Getting a Divorce? What you can expect in Texas?

You live in Texas, you have just been served with divorce papers, and you have no idea about what the process entails. This article will provide some answers to those questions; however, it should be noted that everyone's circumstances are different and just as no two marriages are alike, no two divorces are alike. Thus, every divorce has its own outcome.

Mental Preparation for the Divorce Process

Usually when you think about divorce, you have some notion as to what it entails. You may have watched characters in movies or television soap operas going through a divorce, or maybe your co-worker, best friend, or neighbor may have confided in you. Perhaps, your own parents have gone through a divorce. However you may have encountered it, facing this type of a proceeding can be very stressful and can cause you emotional distress. Not only are you faced with the prospect of losing your spouse, nut you suddenly have to think about a multitude of other unpleasant circumstances such as making new living arrangements, division of property; and, if there are children involved, you will then have to come to terms with the possibility of not being able to see them on a daily basis. Therefore, it is important to understand the process, so that you are better prepared for what lies ahead.

Division of Property

The first thing you need to understand is that a divorce is a lawsuit. One spouse sues another to terminate the marital contract. After the Original Petition is filed, one of the first things that a divorce court will do is devise a plan for the division of property. Texas is a community property state. Community property is defined as all property acquired during the marriage except property acquired by inheritance or gift. Separate property is that which you owned before marriage and that which you acquired by gift or inheritance. With regard to property, it is the job of the Court and/or jury to divide the community property and to determine the character of property in the marital estate. The court's only guidance by Statute with regard to property is to make a "fair and just" division of the property. Depending on the facts of the case, the property will not necessarily be divided evenly. The Court takes various factors into account such as fault in the breakup of the marriage, age, education, work experience, and earning potential, to name a few. The Courts generally require an inventory of the property. The parties are free to work out their own division of the property and the Court will encourage you to make an agreement on the issue of property division as well. However, all agreements are still subject to approval of the Court.

Support Obligations

The next thing to consider is that a divorce court will ultimately determine the couple's support obligations, which might include spousal support; however, the award of spousal support in Texas is very rare and only occurs under very specific circumstances. And, if there are children, child support will be awarded to the custodial parent. The amount of child support is statutory and is based on an equation used to calculate your net income. If temporary spousal support is awarded, it is often awarded at a temporary orders hearing on a temporary basis, where one spouse is unemployed or earning significantly less than the other spouse. There are no set guidelines for temporary spousal support, thus the party seeking support should be prepared to show what his/her needs are and what resources are available to the other spouse to meet those needs. Permanent spousal maintenance may also be awarded in certain situations. Child support payments are largely set by state law, however, deviation from those standards are not uncommon. Also, child support orders may depend on the custody arrangements ordered.

Child Custody and Visitation Schedules Lastly

When there are children involved, the divorce court is also responsible for setting child custody and visitation schedules. The court is required to make their decisions based on a set of factors that promote the best interest of the children, which can vary depending on the circumstances. Based on a limited view into the parents' lives, a divorce court may not always make a decision that serves the best interests of the children when it comes to determining custody rights. Therefore, it is important to consider negotiating a child custody arrangement that is mutually acceptable, as it will benefit everyone involved in the divorce proceedings, especially the couple's children. Absent an agreement by the parents and sometimes in addition to an agreement by the parents, the Court will insert something called the Standard Possession Order into the final decree. The Standard Possession Order is a set of guidelines based in statute which outlines child visitation standards.

A divorce is a lawsuit

One party is served with a Petition, the other party answers, temporary orders are addressed, discovery is conducted, and, then, the Court enters a final order. Having an experienced attorney guiding you through the process and knowing what to expect serves as a good beginning point for a satisfactory end to your marriage.

About The Author

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Law Offices, Professional Image, And Marketing

Face it. Financial bottom lines are affected by the fact we live in a world that judges a book by its cover. Pretty singers sell more records, court cases rank higher in the news if the person is attractive, and politicians are elected based on their image as much any other factor.

