother, and the child is born within 300 days after the divorce;

* Think he had legally married the mother, and the child is born within 300 days after the marriage date;

* Marry the mother after the child is born and sign a statement of paternity or name himself as the father on the birth certificate;

* Think he married the mother after the child is born, and agree by promising in a “record” to support the child as his own;

* Live in a household for two years after the child is born, and tell others that the child is his own.

To challenge the presumption, the man must file a suit before the child’s fourth birthday. Otherwise, it’s 18 years of child support payments.

More presumptions abound in the Family Code. There are presumptions about custody, grandparent rights, possession orders, change of address, cash bonds and racial profiling in an adoption. There are presumptions about whether formal notice is properly given. There are even presumptions about the existence of common-law marriages.

The law of presumptions is lingo for having a stacked deck, and you just hope it’s in your favor.