The May Firm

Dallas County was the first county to implement the Standing Order in family law cases. Several other counties have followed their lead. The Standing Order is a set of orders that applies to every divorce (regardless of whether there are children of the marriage) and every suit regarding children (whether or not it is a divorce). I call them “do-right orders” because the main purposes of the orders are:

1. Minimize disruption to the children by ordering each parent to refrain from hiding the child, changing the child’s school or day-care, or saying negative things about the other parent to the child.

2. Preserve the property of the parties by ordering each party not to hide assets, change or deplete accounts, run up debts, open each other’s mail, turn off utilities at the residence of either party, or locking the other party out of the house.

3. Preserve the financial and personal records by ordering both parties to refrain from destroying important records.

4. Maintain insurance by prohibiting cancelation of insurance policies or changing beneficiaries.

5. Generally regulate the conduct of the parties by prohibiting the use of vulgar language, making harassing telephone calls, or threatening the other person.

Most of the orders are behaviors that normal people not in a divorce would know they should not engage in, but during a divorce people sometimes act out.

Nothing about the Standing Order for family law cases prohibits either party from conducting their usual business or occupation, hiring and paying for a lawyer’s services, or spending money or debt on reasonable living expenses.

Prior to adopting this Standing Order, and in counties that do not have a Standing Order, a Court would enter a Mutual Temporary Restraining Order containing the same provisions. (Do not confuse a Mutual Temporary Restraining Order as described with a Protective Order that addresses issues of domestic violence.)

Click here to see a copy of the Dallas County Standing Order 2008

Tags: Divorce, Temporary Orders, Dallas County Local Rules // Add Comment »

Tomorrow is Voting Day. Some call it Election Day, but I see it a little differently. Tomorrow is our day to VOTE. The election of someone to a publicly paid-for job is a natural byproduct of our decision to Vote. Women and minorities should be particularly interested in voting, as many people worked very hard and sacrificed much to give us the right to vote. Women were only granted the right to vote by the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920 — that’s only 88 years that we’ve been given the right to cast a ballot. Not that men should take it any less seriously just because they’ve always had the right to vote.

Voting can have an impact on everyone who has a need to have a legal matter resolved through the court system. When two married people decide to get a divorce, unless they can agree on their disputes, a judge will make decisions that affect their lives and the lives of their children. That judge is elected by people who vote!

So, tomorrow, please remember to exercise your right to vote. You have the right to choose which political party you stand with and which of the contested races to vote in, but regardless, educate yourself on the races and go vote.

Tags: General // Add Comment »

March 1, 2008
Welcome to The May Firm Newsletter!
As a service to our clients, we at The May Firm and Divorce Magazine are pleased to provide you with this monthly e-newsletter and hope that the information and articles contained within are helpful, supportive, and entertaining. Michelle May O’Neil is nationally recognized as a leader in family law. Her firm emphasizes high-quality representation in family-law matters, with a particular emphasis on child-custody disputes, complex marital-property litigation, and appeals of family-law matters. For more information, please click here: www.DivorceMagazine.com/TX/pro/may.shtml or view our website at: www.themayfirm.com.

If you wish to schedule an appointment to further discuss your situation, please contact us.

Useful Articles:
1. CHILDREN AND DIVORCE: Within a child’s heart
2. MEDIATION: A fair negotiation
3. DIVORCE RECOVERY: Full esteem ahead
4. RELATIONSHIPS: Sex and divorce
5. BUSINESS VALUATION: How will you find value?
6. FINANCIAL PLANNING/INVESTMENT: Charting your expenses
________________________________________
1. CHILDREN AND DIVORCE
Within a child’s heart
A glimpse into the journey one boy faced when his parents divorced.
http://www.divorcemag.com/articles/Children_and_Divorce/childsheart.html
2. MEDIATION
A fair negotiation
Negotiation skills will help you achieve your needs without alienating or angering the other parties. Here’s how to use negotiation to build better interpersonal relationships.
http://www.divorcemag.com/articles/Mediation/negotiation.html
3. DIVORCE RECOVERY
Full esteem ahead
Reclaiming your self-esteem after divorce is a critical part of the healing process. Here are some suggestions to help you on your way.
http://www.divorcemag.com/articles/Divorce_Recovery/full_esteem_ahead.html
4. RELATIONSHIPS
Sex and divorce
Coping with divorce and the prospect of new sexual relationships can be emotionally challenging, to say the least. Here’s a look at some of the pitfalls and opportunities up ahead.
http://www.divorcemag.com/articles/Relationships/sexanddivorce.html
5. BUSINESS VALUATION
How will you find value?
Many business owners realize the importance of having buy-sell agreements in place for their closely held businesses, but few realize the problems that can arise if these agreements have not been properly thought out.
http://www.divorcemag.com/articles/Business_Valuation/determining_the_price.html
6. FINANCIAL PLANNING/INVESTMENT
Charting your expenses
Here’s some help with the task of budgeting for your family’s past, present, and future expenses.
http://www.divorcemag.com/articles/Financial_Planning/chartexpenses.html

Tags: Newsletter, Business Valuation, Children's Issues, Divorce Recovery, Financial Planning // Add Comment »

The New York Times ran an article on February 13, 2008, about the increasing controversy over religion in custody cases. See article here. Increasingly, people of different religions marry and divorce, then disagree over which religion(s) to introduce to the children. Or, tensions can emerge when one parent becomes more fundamentalist in their faith than previously.