Looking at your own industry, don’t you have to fight the public’s perceptions? We see it on TV and in movies every day. More often than not, young lawyers, paralegals, and others just starting out in the profession are portrayed as cheap, petty, low-rent, and usually called “ambulance chasers.”

It’s not right, but this issue of image is one that you have to live with and learn to work with.

Let’s cut to the bottom line which is this: In today’s business climate, everyone should realize that a professional image is crucial to reputation and everyone could stand to improve theirs to some degree or other. It’s what you need to do to keep your individual firms alive. Therefore, let’s cover some opportunities for improvement using the acronym A.L.I.V.E.:

Appearance – Your physical persona and the way present yourself.

Letterhead – The level of professionalism demonstrated in your printed marketing materials.

Information – Accuracy and honesty; the keys to presenting the data gathered during a case.

Voice – How you communicate to everyone you’re associated with.

Education – The continual improvement to your professional knowledge base.

Appearance: People base a large percentage of their first impression on your appearance. When a client meets you for the first time, they’re sizing up your credibility, your ability as a legal professional, and deciding just how well you might conduct yourself in public. As the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a good first impression, so let’s look at a few pointers.

- Always dress in a professional manner. For men and women both, the attire should be “business professional,” which for men means suit and tie whenever possible, and for the ladies, business suits, nice skirt and blouse, or dresses. If you look unkempt or “second rate” the client will wonder how you’ll represent them while working their case.

- A close cousin to dress is personal grooming. Simply put, make sure your hair, facial hair, hands, nails, and teeth are all clean and well kept. By the way, how’s your breath? Always keep some mints handy.

- Keep jewelry at a minimum. Jewelry should follow the rule on colognes. It’s best to smell of nothing than to overpower with the wrong thing. A general jewelry guideline is no more than 2 rings per hand, no more than 2 thin necklaces, and either post or small-ring earrings. And... you guessed it, visible exotic piercings or tattoos are out if you’re going to be taken seriously by the legal community. The “Professional Image Dress” website at http://www.professionalimagedress.com has some good articles and checklists. Also, you’ll find some good books and magazines on business and professional image at your local library.

Letterhead: In some cases, the first contact someone may have with you might be one of your business cards. For our purposes though, “letterhead” refers to any printed material (paper or electronic) anyone outside your office might see.

- Business cards are a must. Make them distinctive, but with minimal content. Let your website or brochure carry the heavy content.

- On business cards, stationery, and your website stay away from trite, cliché, or negative icons such as someone running after an ambulance. In your web address, phone numbers, or email addresses, stay away from negative phrases like “makethempay@mylaw.com.” These might seem cute, but to many potential clients, they’re a turnoff.

- For stationery, choose quality paper and have your letterhead and envelopes, as well as your contracts, professionally produced by the same people who do your business cards. Make sure their color themes match. Your local print shop or office supply store should have everything you need. If there’s any one place you want to spend a little money, this is near the top of the list.

- If your stationery has a particular logo or color scheme, it should be reflected on your website, or vice versa. As with business cards, your website should be an exercise in minimalism after it’s done its job of relaying all the necessary information about your firm. Avoid animation, sound files, heavy graphics, flash, or anything else that makes your site slow to load. Slow loading or “busy looking” sites are more an annoyance than an attraction. Relatedly, though they might provide a tiny bit of pocket change per year, try to stay away from banner ads and other outside links on your home page. If you have outside links, put them all on your links page. You don’t want your client clicking off into cyberspace before they’ve read what a good job you can do for them.

- Stay away from blank notepads and manila folders. They’ll both get too messy too soon and not only will that make you look unprofessional and disorganized, but blank notepads make you look unprepared, and lost or disorganized notes lead to inaccurate reports and invoices. Invest a little time and/or money into buying or developing a comprehensive set of forms or an organizer system to use while assembling your case.

