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What is Considered Child Abuse?
There is much debate among parents, kids, and awareness groups when it comes to child abuse. However, Texas law does define child abuse. Chapter 261 of the Texas Family Code states that child abuse is considered anything that is an act or omission of an act that directly endangers or in some way impairs the child's physical, mental, or emotional health. Child abuse is always a major concern when the issue of child custody is discussed in family court and is a major determination in the custody hearing.
Child abuse can be physical, emotional, verbal, or sexual. While a parent is within their right to "reasonably" discipline the child, the penal code does protect the child against sustaining substantial harm.
Physical abuse can usually be recognized on sight. Physical abuse takes place when the child is hit, kicked, burned, cut, choked, or otherwise physically harmed by another person. Corporal punishment is considered abusive if there is an injury involved. Many abused children make excuses for the injuries such as saying that they had an accident, they were playing, or that they are just clumsy. There will not be a reasonable explanation for the injury and the injuries will often be recurring.
Emotional injury is harder to detect. Emotional injury is usually inflicted via verbal assault on the child. The abuser may call the child names, belittle the child, threaten the child, or blame the child for things that they have no control over. Children who are verbally abused may also verbally lash out at friends or siblings, they may be socially withdrawn, or act out in other ways.
Neglect is another form of abuse. A neglected child is often left at home alone and may be placed at substantial risk because the caregiver has not arranged for the proper care of the child. The definitions of abuse and the types of abuse can vary greatly. If you suspect that your ex-spouse is abusive, an experienced Austin family law attorney can help you get full custody of the children.
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici/freedigitalphotos.net
Divorce and Adolescent Children
Divorced parents may wonder whether their adolescent children behave the way they do because they are just at that age or because of the divorce. The truth is that it may be both, according to an article in the Huffington Post.
The teen years are a time when many kids start to become independent and establish an identity for themselves. This process won't simply happen overnight. In adolescence, children often begin to challenge their parents over chores and other tasks. But if a parent has built a reasonably good relationship with his or her child in the past, it is more likely that their relationship will continue to be civil.
Divorce often makes home life more difficult. Parents have their own worries to deal with and they may be stressed about being a single parent. The loss of the family unit greatly affects both parents and teens. While it may be relieving that they don't have to see their parents' fights any longer, many teens experience other problems in the aftermath of a divorce.
The Importance of a Prenup
Marriage vows end with "Til death do us part". But just in case it doesn't work out that way, it's always good to have a prenup.
A prenuptial agreement is a plan that addresses the financial consequences if a marriage does end. There are many important reasons why couples should have one in place before the wedding. If one of the parties is wealthy and the other is not, it protects both in the event of a divorce, by clearly spelling out what each party is entitled to upon the dissolution of the marriage.
If one party is bringing a high load of debt into the marriage, a prenup can help make sure the other spouse doesn't become responsible for paying those debts if the marriage ends.
When one of the couple owns a business, a prenup ensures that an ex-spouse does not become a permanent business partner. Prenups also help keep prior estate plans in place.
States Weigh in on Same Sex Divorce
One of the biggest happenings in the news this year is the Supreme Court addressing the issue of same sex marriages. However, according to My FOX Houston, states that do not support same sex marriage are having to address issues of same sex divorce.
When different states across the nation were passing laws making same sex marriage legal, same sex couples from other states were flocking to those states to exchange vows. Now this has created a new issue. There are now couples who are seeking to get a divorce, and they are hoping to have the case handled in the state in which they reside.
The Attorney General submitted a brief, stating that gay marriage simply doesn't exist as far as Texas is concerned. While it may exist in other states, it doesn't exist in Texas. He also went on to state that the state of Texas cannot preside over a divorce case when the marriage itself does not exist.
This briefing gives the divorcing couples two different options. They can either void the marriage in Texas or they can return to the state in which they were married. One point of concern for some of these couples is DOMA. DOMA stands for the Defense of Marriage Act. The act states that one state does not have to recognize the law of another state. If this is held to the letter, voiding the marriage may not be recognized in another state and if one of the divorcees decides to remarry, they can be considered a bigamist. However, based on the present laws, the laws of the constitution trumps the law of the state.
New Divorce Law Changing Divorce
While it's a common fact that divorce rates have been on the rise since the 1950s, it's been several decades, according to the Huffington Post, since Americans have done much to curb the consequences of divorce on families. It was for the reason, reports the Huffington Post, that in 2001 interested parties "launched the Coalition for Divorce Reform (CDR), a non-partisan coalition of divorce reform leaders, marriage educators, domestic violence experts, scholars and concerned citizens." The goal of the coalition is to increase awareness about the consequences of divorce, and to put an end to a nearly-four-decade-long silence about frequent divorce.
By and large, the divorce rate has decreased since 2000, according to the Center for Disease Control, when it was 4.0 for every 1,000 people. In 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, that number had dropped to 3.6—yet this was an increase from 2008 and 2009 when the divorce rate per 1,000 people was slightly lower at 3.5. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the 1990s, the percentage of family households "maintained by divorced, separated, or never-married married had risen from about 70 percent in 1950 to 93 percent."
Reasons for Pre-Nups
In the midst of planning your wedding, many legal experts say you and your future spouse should also be creating your prenup. A prenuptial agreement is a legal agreement between two people who marry that deals with the financial consequences should the marriage not work out. Every couple has a prenup in place when they get married – it's called divorce law. However there are many reasons why the laws of the state you may be living in if your marriage ends may not be beneficial to you. A prenup overrules those laws and is specific to you and your situation.