As a general rule, a judge will not — and probably cannot — pick one religion over another as preferable. The constitutional freedom of religion that we here in American experience also carries over to custody cases. A judge may decide whether either or both parents have the right to make decisions about the child’s religion while the child is in that parent’s care. Usually, a parent may address religion or religious beliefs with the child while the child is with them during parenting time. But, short of finding some harm to the child from the parent’s religion or beliefs, a judge will probably stay out of the fray.

Tags: Divorce, Child Possession, Children's Issues // Add Comment »

In my previous post, I discussed the difficulty in gauging a win or loss in divorce. Most people feel that there are never any winners in any divorce and mostly everyone loses, no matter the outcome. But, there are some ways to make any divorce a little easier.

Approach the divorce from a logical perspective.

It is often the emotion — hurt feeling and unmet expectations — that cause people to have difficult and messy divorces. Obviously, some divorces have issues that must be fleshed out and will be messy out of necessity. But other divorces can be made much easier if both parties can set their emotions aside and approach the issues involved in accomplishing the divorce from a logical perspective. Separate the causes of the divorce — who did what that made the divorce happen — from the issues such as division of property or sharing parenting responsiblities.

Shift your perspective from one of spouses to one of business partners.

You may no longer be able to have a loving, married relationship, but, if you have children, you will continue to be partners well into the future. After the marriage ends, approach your relationship with your ex-spouse as if you were in the business of raising children. Ignore things that do not directly relate to that business and focus on the task at hand. There will be many issues that need your cooperation, from discipline, dating and driving, to report cards, curfews, and colleges.

Educate yourself on your assets and debts.

Knowledge is empowering. No matter whether your marital estate is small or large, negative or positive, knowing the nature of your assets and debts will help you make smart decisions about a fair division. Each spouse may have different interests in what property and debts they have after the divorce. One spouse may value retirement assets more highly, where the other spouse may want disposable cash assets now. One spouse may be more interested in maintaining the house, and the other spouse may be more interested in taking a business interest.

Look at the divorce from the other spouse’s perspectivie.

Evaluate what interests your spouse may have in the divorce. Seeing things from a different perspective can provide a broader insight to creative solutions. Often, by seeing things through the other spouse’s eyes, you find that both have the same ultimate goal. Maybe both share a common goal of providing for the children’s college education — this can provide common ground for negotiation.

For assistance with your divorce in North Texas – Dallas, Collin, Denton, and Tarrant Counties — call The May Firm and schedule an appointment to discuss how we may be of assistance to you.

Tags: Divorce, Clients, Divorce Settlement, Divorce Recovery, Financial Planning // Add Comment »

Sometimes people ask a family lawyer, “how many cases have you won and lost?” For many reasons, most family lawyers don’t and shouldn’t keep win/loss records.

First, we don’t determine the facts of the case. Our clients make decisions in their lives that affect our ability for success in their case. Also, success is neither easily defined nor the same in each case. For one client, getting a fair amount of child support set defines success. For another client, sole managing conservatorship might be a must-win. Lastly, in my opinion, keeping win/loss records on matters involving people, often children, and their relationships is tactless and insensitive.

Lawyers’ ethics rules prevent representations that past results are indicative of future success. Thus, it would be even unethical for a lawyer to imply that his or her past record in other cases would, somehow, indicate that he or she would be successful in the client’s particular circumstance.

Although it is understandable that a client would want as much information about the lawyer being hired, there are other, more relevant inquiries. For advice criteria to look at in choosing the right lawyer, see my article “How To Pick A Lawyer” here.

Tags: Qualifications Of A Lawyer, Ethics for Lawyers // Add Comment »

The Family Law Section of the State Bar of Texas featured my article on “Family Law Appeals Distinguished” in the Winter 2007 newsletter. ( Michelle May O’Neil article on Family Law Appeals) The article discusses the differences in the standard of review on appeal in family law cases as opposed to civil cases in general. Family law cases differ from civil cases in that most of the issues tried in family law cases are tried to the Judge, without a jury trial. Some family law cases have a few issues tried to a jury and other issues tried to the Judge. When a Judge decides an issue, the standard for reviewing that decision on appeal is “abuse of discretion”. In other types of civil cases, most final issues are tried to a jury, where the standard of review addresses the jury’s consideration of the evidence. My article discusses in depth this issue.