Information: In the legal business, the glass is neither half full nor half empty. It’s 50%. And, unless you know what’s in it, don’t speculate. “Just the facts Ma’am.” One of the biggest opportunities for a good impression, and naturally the most important, is the timely delivery of honest, accurate, information. Nothing will kill your image, reputation, and livelihood, like incomplete, inaccurate, biased, or late case work. Likewise, an inaccurate invoice can cost you by being either too low or too high.

- Rule one is, always has been, and always will be, “Use a good case management system.” Make sure everyone working for you uses the same system, and that your standards of accuracy start at the beginning, and continues through the whole case and through any follow-up you may ever have with that client. Then treat all of your other clients the same way.

- Use nice presentation folders for all your reports; even the “small dollar” ones. Each client is important to you from a marketing standpoint and therefore deserves to be treated with respect. Putting your work product on better stationery, in a well-organized format, and in an attractive presentation folder will provide a greater perceived value to your client. These people have probably paid a hefty sum for your service and a more professional report will help assure them that it was money well spent.

- With any kind of information transfer, the key word in today’s legal climate is “PRIVACY!” Reassure your clients in your contract, and in your final report that your relationship with them is as private as the law allows, and everything you do in connection with their case, before, during, or after the fact, will remain confidential. Loose lips not only sink ships, they destroy good client relationships.

Voice: Voice is a general term used to describe not only the actual verbal communication you have with your clients and others, but the “tone” your business has with those it deals with.

- When you answer the phone, do so cheerfully and actually smile. You can tell when someone’s not happy to be on the phone and so can others. This phone call might be your first contact with the next big client, so make it count.

- If you can’t personally answer every call, the next best thing is to have a receptionist or answering service. A person is always better than voice mail. Go with what you can afford, but since the phone call is one of your opportunities for a first impression, anyone answering the phone should be trained to be courteous, cheerful, informative, and as professional as possible.

- If voice mail is your only option, make the best of it. First, be smiling and cheerful when you record the message. Second, have the message convey your high standards. Say something like “As we’re extremely devoted to all our clients, we’re probably working a case on their behalf right now. However, YOU are just as important to us so please leave us your name and number and we’ll get back to you within the hour.” Then, if you say you’ll be back to them within the hour, actually do it. Prompt personal attention is a major plus in any business.

- Education and intelligence are just as necessary as a cheerful hello. You want people to know that you are every bit as qualified and capable as they could hope for. Therefore, when speaking with people, speak clearly, and choose your words carefully. They don’t have to be big words, but they do have to make sense, and grammar is important.

- The written word should follow the same rule. Make sure your business cards, letterhead, brochures, reports, invoices, and all other written documents use correct spelling and proper grammar. Though your client may be enamoured enough with your abilities as a legal professional to overlook a minor grammatical error, you never know who else of importance might see your report or correspondence.

Education: Here we continue where your writing skills leave off and cover the actual knowledge or skill base upon which your legal expertise is founded. Experience is the best teacher, but classroom education can certainly help keep you informed and up to date. Also, the fact that you are continually updating your expertise is impressive to most potential clients.

- Many states require continuing education. If your state does, you should publish this fact in your firm’s literature. If your state does not require CEU, you should still take it upon yourself to keep your own training updated and make that fact a prominent component of your marketing materials.

- Join professional organizations where possible. Many of them will offer various classes and training programs and the benefits of networking are considerable.

- Many online communication forums are professionally dedicated and will provide educational information and opportunities through either on-site or on-line courses, or through the hints, tips, and suggestions offered by members. One good online communication forum is found through “Yahoo Groups” at http://www.yahoogroups.com. The free registration is easy to complete, and all you’ll need to do is search through the groups using the phrase “private investigator” or other keywords associated with your specialty.

- Keep your library stocked. Many people learn as much from books and videos as they do in a classroom setting.

As you attend some of these educational functions, take the opportunity to look around you and either further your own education on this issue of appearance by studying your colleagues, or help improve the way they represent you by helping educate them as to the benefits of a more professional image.

