Texas Divorce and Prenuptial Agreement BLOG

An important political issue for many doctors and businesses is tort reform. The incident that often sparks the debate is the “hot coffee” case from 1994 when a woman sued McDonald’s after she suffered third degree burns upon spilling hot coffee in her lap at a drive-through. The jury in the case awarded the woman $160,000 for her medical bills and losses and then an additional $2.7 in punitive damages. These high jury awards have prompted some to call for caps on awards, and caps make up a part of tort reform. Torts are lawsuits that involve a civil wrong; for example, negligence is a common tort. Common tort lawsuits involve negligent drivers who cause accidents or property owners whose dangerous property leads to an injury for a guest. When a spouse receives a settlement or court award pursuant to a personal injury claim, tort reform could have an impact on the couple’s divorce settlement. The proceeds from a tort lawsuit can amount to a lot of money, and a judge will take that amount into consideration should the couple later divorce. In community property states like Texas, at divorce time, a couple’s property is divided into either community property…
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An Italian couple is set to become the world’s oldest divorcees after the revelation of an extramarital affair. The 99-year-old man and 96-year-old woman have been married since 1934, or 77 years. The couple has five children, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. They have been through a lot together, but the discovery of an affair will be putting an end to the marriage in 2012. What is making the headlines – in addition to their ages – is that the affair dates to a few years after World War II. The husband came across letters that revealed a 60-year-old affair that his wife had had. She admitted to the affair and tried to convince her husband that they should stay together, but he went ahead and filed (Italian newspapers blamed the man’s Sardinian blood for his temperament). Older couples that divorce often face more severe consequences than younger ones do. For example, spouses near retirement or already retired may end up not having enough money to support themselves if they are on their own for the first time in decades. If one spouse never worked, spousal support could end up lasting a long time, though, in Texas, alimony is generally…
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A December study from the Defense Department confirms a post we wrote earlier about how the demands of military life could possibly lead to an increased likelihood of divorce for America’s service men and women. The study found that, over the past 10 years, the divorce rate in the military increased every year but two – 2005 and 2008. The increased divorce rates appeared to hit one branch the hardest – the Air Force. Just over a quarter of divorces in the military last year came from men and women in the Air Force, and the vast majority of those Air Force divorces came from enlisted men and women. The study also echoed earlier findings that military divorce affects women more than men, as women had higher divorce rates in nearly every military occupational specialty. Experts point to several of the typical reasons for the increased divorce rates – the stresses of the work, multiple deployments and time away from home, the military lifestyle and readjustment upon returning home. One researcher adds that traditional societal expectations may also play a role. Women have traditionally been the ones to maintain homes and raise children. Even in a situation where both spouses…
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Does Facebook lead to divorce? We have discussed several recent studies looking for a link between social media sites like Facebook and divorce. The studies have not found any conclusive link, but here is one that supports an association between the two – a survey out of the United Kingdom found that 33 percent of divorces in 2011 listed Facebook as the reason for the divorce. These were the three top reasons for Facebook’s role in divorces in the UK: Inappropriate messages sent to Facebook friends of the opposite sex Facebook friends’ reporting to a spouse that his or her partner was acting inappropriately on Facebook Mean online comments from a spouse about his or her partner in the time between separation and formal divorce Facebook is of course not the only social media site playing a role in breaking up relationships – a handful of survey respondents also listed Twitter as causing a divorce. The issue that these surveys always raise is this: are social media sites themselves causing divorce, or are spouses doing things they would have done even if such sites did not exist at all? There will probably never be a clear answer to that question,…
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