Texas Family Law Blog

A professional bodybuilder and former police officer from North Texas has won his child support case on appeal. The man was sued for child support payments after he donated sperm to a friend.

Several years ago the man agreed to donate his sperm to a California sperm bank to help a friend wanting to have children. According to the man, he only agreed to be a sperm donor, and never agreed to financially support the children or be involved in their lives as a parent.

The woman gave birth to triplets, but one of the babies died shortly after birth. The mother then filed suit asking for child support for her two children.

You may have the impression that only the very rich have to be concerned about spouses hiding assets during a divorce. Unfortunately, spouses of any income level may act dishonestly during the divorce process in an attempt to conceal assets. Moreover, the variety of property and assets most average couples have amassed makes it relatively easy for such behavior to be overlooked if the victim-spouse is not alert.

Indications that your spouse may be hiding assets include: he or she is secretive about finances or likes to maintain complete control of all accounts, your spouse deletes information from financial programs on the computer, he or she is demanding when trying to get you to sign tax or financial documents, your spouse purchases large items which may be sold later, he or she reports a dramatic drop in the value of investments, or your spouse unnecessarily opens separate banking accounts. When your spouse runs a small business or professional practice you should also look at changes in revenue or expense patterns, and any large recent business purchases.

If you are in the process of getting a divorce, you may want to think twice before you hit send on that text or email on your smartphone. According to a recent study, there has been a widespread increase in the number of divorce  cases using data obtained from smartphones as evidence.

The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), a group made up of over 1,500 family law attorneys across the country, conducted the survey. It found that 92 percent of the organization's members noted a rise in the use of smartphone evidence over the past three years. More specifically, 94 percent reported an increase in evidence stemming from text messages.

As we enter 2012, it is a time for fresh starts. Perhaps this is one of the reasons couples frequently choose the month of January to divorce. In fact, January has the reputation of being the most popular month for divorce filings, nicknamed "Divorce Month".

Why do couples often split in January? There are a number of theories. One potential reason is that couples don't want to separate during the holidays, when it could cause disruption during the many family events and impact children's enjoyment of the festivities. Couples therefore might stick it out during November and December, and finally file in January.

The hectic holidays may also push already stressed marriages to the breaking point. Spouses may reflect about the past year, and come to the conclusion they don't want to continue down the same path.

As the war in Iraq comes to a close and families are reunited with loved ones serving abroad, there has been much cheering and excitement. However, as servicemembers adjust to civilian life, and families get used to living under one roof again, the transition can sometimes place a strain on couples' relationships. This may be one of the reasons for the recent spike in the military divorce rate.

Chaplain Carleton Birch, a spokesperson from the Army Office of the Chief of Chaplains, explained, "As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan draw down, we're going to put more families together who haven't been used to being together."

For owners of the new iPhone 4s who suspect that their significant other is cheating on them, apparently there is an app for that.

An app available on the iOS 5 platform of the new iPhone 4 allows friends and family to track each other. Called "Find My Friends", the app uses the iPhone's Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate and plot the location of other peoples' iPhones on a map displayed on the iPhone's screen (this app is also available for compatible iPads).

For the app to work, friends or family agree to allow each other to use the app to find their locations, often within a few feet of their actual location. The app could have any number of uses, including, as ABC News points out, making sure children make it home from school safely.

Many people first heard about the use of "private judges" during the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston divorce several years ago. California is one of a number of states that allow private judges to more quickly resolve a divorce while keeping personal details out of the limelight.

Celebrities may choose this process because, unlike a public trial, journalists and other inquisitive parties have no right to attend proceedings or listen to arguments about property division and child custody. For many divorcing couples, the most important advantage is avoiding lengthy court dockets to speed up judicial resolution of a divorce.

Although life has changed a great deal over the years, married people are still frequently calling it quits around the famed seven year mark. The phenomenon is often referred to as the "seven year itch". It takes its name from the title of a Marilyn Monroe movie where a man, happily married for seven years, leaves his wife for Monroe.

Even though the movie was made over fifty years ago, the unfortunate separation of couples around the seven year mark continues to be commonplace. Recent census data reveals that couples in marriages that ended in divorce were together a median of seven years before separation, and eight years until divorce.