The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.San Antonio Divorce Attorney | The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance2024-01-29T20:10:24Zhttps://www.lisavancelaw.com/feed/atom/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/sites/1502461/2020/01/og-2019-09-05-09-22-22-2-75x75.jpgby The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=550602024-01-29T20:10:24Z2024-01-29T20:10:24ZState Bar of Texas publication states, “The purpose of the attorney-client privilege is to encourage free discussion between a lawyer and client. If lawyers and clients cannot talk to each other, the lawyer will not be fully informed and the client cannot get the full benefit of the legal system.”
It is important to note that in order to be fully protected, the communication must exist exclusively between the client and the attorney. As the publication says, “A communication must be confidential, meaning it is not intended to be disclosed to others beyond the lawyer and client. If someone other than the lawyer and the client are present when the communication is made—even to family members, friends, etc.—the client risks waiving the privilege.”
There are two important things to remember regarding attorney-client privilege, covered in the publication, when it pertains to family law. The first is a topic that’s familiar to us, which you might have recently read about on our website. When you have what you believe to be an uncontested or even an amicable divorce, you still want to get a lawyer to help you prep and to make sure all the Is are dotted and Ts are crossed. It’s really better for each party to have its own attorney.
“Suppose a husband and wife approach an attorney seeking an uncontested divorce,” the State Bar posits. “Attorneys cannot represent both parties in litigation, including divorce, and attorneys should remind parties that they only represent one spouse or the other. As a consequence, a husband’s conversation with his wife’s counsel will not be privileged, even if the divorce is agreeable and the husband originally intended the conversation to be confidential.”
That underscores advice that we’ve given: Even if you are getting what you believe will be an uncontested divorce, make sure each party has his/her own lawyer to review the decree. At a minimum, you’re making sure the two of you get to review the document that will shape your post-divorce life with a lawyer, allowing each of you to ask any questions you might have in confidence.
Should the divorce end up being contested in some way after all, you’ll then each be in place with a lawyer, and can get right to trying to resolve the issue without pausing to find a lawyer.
The other concern in family law is lawyers for children, and those same concerns can also extend to mental health professionals for children. As the State Bar explains more broadly, “Suppose parents are paying the legal fees for their child who was involved in a traffic accident. Parents often assume that because they are paying legal fees, they can sit in on conversations between a child and his or her attorney. But the attorney represents the child—not the parents—and the parents’ presence at those conversations could prevent the attorney-client privilege from applying.”
You might mean well or even be aligned with your child in a case. But there might be situations, in the best interest of the case and of your child, for the lawyer to consult with your child without you or the other parent present.
If you’re at all curious about how this all might work, talk to your lawyer about how best to communicate, as well as how you can and should work together to make sure you’re communicating efficiently as well as confidentiality.
At the Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, we’ll work with you to make sure your rights and protections are being preserved, while we get the information to make sure we can best defend your interests and won’t be surprised by anything.]]>by The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=550582024-01-16T18:58:12Z2024-01-16T18:58:12ZLaw Office of Lisa A. Vance — can at least make sure you haven’t inadvertently laid the foundation in the decree you sign now for one that you’ll have to modify later.
]]>by The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=550562024-01-04T18:04:49Z2024-01-04T18:04:49Zprevious blog article, there are a number of creative ways that you can give your children time with both parents on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. If those particular days hold special importance for your kids, there are a number of possibilities here to make sure that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day experience involve both parents. It doesn’t have to be the kind of division where both special days fall solely to one parent.
One creative suggestion we liked there was, “Christmas Eve shall be defined as December 24 at 11 a.m. overnight to December 25 at 11 a.m. Christmas Day shall be defined as from December 25 at 11 a.m., overnight until December 26 at 11 a.m. Father shall have the Children in all odd-numbered years, and Mother shall have the Children in all even years.”
That one was good because it didn’t require anyone to get up too early, and still allowed the actual Christmas Day experience to include time with Mom and time with Dad no matter what the year.