About The Author

Paul Purcell is an Atlanta-based investigative trainer and case management specialist. In addition, he’s the creator of “The Case File” (found at http://www.thecasefile.com).

How To Avoid Copyright Infringement

Copyright infringement is not an easy thing to explain. While it may seem as simple as not using someone else’s work, it’s not that easy. Thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and many other organizations, we have the ability to use others’ works -- as long as we use it under Fair Use laws. So what does Fair Use have to do with copyright infringement, and how can you utilize it?

Fair Use laws allow us to use a copyrighted work without having to pay someone royalties. This includes using a copyrighted work for educational or instructional uses, criticism of the work, commentaries on the work, news reporting about the work, teaching on the work (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship uses, and research. This is talked about fully in Section 107 of the Copyright Code (commonly called Fair Use) and is available for you to read at your local library.

Copyright Infringement in day-to-day life

Sometimes, if you’re writing a paper for work or school, or if you are creating a Power Point presentation, you need to use someone’s work that is already in copyright. So how do you use it without committing copyright infringement? All you have to do is ask -- the worst they can say is no, right? But, if they do say no, there are several items in the public domain which may help you to finish your project without having to commit copyright infringement.

What is the public domain, and how does it relate to copyright infringement?

Material that is not copyrighted is considered in the public domain. You cannot commit copyright infringement on works in the public domain. These works include things that the copyright has expired on, or is not copyrightable -- such as government publications, jokes, titles, and ideas. Some creators (writers, musicians, artists, and more) deliberately put their work in the public domain, without ever obtaining copyright, by providing an affiliation with Creative Commons. Creative Commons allows people who create materials to forfeit some, or all, of their copyright rights and place their work either partially or fully in the public domain.

So, how do I ensure I’m not committing copyright infringement?

First of all, if you’re going to use someone else’s material, you may want to check the public domain to see if something is suitable for use, instead of trying to use someone else’s copyright. However, if you can’t find something suitable (and you can’t create something yourself), the next best thing (and your only legal course of action) is to find a piece that is in copyright, and contacting the copyright holder.

When you contact the copyright holder, make sure you tell them what you want to use their piece for -- whether it’s for your blog, podcast, or report -- and ask if you can use it. You may have to pay royalties, or an attribution in your piece, or a combination of both. The creator may also place many limitations on when and how you can use their material. Follow all these instructions they give you, and you’ll be free and clear to use their work as you want.

Once you have permission to use a copyrighted work, you need to make sure you stay within the agreed-upon boundaries. If you veer outside their agreed terms, you may open yourself up for a copyright infringement lawsuit, which can be nasty, costly, and time consuming. If you’re in doubt, before contacting the copyright holder, contact a copyright lawyer to ensure you’re following the law -- and protect yourself!

QUESTION: If you hear a great new band, and then download a song from MySpace, is that legal or not?

ANSWER: The events of copyright infringement are not only limited by Kazaa, Morpheus, or some other file sharing peer to peer (P2P) service. If you download a song -- no matter if you’re on a website or a MySpace page -- and it isn’t coming from the artist themselves, you may want to think about downloading it. Chances are, if it’s not coming from them, you can’t have it -- unless it is under a Creative Commons License. Creative Commons gives the exact ways in which you can use the license -- and many times those are completely free and legal to download, so make sure you check if it’s under a CC License.

QUESTION: If I’m writing a paper, or article, and I want to quote another website, can I?

ANSWER: First of all, did you know the minute you write or create something, you hold the copyright to it? ESPECIALLY if you’re writing it online -- it’s very easy to track things on the Internet. So, if you’re writing a blog, all the things you’ve written (no matter good or bad) are recorded, thanks to Archive.org, which lets you review last versions of your web pages.

