Abilene TX Divorce Law Blog

The nation's armed forces sacrifice a great deal for the freedoms of the civilians who live here. It is well known that military families often endure significant hardship that can lead to divorce. The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges wanted to offer military families a resource for dealing with difficult family-related issues. The council launched a website with the hope that families in Texas and all over the country will be better able to navigate a military divorce and other family struggles common to those in the armed forces.

The NCJFCJ created a project called the National Resource Center on Military-connected Families and the Courts with the intention of helping court officers who assist military families with both juvenile and family court cases. Certain legal matters involve both civilian and military court systems, and the project will help these two worlds collaborate in the best interest of families. The website will give easier access to vital information and needed resources.

When a child relies on the monetary support that one parent is ordered to pay to another, not receiving it can have far-reaching consequences. The needs of children cannot be overstated, and though some parents may not like it, this also goes for the needs of the custodial parent. However, many Texas parents are unable to make their court-ordered payments for various reasons, which can be devastating in the long run for everyone involved. This is what one out-of-state man is facing after he was jailed for his failure to pay child support.

Authorities say that the man was ordered to pay child support in 2011 for the next fifteen years. His payments were set at $215 per month. In 2017, those payments were increased to $265 per month in conjunction with a sentence of probation. At the end of that year, he owed over $18,000 in unpaid child support payments.

When issues surrounding child custody arise, people generally think of how parents will be affected. Of course, there are other people in children's lives that may also be affected by divorce and child custody agreements, including grandparents. When a divorce occurs, or two parents are not in a relationship with one another, grandparents may struggle to determine where they fit in the lives of their grandchildren. A group of Texas grandparents recently appealed to state lawmakers, requesting changes in the law that would strengthen their rights to obtain visitation.

State Representative Harold Dutton Jr. has put forth a bill in the Texas House of Representatives that would make grandparents' ability to see their grandchildren easier. Current law states that grandparent visitation is only granted if one parent is dead, in prison, mentally incapacitated or incompetent or otherwise not a part of the child's life. The grandparent must also provide evidence that the child's life will be negatively impacted without grandparent visitation and an expert witness has to testify on the grandparent's behalf. The new law only requires evidence of impact to the child's life.

Most parents are only too happy to care and provide for their children. This can hold true even if parents who share children are not in a relationship with one another. However, for varying reasons, some parents have difficulty supporting their children financially. Even if a parent has a valid reason for struggling to make child support payments, it does not negate the responsibility to do so. Local Texas police recently made several arrests of parents who had failed to make their proper payments.

Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, sent out a news release regarding the arrests. He stated that his office's Child Support Division was responsible for the sweep. Local authorities were used to conduct the operation. Paxton said that parents have a moral responsibility to ensure that their children receive proper care. His hope is that this type of enforcement will have a positive impact on children's futures.