But there might be reasons that keeping to the Texas Family Code-suggested schedule might be best for the children. For example, if you’re traveling out of town to meet other family members, keeping to the 28th allows for travel time to get back home from wherever you’ve visited.
Certainly, it’s possible to negotiate something that’s fair to everyone. If Mom travels with the kids one year, and Dad wants to travel with the kids the following year, and you put a two-year pause on a Christmas Day exchange, you can do that.
And as we mentioned in another article, the “Second Christmas” you celebrate doesn’t have to be a “second-best” Christmas that feels like a consolation prize. It’s an opportunity to create some really wonderful traditions. While Christmas isn’t quite the same after divorce, just like your remade family isn’t the same after divorce, it can still be wonderful, nurturing and give your children the love and joy that makes both Christmas and family so special.
So, in wondering how flexible you should be in making a holiday schedule with your ex, the north star you use should be your children and what’s best for them. While you certainly want to strive for what’s fair to each parent, you ultimately want what creates the best experience for your children. After all, children get relatively precious few Christmases before they become adults. Making each of them as full of joy as possible is an important gift that you and your ex can give your kids together.]]>by The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=550542023-12-01T23:14:24Z2023-12-01T23:14:24Zwaiver of service with your petition, allowing your spouse to acknowledge the petition without the expense of being served, but if that’s refused, then you would need the petition to be delivered and received with a signature.
Typically, couples agree to standard temporary orders that guide their conduct during the divorce process, but if there are any issues there, you might need to resolve those in an additional step. If there’s a need for protective order hearings or restraining order hearings, those can add one or more steps to the process.
Finally, there’s the final trial in a litigated divorce. Your divorce might include some steps like mediation, collaborative law, or negotiating in an effort to come to an agreement before the divorce goes to trial. A divorce trial will feel like a whole journey in itself, and although it is emotional and a long process, having an attorney walk you through that process will help you along the way.
As we discussed in a recent blog article, there’s no set timetable for how long it will take to finalize your divorce, and what might seem like a simple step could take either a day or a month. If you have any questions on the process or you’re concerned about what might delay the steps you need to take, please reach out to the Law Office at Lisa A. Vance for a consultation. We can talk you through what your divorce will require and what steps we anticipate to help guide you through.
While divorce can be an unpredictable process for any one person going through it, we have experience in guiding people through the process, and we would be happy to help you.
]]>by The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=550142023-11-21T19:54:13Z2023-11-21T19:53:11Za Dr. Phil quiz that asks questions around the idea. It’s not unusual in divorce for one person to be more ready to divorce than the other, and while the divorce can eventually happen regardless of whether one spouse wants to hang on to the marriage, the spouse who wants to stay married can slow things down through inaction.
If you find yourself in that situation, know that the legal process and the court system will eventually compel a reluctant person to participate as is legally necessary. But it could take some time and some motions from your lawyer before it gets going.
Typically, a divorce petition will be followed with temporary orders which spell out how the couple should interact, especially with respect to any children and property, while the divorce is being settled. In a lot of cases, there’s standard language for temporary orders that couples sign off on without a problem. But in some cases, one party might seek special language or balk at the temporary orders, and that can set off motions for hearings and delays.
In some cases where abuse is alleged, there might be a need for protective orders or restraining orders for the safety of those involved in the divorce, and that can cause additional delays while attorneys work through those issues.
Finally, once lawyers are in place, temporary orders are signed, and documents are being produced to help the judge get a sense of the assets and debts in the marital estate, there’s the X factor of how the couple is deciding to get divorced.
In some cases, it’s possible that the couple settles the divorce before it even gets to the courtroom. But if it does go to a judge, it can be delayed while merely waiting for a court date, and then it has to progress through however many days the hearing takes.
In some cases, collaborative law can produce a faster result than litigation, especially if a couple and the lawyers involved can get to the heart of the disagreements and come up with workable solutions.
