What is Family Law?

The term family law would appear to be simple but it in fact covers a large swath of different legal areas. A family law attorney will practice in a variety of areas including divorce, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, spousal and alimony support, child custody, adoption, paternity, and other family law matters. At any given time, a family law attorney will help clients ranging from infants to grandparents navigate difficult family conflicts.

What are some situations you might find yourself in need of a family law attorney? Before marriage, family law attorneys are useful for negotiating and implementing pre-nuptial agreements. These are helpful for couples who are looking to get married but who may have individual assets that they wish to protect when going into the marriage. A pre-nuptial agreement may also be useful for a couple who want to disallow Texas’s default community property laws regarding assets earned during the marriage to ensure that they stay with the person who earned them.

A parent may need a family law attorney to help establish the paternity of a child to ensure an enforceable possession schedule as well as appropriate child support.

Any time you are looking to hire a family law attorney, it is important to find one who is experienced with Texas family law and understands how the rules work. Texas has its own individual laws relating to family issues and there can be potentially disastrous consequences if the attorney is inexperienced and falls into a trap. When it is your family on the line, you want to ensure that you are in the best hands.

One constant is that family law attorneys often see people and families at difficult times in their lives, so it is vitally important to find one who is compassionate but also willing to take on the tough challenges that each situation presents. The best way that they can help is to help you focus on what you are looking to achieve and then help you to get there with various resources known to the attorney.

Charla D. Davies

Charla Davies is a family law specialist, Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

She has experience in high conflict family law matters including, divorce, child custody, child support, and enforcement of court orders. In addition to her trial practice, she also practi...

Kristal Cordova Thomson

Ms. Thomson is a family law specialist, board certified in family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. She focuses on divorces with complex or high net worth estates and complicated custody issues. Ms. Thomson has tried numerous cases, but is also highly experienced in negotiated settl...