I also wrote a comment on the new law pertaining to appeals of Associate Judges’ recommendations and the associated deadlines, which appears in the Newsletter. The old law, which still applies to any case pending on September 1, 2007, requires notice of the desire to appeal the Associate Judges’ recommnedation be filed 3 days (not business days) after the hearing. The new law, which applies to new cases filed after September 1, 2007, allows 7 business days to file the notice. Many lawyers have contacted me wanting clarification of the statute, confused about the application to cases that were pending on September 1, 2007. So, I wrote a comment for the newsletter to hopefully help many lawyers out there keep from filing the notice late. (Michelle May O’Neil article on Family Law Appeals)

If you need the help of a divorce attorney in the Dallas or Collin County areas (Dallas, Addison, Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, etc.) to assist you with your divorce or family law appeal, please contact Michelle May O’Neil at The May Firm for an appointment.

Tags: Appellate Law, Qualifications Of A Lawyer, Media Features // Add Comment »

Kanye West, Hip Hop superstar and Grammy winner, gives advice to people wanting to get married: “If you aint no punk holla We Want Prenup, WE WANT PRENUP! Yeaah! It’s something that you need to have…” (From “Gold Digger” off of the Late Registration album (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam 2005)) In other words, he recommends that everyone should get a prenup before getting married.

Jessica Simpson didn’t listen to this advice when she married Nick Lachey without a prenup.

But, Britney Spears did heed the warning. Apparently Britney even staged a fake wedding because Federline hadn’t signed the prenup in time. Britney’s prenup gave K-Fed $250,000 for each year of the marriage, which is rumored to have been increased to $500,000 per year during settlement negotiations.

Some celebrity prenups go far beyond the standard identification of assets owned before the marriage and what each party leaves the marriage with, including clauses like:

* Limiting the wife’s weight to 120 pounds or she must relinquish $100,000 of her separate property.

* Allowing a spouse to perform random drug tests, with financial penalties for positive results.

* Requiring a husband to pay $10,000 each time he is rude to his wife’s parents.

Infidelity clauses are common, where a spouse gets paid if the other is unfaithful. Michael Douglas agreed to pay Catherine Zeta-Jones millions should he stray, and Denise Richards made similar requirements of Charlie Sheen.

Custody of pets is another common concern, especially since most divorce courts will treat the pets like an item of property.

However, prenups are important for almost everyone planning to get married, regardless of celebrity status. A prenup can be as simple as defining who has what at the time of the marriage. It can also address how property acquired during the marriage will be treated upon divorce, which spouse will be responsible for payment of the marital obligations, and how the property will be distributed upon death of one of the spouses.

For assistance with a prenup or marital property agreement, please contact The May Firm for an appointment. But, don’t wait until the last minute, as prenups require plenty of planning and discussion.

Tags: Divorce, Property Division, Divorce Settlement, Financial Planning, Prenuptial Agreements // Add Comment »

I have been honored to be featured in the Texas Bar Journal February 2008 edition Technology column. To see the article, click here. I have also been listed at the Texas Bar’s list of attorney blogs. See that website here.

If you are in need of a Texas Board Certified Family Law attorney, please contact us.

Tags: Qualifications Of A Lawyer, Media Features, Legal Technology, Lawyer Blogs // Add Comment »

I frequently speak and write for seminars that provide continuing education credits for judges, lawyers, and paralegals. My practice is unique in that I not only represent clients in divorce cases before the trial court, but I also represent clients on appeals to the Texas Courts of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court once their cases are concluded at the trial level. There are only a handful of lawyers in the Dallas area that routinely handle family law appellate matters. I believe that I have a unique perspective on handling client’s matters before the trial court because I see a broader view of a case, not only as a trial lawyer, but only what could happen on appeal. I also think my litigation experience before the trial court gives me a better perspective on my appellate practice.

As a result, other divorce lawyers frequently hire me to assist with cases at the trial court level with an eye toward appeal. For example, I have been hired to handle a specific legal issue that will almost certainly be appealed at the conclusion of the case. Or, I have been handled to act as second chair at trial to generally assist the lead attorney in preserving error for appeal.

I presented a seminar for the University of Houston Continuing Legal Education seminar for judges, lawyers, and paralegals called Protecting Your Client’s Case For Appeal. Click here to download the article. Here’s a audio recording of my introduction to the prepsentation — click here. (I apologize for the quality of the recording and the background scratchy noise.)

Tags: Appellate Law, Qualifications Of A Lawyer // Add Comment »