However, if a collaborative case bogs down and the couple can’t settle their differences that route, deciding to litigate brings its own delays. Per the collaborative process, lawyers who commit to the collaborative process with those clients pledge not to litigate on their behalf if the couple suddenly decides they want to go to court.
What happens in that case? Well, each of the two parties need to get a lawyer who will litigate the case and get acquainted anew with the situation.
And even if a couple decides in principle to a divorce, it takes signatures from both parties to signal agreement and bring about the case’s resolution. While that seems like it should be a fairly simple process, it can sometimes create a final unexpected delay that’s particularly frustrating for the person who’s signed a divorce decree and believes it’s about to resolve.
So, when you hear about a family member or a friend’s divorce taking 18 months or more, it might seem surprising but maybe should not be. A Forbes article from August said that in 2023, a contested divorce typically takes over a year, though a “simple divorce” might wrap up in three months.
At the Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, we work with a number of clients to finalize divorces, some who litigate and some who seek alternative dispute resolutions. Whether you’re looking to initiate a divorce, responding to be served, or looking for advice on how to mutually proceed with a divorce, we’re ready to work with you.
Our initial consultations answer all kinds of questions from people getting divorced, including those who wonder how long it will take to finalize their divorce. For those who want it done as soon as possible, we can help with strategies that will move it along while making sure that you, your assets, and your children are being taken care of in the process.
]]>by The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=550092023-11-08T21:51:06Z2023-11-08T21:51:06ZLaw Office of Lisa A. Vance, for example, we will do a lot of the work people might think of as part of an initial consultation over the phone, so when you do come in for an initial consultation, you can be further down the road toward the type of divorce that works best for your situation.
If you’re being served, it’s likely that you’ll be en route to a litigated divorce, but it’s possible that an alternative dispute resolution method is possible. The more you can let your lawyer know about your situation at the outset, the better your outcome might be.
What I find most helpful in an initial meeting is when the client comes as prepared as possible with as many documents as they can provide. Since a Final Decree of Divorce is a legal agreement that affects finances, anything showing you and your spouse’s assets and debts is incredibly helpful. Additionally, please include both your assets and debts that belong to you as a couple, as well as you individually.
Another point to consider is if you have children, and which issues impacting your children are important for your lawyer to understand. For example, do your children have medical issues like food allergies, an IEP plan at school, or any disabilities or hardships? If so, your lawyer needs to understand these concerns so they can be incorporated in your Final Decree of Divorce.
If there are concerns like this, you should provide any supporting documents to your lawyer as well. For example, your lawyer will want to review medical records and the IEP plan for your child’s school. Even if you think you and your spouse are on the same page about what your children need, you want to make sure your lawyer knows specifically what you believe your children need at the outset so she can be sure those needs are documented.
Also, if you or your children have experienced any abuse in the relationship, any documentation of that abuse is important for your lawyer to review. For example, you will need to provide police reports and protective orders to your lawyer. This information is important to let your lawyer know about on your first meeting, because that will most certainly impact your divorce. Along the same lines, if there’s documented communication that’s threatening or mean, but you’re not sure if it’s abuse, show that communication to your lawyer.
If you have worked with a lawyer previously, bring your previous case file to your initial consultation with your new lawyer. This can occur if you need a modification to the current custody plan you have in place and have worked with another attorney previously.
For most people getting divorced, it’s a new and potentially frightening experience. No one gets married planning to get divorced. Once you meet with a lawyer, you will be able to have a plan in place and a better idea of what might happen. The more paperwork you can bring to your lawyer, the more complete your file will be from the very onset of your case.
Also, importantly, preparing for a meeting with a lawyer can help you with a very common feeling around divorce: Feeling like you’re helpless and unable to do anything to make the situation better. With a lawyer at your side and a plan in place, you’ll feel better equipped to handle the uncertainty that a divorce can bring.
