Houston Divorce Law Blog

It has often been said that the key to a lasting relationship is communication. However, many otherwise rational adults are hesitant to put things in writing when it comes to love and marriage.

In addition to determining where to have the wedding, how many people to invite and who to include in the wedding party, couples in Houston, Texas, may also want to think about whether a prenuptial agreement should be included in their wedding arrangements.

When a marriage ends in divorce, there are many issues to be determined, including property division and parenting plans. One concern near the top of people's minds is spousal support--will one spouse have to pay alimony to the other? Unfortunately for some divorced people, this is an issue that goes on and on, long after the marriage is over.

In one documented case, a man being cared for full-time by his second wife, and who is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, is still legally required to pay more than $25,000 per year in spousal support to his ex-wife, a college professor. The couple divorced in 1997, but courts have said that the man is on the hook for the payments indefinitely.

If a Colorado state legislator has his way, couples with children in that state will have to go through a waiting period before they would be permitted to divorce. In addition to a so-called cooling off period of six months, the bill would require substantial educational instruction detailing the impact of divorce on children.

The thought is that it might make parents think twice before ending their marriage because of the potentially devastating effect that divorce can have on children. Right now in Colorado, all that is required of divorcing parents is a brief course on divorced parenting that can be completed in a day. Several states, including Texas, have drafted similar legislation in recent years. However, none of the bills were actually enacted into law.

Police in Bryan, Texas, this month might have thought they were in the middle of some pulp fiction when they arrested the author of a crime novel after she allegedly attempted to hire a hit man to kill her estranged husband. The woman was charged with solicitation to commit capital murder and was being held on $75,000 bond.

The woman and her husband were estranged and apparently planning to divorce, but were still living in the same house, according to the Brazos County Sheriff. During the course of the investigation, the sheriff's office notified the husband that his wife might be trying to harm him. The woman told the sheriff's deputy who arrested her that her husband was cheating on her and that their home was in foreclosure. She had earlier posted on Facebook that she had come home and found him cheating; she also said they were divorcing but still living together.