Sometimes, we can use someone else’s work in our own, and think we’re small and anonymous. That no one will notice by the time you get it down -- you’re just “borrowing” it. Before you begin quoting anyone’s website -- from CNN to your local neighborhood hardware store -- you need to ask the person who holds the copyright if you can. Usually, they’ll let you if you attribute to them. Depending who you talk to, you’ll either have to pay royalties or license rights to republish. If you don’t ask before you quote, you’re beginning the events of copyright infringement and you are opening yourself up for a lawsuit.

About The Author

Richard Cunningham is a freelance journalist who covers copyright law for http://www.ResearchCopyright.com. Download his free e-book, "Copyright Basics" at http://ResearchCopyright.com.

Move Ahead In Life With a New York Personal Injury Lawyer

Life is very much unpredictable. No one knows what is in store for him or her. We all take life as it comes. We do make plans but as the famous saying goes “man proposes God disposes”, it seems like we never get to materialize what we plan. In fact we tend to move along the path that has been already set for us by some unforeseen force. As we enter a new day we face some or the other surprise, and these surprises, like the very path of life, is at times good and at times dreadful. At times these dreadful incidents come in the form of serious accidents. Accidents can be a result of various things like our carelessness or because of the carelessness of somebody else. When we face an accident that is caused by somebody else, like an individual or an organization, the best person whom we can approach for help is a New York personal injury lawyer. A New York personal injury lawyer is one person who can be of tremendous help to any person who has become a victim of such an accident case which involves some other person or an organization.

Whether it is a physical injury or a mental injury that has been a result of an accident, takes a lot of time to get healed. Well in a case when an injury has been caused by some other person the victim and his family have full liberty to sue and file a legal case against the person or the organization that is responsible for the accident. In such a case a New York personal injury lawyer is the best person who can be consulted. The best part with a New York personal lawyer is that he can give a moral as well as legal support to the victim and his peers and it is the New York personal injury lawyer who can give an assurance of justice to the victim and his family.

But there are certain facts that need to be checked upon before one decides to hire a New York personal injury lawyer to fight a case on their behalf. The facts and the details are very much simple and they include a thorough check up of the profile of the New York personal injury lawyer and see the cases that have been successfully dealt by him. Moreover the consultation fees and the mode of payment and various other minute details should also be checked out before the hiring is done. Once these formalities are over the victim and his family members can easily hire a New York personal injury lawyer who can give them full support.

As this is a legal case the New York personal injury lawyer needs to study all the details of the case and here the victim has to speak out everything related to the accident or the injury. The New York personal injury lawyer can prove to be a big support as he helps the victim get full justice and moreover gives him a moral support that helps the victim forget the dreadful accident and move ahead in life with a positive approach.

About The Author

Hadiya Robins is a legal expert. She gives advice to clients who are looking for Highest rated personal injury lawyer,New York personal injury lawyer. For legal advice and to get services of a Lawyer in New York visit http://www.pulversthompson.com

Construction Mortgage vs. Mechanic’s Lien: Win, Lose or Draw?

Recently, I met with a commercial lender who mentioned a problem with one of his projects. Construction had started, but the developer hadn’t closed the construction loan. Thus the lender’s mortgage hadn’t been recorded, but likely would be soon. He wondered how the delay might affect the priority of his bank’s mortgage lien. Attorneys representing secured lenders in commercial foreclosure cases, or contractors in mechanic’s lien actions, should be conversant with Indiana law in this area.

1910: A Draw. The Indiana Supreme Court’s 1910 decision in Ward v. Yarnelle, 91 N.E.7 (Ind. 1910) is the landmark opinion on this subject. At the time, Indiana’s mechanic’s lien statute “failed to address the lien priority between a [construction mortgage] and the mechanic’s liens of those who [completed] the construction.” In Re Venture, 139 B.R. 890, 895 (N.D. Ind. 1990) (excellent summary of the law). The Court therefore announced the equitable “doctrine of parity” in which a “real estate mortgage executed while a building was in the process of construction was entitled to equal priority with the claims of [contractors that] worked after [recordation] of the mortgage and with full knowledge of its purpose and effect.” Beneficial Finance v. Wegmiller Bender, 402 N.E.2d 41, 47 (Ind. Ct. App. 1980) (no parity because contractor completed its work before lender recorded its mortgage); Brenneman Mechanical v. First Nat. Bank, 495 N.E.2d 233, 242 (Ind. Ct. App. 1986) (parity because contractors had knowledge of loan, which helped pay them).