]]>by The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=549872023-11-03T19:33:23Z2023-10-13T21:44:42ZLaw Office of Lisa A. Vance to set up an initial consultation. During that meeting, we will discuss your expectations for your divorce, and figure out what might be the best way to achieve those goals. It could be that collaborative law or mediation might be better than a litigated divorce — we have the experience to handle whatever route you choose for your divorce.]]>by The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=549852023-09-22T21:19:23Z2023-09-22T21:19:23ZRule 192.3 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure covers the scope of the discovery process. It applies to gathering the relevant evidence in a civil case. Records of what assets and debts you do have are necessary in finalizing a divorce.
While you only have to disclose what’s relevant to a case per the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, all of your financial information is likely relevant. If you have certain assets that were acquired before marriage, it’s likely those assets are separate property, and not community property. Therefore, they likely won’t be part of the division of assets in your case. However, you can’t decide on your own that those assets are not part of discovery as they are not relevant to the case. It is necessary to seek the advice of your attorney when making that decision.
There are obvious assets you’ll want to disclose upfront as part of the discovery process.
Examples of these include your bank accounts, retirement accounts, investments, any sort of shared real estate, credit cards, cars and car payments, and student loans all qualify under this.
In a lot of cases, people might undervalue their jewelry, art, furniture, and household assets, and the value of those might add up and make a difference in the overall valuation of the marital estate. Let’s say a couple has purchased a trailer,hot tub, expensive appliance, or expensive tool sets.
Those are all expensive assets that add to the value of what a couple owns as community property, and can trigger surprisingly animated and potentially expensive fights over who gets what assets.
In the collaborative divorce world, there’s a concept of “dividing the orange” used to illustrate how an equal division of a certain asset might not be what both parties ultimately want. In the story, one person wants the juice inside the orange, and the other wants to use the rind for baking purposes.
The idea is that if both parties can communicate what they want and value, they can have a less acrimonious divorce. Additionally, the community estate cannot be divided properly unless both sides have an understanding of the value of it. Once that happens through the discovery process, it’s possible that each party can divide up the assets so each party gets the assets they really want, and both walk away satisfied. But that process can’t happen without both parties being honest about what they have.
If you have questions about the discovery process or any other aspect of divorce, check in with the Law Office of Lisa A. Vance. In our initial consultation, we’ll make sure to determine what’s most important to use in a divorce and go through the options for settling your case.]]>by The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=549832023-09-08T19:33:01Z2023-09-08T19:33:01Zmediation is one of those routes that’s a little more nebulous for people.
Mediation is, simply put, a way to settle a divorce that involves someone designated to bring the parties together. That person is called a mediator, and the person serving as a mediator typically has experience as a lawyer or a former judge. The mediator’s job is to help bring both parties towards an agreement, commonly called a Mediated Settlement Agreement.
One of the things to keep in mind with mediation is that sometimes, it’s a court-ordered method of trying to resolve differences in a divorce from the judge overseeing a case. The Texas Rules of Civil Procedure still govern the proceeding in a mediation, just as in a court of law.
While it can be expensive — and some people are surprised by the fees for even a single half-day or full-day session — it can also be the most effective way for some couples to resolve the differences that are keeping them from formalizing an agreement.
I have also seen mediation cases bog down over surprising items that might seem trivial to outside observers, but matter a great deal to the people who are involved in a case. For instance, deciding which parent will maintain and apply for passports can take several hours to work out if both parties are determined to be the primary parent responsible for passports, or if one parent has a fear that the other parent will take the children overseas and not return with the children.
If you are ordered to go to a mediation, or choose to go to one yourself, know that you must maintain the same sort of decorum as you would in a courtroom, in that you should be dressed as you would for a job interview and treat the mediator and everyone involved with the utmost respect. The mediator has the ability to influence your case and get it to where a judge can finalize it, so it is important to treat the mediator with the same level of respect that you would have towards the judge hearing your case in his or her courtroom.
