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Recent Blog Posts
What Can I Do if My Ex Violates Our Custody Order?
When parents who are not married raise a child, it typically takes a lot of effort for everyone to work together. If one parent violates the custody order, it can be challenging both emotionally and logistically for the other parent. If this happens to you, you should know that you have options available, including the possibility of taking legal action to have your custody order enforced. A qualified Llano, TX family lawyer can explain your rights and advise you on how you may want to proceed.
How Do Custody Orders Work in Texas?
In Texas, child custody is often referred to as conservatorship. A conservatorship order outlines each parent's rights and responsibilities, including parenting time schedules, decision-making authority, and child support obligations. If one parent violates the terms of a custody order, the other parent has legal options to enforce it.
How Can I Prove I Acted Under Duress in My Texas Criminal Case?
When facing criminal charges, people often try to claim they are innocent and did not do what they are accused of doing. However, sometimes, defendants admit that they committed the actions in question but do not deserve to be penalized. Since intent is a major component of a criminal conviction, if you committed a crime against your will, this could be grounds for getting charges dismissed or reduced.
Duress can be a defense if you did something illegal under threat of harm. Proving duress can be challenging, and you need to demonstrate that you had no reasonable alternative but to commit the crime because of an immediate threat of serious injury or death to yourself or a loved one. If this is relevant to your case, speak with a qualified Texas criminal defense lawyer to understand your options.
Key Elements of Duress
To successfully claim duress as a defense, you need to demonstrate several things:
Supervised Visitation for Parents After a Conviction
For unmarried parents who do not have full custody of their children, visitation can be crucial in maintaining their relationship. However, parents who are convicted of a crime might have limitations imposed on their time with their children. In some cases, the court can order supervised visitation, which allows the parent and child to spend time together but another adult must be present during the visit.
While it may feel like a burden not to be able to enjoy quality time with your child in private, some consider supervised visitation a beneficial compromise that still enables convicted parents to stay involved in their child’s life. To learn more about this, speak with a qualified Texas family law attorney.
When Does a Judge Order Supervised Visitation?
Under certain circumstances, a court will order supervised visitation. Some examples include:
Can I Question Scientific Evidence Against Me in Texas?
Scientific evidence has been critical for both securing convictions and exonerations for many years. However, it is not always reliable, properly preserved, or interpreted correctly and can therefore result in wrongful convictions. Texas is one of many states where questionable scientific evidence in criminal cases can be challenged in court. If you are facing charges and believe that faulty scientific evidence was used, speak with a knowledgeable Texas criminal defense lawyer who can explain your options.
What Makes Scientific Evidence Questionable?
In recent years, the reliability of some forensic methods has been questioned. Some of these methods include:
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Bite mark analysis: There have been increasing doubts about this technique’s credibility because it lacks sufficient scientific basis and can be quite subjective. Several wrongful convictions in Texas and elsewhere in the country have been linked to faulty bite mark comparisons.
How Qualified Are Certified Advanced Mediators in Texas?
Several matters that are addressed in the Texas legal system can be handled through litigation in the courts or through mediation. Many people who are trying to navigate divorce and child custody issues in particular find that mediation is a good option for them. However, how do you know if you can trust and rely on a mediator to remain impartial and truly help you and your spouse reach productive agreements that will serve your best interests?
In Texas, mediators typically complete training, education, and practical requirements set by the certifying organization before they can be assigned to a case. At Law Office of Russ Alan Baker, PLLC, you have the benefit of working with a qualified Texas divorce lawyer who is also a certified advanced mediator and can draw on his extensive experience to explain why mediation may or may not be a good choice for your case.
Will My Mental Health Issues Help or Harm My Texas Criminal Defense?
Thankfully, America is currently experiencing a period of awareness regarding mental health issues. Although it used to be a taboo subject in the past, mental health concerns are quite common throughout all parts of society.
This awareness has brought with it several benefits; people feel less shame about it than they used to in the past, there is access to various services and assistance programs, and mental health issues can even be used in criminal defense as mitigating factors that could impact sentencing. To learn more about whether your mental health issues might be helpful in your case, speak with an experienced Marble Falls, TX criminal defense lawyer.