Whether the contractor had knowledge of the construction mortgage was critical to the Ward analysis. In such instances, the Court felt that lenders and contractors were in a kind of “common enterprise.” Ward, 91 N.E. at 15. Under Ward, if funds derived from the mortgage were used in the construction project and if the contractors had knowledge of the loan when they performed their work, then the mortgage and the mechanic’s lien had equal priority. Conversely, if the loan was not for purposes of construction or if the contractors worked without knowledge of the purpose of the loan, then the mortgage had priority over mechanic’s liens for work performed after recordation of the mortgage. Venture, 139 B.R. at 896

1999: Statutory Amendments. I.C. §32-28-3-5 is the pivotal statute. Subsection (b) provides that a mechanic’s lien is “created” when the lien notice is recorded. But the recorded lien relates back to the date the work began, which could pre-date a mortgage. In 1999, the General Assembly added the language now in subsection (d) that says construction mortgages have priority over mechanic’s liens if the mortgage is recorded before the notice of mechanic’s lien is recorded (not created). My reading is that subsection (d) disposes of Ward’s doctrine of parity, at least as to commercial and industrial projects. (Note that section 5(d)(1)-(3) has carve-outs for certain residential and utility projects.) Accordingly, courts should focus on relative filing dates, and not on work dates or contractor knowledge.

Post-1999: One Case. The meaning of section 5(d) has not been tested on appeal, however, and I.C. §32-28-3-2(b)(2) priority, which favors contractors, may to some extent conflict with section 5(d) priority, which favors lenders. For more on this subtlety, read section 2(b), as well as Provident Bank v. Tri-County Southside, 804 N.E.2d 161, reh’g granted, 806 N.E.2d 802 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004), which gives some insight into the potential inconsistency. (Provident Bank also has an amusing result. The opinion dealt with a contractor’s improvement [installation of a driveway] at a residence long after a purchase money mortgage had been recorded. Believe it or not, the majority held that the contractor’s statutory remedy was to remove and sell the driveway.) Anyway, in the dissenting opinion, Judge Sharpnack toyed with Ward and the new I.C. §32-28-3-5. “In 1999, our legislature amended I.C. §32-28-3-5 and specifically addressed the situation before our supreme court in Ward and again discussed by the bankruptcy court in Venture.” Id. at 168. Judge Sharpnack concluded in dicta that I.C. §32-28-3-5(d) applies “where funds from the loan secured by the mortgage are for the project which gave rise to the mechanic’s lien. In such an instance, the mortgage lien has priority over the mechanic’s liens recorded after the mortgage.” Id. at 169

2007: Lender Wins. At least as to a standard commercial project, therefore, the Ward doctrine of parity seems to be a thing of the past. The lender, in the scenario presented to me, shouldn’t be forced to share equally with any contractors that started construction before the developer closed the deal. Instead, the lender should hold a superior lien, assuming the lender records its mortgage before a contractor records a notice of mechanic’s lien. In other words, if the project goes south, the lender should get paid first. Please e-mail me if you know of any recent trial court or unpublished appellate court opinions touching on the 1999 amendments or the doctrine of parity. Because it’s been almost 100 years since Ward, perhaps we’re due for another landmark opinion from our Supreme Court. As the law evolves, I’ll provide updates on my blog.

About The Author

John D. Waller is a partner at the Indianapolis law firm of Wooden & McLaughlin LLP. He publishes the blog Indiana Commercial Foreclosure Law at http://commercialforeclosureblog.typepad.com. John’s phone number is 317-639-6151, and his e-mail address is jwaller@woodmclaw.com.