Christopher Michael Schmiedeke's Guides

What should I do if I cannot afford a lawyer?

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Child Support Agreements in Texas

I ran across this in a case I had and thought it was imporant to get this information out to the public. In the State of Texas you cannot agree to modify child support outside of court. It doesn't matter if the agreement is notarized, signed in blood or written in stone, you can...

Do I have to force my child to visit with the other parent?

A very common question in Texas divorces or other family law matters is whether a child has to visit with the other parent if they do not wish to. I suppose this could be referred to as child visitation rights although we are really discussing the rights of a parent to visit....

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When can a child choose which parent to live with in Texas?

This is a very common question and one which is HIGHLY misunderstood. The Texas Family Code section that deals with a child being able to choose a parent to live with is found in 153.009. This is the new statute and repeals the old law found in 153.008. The old Texas statu...

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I want to handle my own divorce paperwork, how do I begin?

Many times two people will seek a divorce and the issues are totally agreed upon. In this scenario it does not make sense to pay an attorney thousands of dollars to handle something the spouses should be able to handle themselves, right? The judicial system is open to "pro se" l...

Divorce and Debts - How Do I Get My Name Off of Them?

A very common issue that arises in divorces is removing a parties name from a joint debt. This can arise in the form of a jointly owned automobile, home, or a simple credit card. The common question is "how do I get my name off that debt"? The simple answer is you cannot. The j...

How do I serve someone if I do not know where they are?

How Does the Texas Court Handle Child Support When the Parents Are Splitting Custody of the Kids?

First we need to understand that Joint Managing Conservatorship in Texas is not split custody. In a typical joint managing conservatorship one party has the right to determine the residence of the child and the other parent has visitation. This post is not for those situations. T...

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What Type of Income Do Courts Consider When Setting Child Support?

All sources of income is the simple answer. The most common that people question are overtime, bonuses, commissions and rental income. All of these can be considered by a court in setting child support. A common response to that is "I am not guaranteed a bonus" or "I don't alway...

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What is a temporary order in a divorce or Family Law case?

A temporary order is simply a "band-aid" to keep things under control while other aspects of the case are pending. Typically a court will take a "snap shot" of the life of the parties a few months before the case was filed and re-create that in a temporary order. This snap shot w...