Texas Divorce and Prenuptial Agreement BLOG

Like most years, 2011 saw its fair share of celebrity divorces – Russell Brand and Katy Perry (Brand filed just before the end of the year on December 30), Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, to name a handful. What all of these divorces have in common is that the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) will consider each couple married for all of 2011. When it comes to federal taxes, the IRS determines your single or married status by looking at your status on the last day of the year, December 31. If your divorce was final on or before December 31, the IRS considers you and your spouse single for the entire year. If you separated from your spouse or filed from divorce, but the divorce was not final on or before December 31 (the situation that all of these celebrity couples find themselves in), the IRS considers you and your spouse married for the entire year. The waiting period plays an important role, thus, in when your divorce counts for tax purposes. Celebrity couples often divorce in California, which, like many states, has a waiting period between when a…
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Chief Executive magazine and many American businesses list Texas as the best state in the union for business, and a big reason for our high ranking is recent tort reforms and other changes to lawsuits that put businesses on the defensive. In his over 11 years as leader of the state, Governor Rick Perry has signed medical malpractice reform, class action lawsuit reform, product liability reform and, this past summer, another part of tort reform. Several months ago, Perry and the Texas Senate in a unanimous vote adopted a “loser pays” system that is a common element of tort reform. In this system, plaintiffs who bring lawsuits that are judged frivolous must pay the legal fees of the other side. This discourages frivolous lawsuits, tort reform supporters argue. In Texas, there is also a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages like pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits. The cap does not apply to economic damages (medical bills, for example), but as we discussed with the Gourley family on Wednesday, the economic damages may not adequately cover a family with special needs children. Additionally, lower punitive awards are not as much of a threat to wrongdoers. In a medical malpractice case,…
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In 2011, HBO distributed a documentary entitled Hot Coffee, a film that looked at tort reform efforts in the United States in the past 10-20 years. The film details several examples of Americans that the issue affects, but one in particular is relevant for couples with special needs children. We have mentioned in the past the difficulties these families face, noting how the time demands and stresses of caring for special needs children lead to spouses in such a situation having a higher-than-average divorce rate. What happened to the Gourley family from Nebraska shows what implications there may be for others. Mike and Lisa Gourley had twin boys 17 years ago. One of their boys, Colin, was born with cerebral palsy due to medical malpractice. The Gourleys sued the doctor who delivered Colin (the doctor had faced multiple complaints and disciplinary actions in the past) and the healthcare providers involved. After battling the defendants in court for seven years, the case finally went to trial, where a jury found in favor of the Gourleys. The jury awarded them $5.6 million for Colin’s medical expenses. Nebraska, however, had instituted a cap on medical malpractice lawsuits. The Gourleys appealed the cap, and…
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A writer for Money Talk News recently discussed the financial difficulties her friend faced when going through a divorce. Her friend thought her divorce would go somewhat smoothly, but she found herself dealing with a lot of unexpected financial problems due to bank accounts, credit cards and insurance policies. Some of the advice from the article could help couples who divorce in 2012. If you have any additional suggestions, please add them to the comments below. One suggestion is to separate bank accounts as soon as one side files for divorce. The woman’s friend did not want to do that because she did not want to appear bitter, but unfortunately her husband was not as thoughtful – he withdrew all of the money from their joint checking and linked savings account, leaving her without access to those funds. She could have opened up accounts in her own name, taken half of the money from the joint accounts and put it in her new accounts. A second suggestion is to protect your credit. Get a copy of your credit reports from each of the three bureaus – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Remember that you have a different credit report and a…
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