How Is Mental Health Relevant in a Criminal Defense?
The term "mental illness" covers a wide variety of disorders and conditions that can affect someone in different ways. However, one common trait among most mental health issues is the ability to impact a person’s behavior. When that behavior leads to criminal charges, the mental diagnosis becomes relevant to the case.
Can I Increase My Parenting Time in Texas?
Divorce can take a toll on families, especially when it comes to parenting schedules. In Texas, what is commonly referred to as child custody or visitation is officially called conservatorship, possession, and access. When parents get divorced, they are typically given a court-ordered schedule for when their children will spend time with each of them.
The parenting schedule might make sense at the time the divorce is settled, but change happens all the time and what worked then might not work best for your family now. If you want to modify your parenting arrangement so you can have more time with your children, speak with a qualified Llano, TX family law attorney to review your options.
How Does a Standard Possession Order Work?
When parents in Texas get divorced, courts typically use a Standard Possession Order (SPO) as a starting point for working out a parenting time arrangement. The SPO outlines when each parent has time with the child, including during weekends and holidays. This guideline works for many families but it may not suit everyone. If you do not think you have enough time with your children, you can request a modification.
Can My History as an Abuse Victim Impact My Sentence?
People facing criminal charges in Texas who were victims of abuse in the past might be sentenced differently than others. While the extent of how this type of history can impact sentencing for criminal charges depends on several factors and can be calculated differently for each defendant, it is certainly a mitigating factor to be considered. However, there is no guarantee that an abuse history will automatically help you get a more lenient sentence. To learn more about how your personal background can impact sentencing, speak with a skilled Marble Falls, TX criminal defense lawyer.
How Do Mitigating Circumstances Affect Texas Sentencing?
Texas courts are authorized to review mitigating factors during a criminal case and decide whether they can be used to reduce the sentence. Some examples of mitigating factors that impact sentencing include:
How is Cryptocurrency Addressed in a Texas Divorce?
Cryptocurrency has become an increasingly popular investment. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital currencies allow people to play the market and potentially turn a significant profit. Although it is much more common and there is more awareness about cryptocurrency now than there was only a few years ago, it is still a relatively new topic as far as divorce is concerned.
Since Texas follows a community property model for the distribution of a marital estate, anything a couple obtained when they were married is to be divided equally between the spouses. However, cryptocurrency is not traditional money and it can be difficult to understand how to address it. If you have questions about the impact of divorce on cryptocurrency, a qualified Llano, TX family law attorney can answer.
Cryptocurrency and Community Property
Since Texas is a community property state, the courts consider everything acquired by either spouse during a marriage to be jointly owned by both spouses. With few exceptions, these marital assets are to be divided equally between the two in a divorce. If cryptocurrency was purchased or mined during a marriage, it is typically considered the joint property of both spouses.
Dealing With False Allegations of Domestic Violence in Texas
Domestic violence is a serious crime, as are false accusations of domestic violence. False allegations need to be handled with the understanding that they can wrongfully lead to restraining orders, criminal charges, and significant damage to a person’s personal and professional reputation. In the context of family disputes and custody battles, false allegations can irreparably damage a parent-child relationship.
When facing these types of accusations, it is crucial that you understand the implications and how to protect yourself. If you are falsely accused of committing domestic violence, possibly due to anger or malicious intent by your child’s other parent, you need a qualified Marble Falls, TX criminal defense lawyer with experience handling similar cases.
What Constitutes a False Allegation of Domestic Violence?
People can sometimes misunderstand a situation and mistakenly accuse someone of wrongdoing. For example, a neighbor can hear what sounds like an intense, physical altercation ending with a child screaming. That neighbor might think someone purposely hurt that child when in fact the child might have been trying to move his furniture or toys and then got hurt and cried.
From our offices Llano and Burnet, our law firm serves clients in Marble Falls, Johnson City, Blanco, Fredericksburg, San Saba, Llano County, Burnet County, Mason County, Lampasas County, Blanco County, Mills County, Gillespie County, and throughout Central Texas.
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