With Strength And Compassion
Powers Kerr & Rashidi, PLLC
Today, more grandparents than ever are the sole legal and financial custodians of their grandchildren. In many other households, the ties are less formal yet almost equally as strong. For example, many parents and children live with a grandparent, who assumes most of the financial and caretaking duties. In other cases, parents and children live separately, but remain at least…
Most people relocate twelve times during their adult lifetimes, with a majority of these moves prompted by job changes and coming before age 45. Since many people in this age group have young children, modification of existing divorce or family law orders is often necessary. This is especially true in Texas, because of the vast distances between communities, at least…
When it first took effect in very limited form in 1997, conventional wisdom held that the spousal support law would be gradually expanded until Texas joined the majority of the other states which, at the time, routinely included alimony payments in their high-asset divorce decrees. In many cases, these payments were designed to permanently equalize the standard of living between…
New homeowners never think that their houses will burn down, and they certainly do not desire such an outcome. But responsible homeowners always obtain insurance policies, even though there is nothing “fun” about filling out insurance forms. In a similar vein, no soon-to-be-newlywed couple anticipates a high asset divorce, and they certainly do not desire this outcome. But a premarital…
The poverty rate among unmarried women over 50 is nearly three times higher than the rate for divorced men over 50, according to a recent study. To explain the discrepancy, researchers pointed to Social Security laws. When the Social Security Act was passed in the 1930s, most eligible persons were married, and so women who had been absent from the…
In many situations, a closely-held business is the largest economic asset in a marriage. Moreover, it is often the couple’s primary source of income; in fact, in many cases, spouses have put off development in their professional careers to pour their time into the businesses, and reintegrating into the labor force may not be easy. These economic factors sometimes make…
A prominent financial advisor suggests that spouses who receive the marital residence following a high-asset divorce sell it, downsize, and use the extra cash to make catch-up contributions to their retirement accounts. Such action is particularly appropriate if the divorcee is over 50, because persons of this age have less time to make up lost wealth. If a person saves…
Emotions are very high during and after a divorce or complex child custody proceeding, and parents should take care that these feelings do not corrupt future co-parenting efforts. Although it may be difficult to do so, do not make negative comments about your ex-partner in front of the children. This language makes the children feel guilty and lowers their self-esteem.…
Twenty years ago, the Dallas Cowboys won their most recent Super Bowl against their archrivals from Pittsburgh. Cornerback Larry Brown intercepted two second-half passes from Neil O’Donnell, which the Cowboys turned into two touchdowns, and Red “First Dahwwnn” Cashion was the referee. Now, the game and its participants are largely relegated to NFL Films retrospectives and documentaries. Twenty years ago,…
Constructive fraud is quite common in high net worth divorce cases. Many times, these matters involve long-term marriages which slowly deteriorated over a period of several years, giving the spouses ample opportunity to surreptitiously redirect community funds. There is also a compounding factor; for example, Wife may think little of giving children from a prior marriage a few hundred dollars…