During the mediation, there might be some downtime during which the lawyers will be talking to the mediator or to each other, and your input isn’t needed at that moment. You might want to ask your attorney if you can bring your computer to the mediation, in case you have work that you can do on your laptop. It is important to know that you could be interrupted at any time during the mediation session.
Also, it’s a good idea to provide any relevant information to your attorney prior to your mediation date. If you’re going through a divorce, you should know at the outset about the importance of disclosing all of your assets and debts. This is necessary for your attorney to properly prepare for mediation and work up your case. If you don’t disclose this information to your lawyer, your lawyer will not be able to properly prepare, and it will be much more costly to you.
Additionally, part of the litigation process includes discovery, which means you and the other side will exchange information related to the divorce. In order for this process to work properly, you must share relevant information with your lawyer. With time being precious in a mediation, you don’t want to upset the process by withholding information prior to the mediation or suddenly revealing a case-changing bit of information in the midst of a mediation.
That said, though, you also want to make sure you’re respecting the process, which involves the mediator trying to make each party as happy as possible — which might mean some compromise — and making sure that issues are narrowed down to solvable pieces.
In that, though, remember that there are still lawyers involved, and that the parties are supposed to be separate throughout. This means your lawyer may recommend not communicating with the other party about different matters throughout the divorce process, and especially during mediation.
If you’re curious about mediation, think it might be an option for you, or you’re without a lawyer and suddenly need to head to mediation, contact the Law Office of Lisa A. Vance to learn more about the process and how it applies in particular to your case. We can walk you through what mediation requires, how it could help resolve your case, and what other routes exist for settling your specific case or divorce.
]]>by The Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, P.C.https://www.lisavancelaw.com/?p=549802023-06-29T18:35:13Z2023-06-29T14:57:04ZLaw Office of Lisa A. Vance, when we do a petition filing, we check to see if a waiver of service is an option, and if it is, we also make sure there’s a waiver of service included, along with a letter to the other party explaining what the waiver of service means.
When a petition is filed in court, there’s a petitioner (the person who files the petition with the court) and a respondent. The respondent must be given notice that they are involved in a lawsuit under the Texas Laws of Civil Procedure.
This type of notice is commonly known as “being served,” which essentially means a representative of the court hand-delivers a copy of the petition to the respondent. There are a couple of reasons to sign a waiver of service. First, serving another party is costly, and this can be an additional expense that all parties involved want to avoid. Additionally, being served in person can place the parties in an adversarial position, as the process can be embarrassing and stressful. Signing the waiver of service can spare embarrassment for a party who knows he/she will be served. Signature of the waiver of service means the respondent waives his/her right to be served and chooses not to be served with notice of the lawsuit that he/she is a party to.
As we write in our letter accompanying the waiver of service form, “If you sign the attached Waiver of Service, you are alerting the Clerk of Court you have received a copy of the Petition and you would prefer not to be served in person. This does not prevent you from making an appearance, from hiring an attorney or representing yourself in this matter. This merely saves you any anxiety, discomfort, or embarrassment due to being personally served by a sheriff or an officer of the court, as well as the cost associated with service of citation.”
If you receive a waiver of service, you must read the waiver of service thoroughly, as you would any other legal document before you sign it. Review the document to be sure you understand it and you agree to it completely.
A waiver of service should be a straightforward document that’s simple to review and sign, and your lawyer can always review it for you if you see anything that raises any red flags for you.
These decisions will largely depend on what your relationship with your ex or soon-to-be-ex is like. If you have a reasonably cooperative relationship and you believe that a negotiation or other kind of alternative dispute resolution process is possible, you might not position yourself in the same way that you would if you believe you’re headed for litigation.
Regardless of whether you’re a petitioner or respondent, you should contact your family lawyer if anything in your situation raises questions for you. At the Law Office of Lisa A. Vance, we can provide you with the assistance you need in matters regarding your divorce or modification. An initial consultation will help us determine what your best option is from the range of possible options, and how to get started in moving forward with your case.
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