If you have more wealth than your partner, a prenuptial agreement protects your assets should the marriage end. It also is important if you earn a lot more than your partner does. It would limit the amount of alimony, if any, they could be awarded.
If your partner is bringing a high debt into the marriage, a prenup will protect you from becoming responsible for those debts if the marriage ends.
Pet Custody in Divorce
According to San Antonio Magazine, the "late author Nora Ephron once compared having a baby to throwing a hand grenade into a marriage." This could be one reason that more and more married couples are opting to not have children, and those that do are less likely to have more than two. According to the U.S. Census Bureau Statistical Abstract, in 1980 there were 28,528,000 families in America without their own children. By 2010, this number had risen dramatically to 43,615,000. Similarly, the average number of people per American family dropped from 3.29 in 1980 to 3.16 in 2010. Arguably, this makes divorce easier—couples without children who choose to split have far less issues to decide upon, namely child custody and child support. Yet couples without children aren't necessarily going it alone. For many childless couples, pets have become "replacement" children. And deciding pet custody issues can often be as complicated as child custody.
According to a publication released by the Michigan State University College of Law, "pets are considered to be personal property, capable of human ownership and control." This means that the laws regarding pet custody during divorce are meant to benefit the humans in the relationship, not necessarily the pet—unlike the laws regarding child custody. And yet because pets are beginning, in many cases, to be regarded as highly as children in some relationships, some courts are beginning to change the perception that pets should be regarded as property. These courts are, according to the MSU publication, "willing to treat pets more like children." This has, so far, been seen most often when considering custody of dogs. Courts have also, according to MSU, "awarded shared custody, visitation, and alimony payments to the owners."
Cohabitation on the Rise, Can Lead to Divorce
The days of living separately before marriage are long gone in the United States, according to a recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) report that was published on CBS News. The rise in cohabitation before marriage is initiated mostly by women, according to the CDC; "48 percent of women were living with their significant other but not married to them." This is, according to CBS, a "sharp increase from the 43 percent reported in 2002 and the 35 percent that reported the same situation in 1995." A sociologist at John Hopkins University told USA Today that before the recent numbers were released, it was thought that the United States "has long had the shortest cohabiting relationships of any wealthy nation." And now these relationships are lengthening.
The CDC findings were calculated after following the relationships of nearly 12,300 women between the ages of 15 and 44 between 2006 and 2010. "Seventy-four percent of 30-year-olds said that they had cohabited with a partner. Fifty-five percent said they did it by the age of 25," according to CBS News.
Women Likely to Lose Insurance After Divorce
The worst of a divorce may make you sick—and leave you uninsured to pay for it, according to US News and World Report. According to a study released by the University of Michigan and reported in US News and World Report, "about 115,000 women lose their private health insurance after a divorce." Researchers came to the conclusion after analyzing data from 1996 to 2007, on women aged 26 to 64. There are approximately 1 million divorces in the United States each year, and a majority of women receive health insurance coverage through their husband's employer. Lead author of the study Bridget Lavelle said in a news release that this alone makes the impact on women "quite substantial" in the event of a divorce.
The study specifically pointed to the fact that about 65,000 women lose all health insurance coverage in the months following divorce. Other women are subsequently able to qualify for low-income insurance plans such as Medicaid. The figure points to the fact that six months after divorce "nearly one-quarter of women who were insured as dependents on their husband's employer-based coverage are uninsured." Women with their own employer-based insurance are less likely to lose coverage (11 percent instead of 17 percent), but are not immune. New financial hardships that occur because of the divorce may make it difficult for women to afford whatever share they were paying of their employer-based plan.
Divorced women aren't the only people who lack health insurance plans, of course: according to the University of Michigan National Poverty Center, as of 2011 "nearly 50 million American lacked health insurance coverage, leaving many individuals with limited access to medical care and vulnerable to acquiring medical debt."
Figuring out financial details of your divorce, and how to keep important assets like insurance after divorce, are questions best explored with the expertise of a qualified attorney. If you or someone you know is considering divorce, contact a dedicated Texas divorce attorney today.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Texas Mother Uses Stun Gun to Discipline Teenage Son
Texas newspaper Austin-American Statesman first reported the story in early March about a Pflugerville woman who is facing a felony injury to a child charge after reportedly using a stun gun to taser her 14-year-old son four times. The affidavit claims that the son was punished after he went to play basketball without permission. Kimira Hysaw, 32, allegedly used a pink stun gun in order to discipline her son, whom she calls a "handful." She also claims that she threatens him with it often, and that she doesn't "even know where [her] child is half the time." After telling this to authorities, she refused to speak more of the incident. The New York Daily Times claims that the event was first reported by the 4-year-old daughter, who told her teacher about the incident and drew a pink stun gun, saying that it was kept in her mother's purse. She also told them that her brother was tased four times by her mother, including once in the head, while her father held him down. When the son was questioned, Texas authorities noticed burn marks and other injuries consistent with stun guns on his back and arms. Unfortunately, the son was uncooperative, stating that he doesn't get involved with his mother's business. Hysaw and her husband have children ranging in age from 4 to 18 years old. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services declined to comment on the pending case, but did state they usually remove children from homes being investigated for their own safety. Causing injury to anyone is a very serious offense. If there is violence in your family, a domestic violence attorney can help with orders of protection. Victims of any attack resulting in a personal injury should speak to an Austin family law attorney today to start working on your case.
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