October 2012 Archives

It may seem a silly question for most people in Dallas, but the answer may surprise residents: In many states, rapists can gain child custody, or at least visitation rights, with their children, even if that child was conceived through rape. It may seem paradoxical, especially since child custody issues in Texas are decided with the best interest of the child in mind, but there are very few restrictions against rapists being awarded some custody.

Caring for aging parents eventually becomes a concern for most people. If your parents are still married, you may need to determine whether they have enough retirement funds to maintain their standard of living and cover any extra expenses that come up, especially the almost inevitably increasing costs of their health care. If your parents are divorced, you have even more to be concerned about because you'll need to ensure they're properly cared for separately.

In this still-stagnant economy, many Texas parents are continuing to struggle to make ends meet. This is especially true for single parents, most of whom rely on child support to pay all of their monthly expenses. But as millions of these parents can attest, payments from a child's noncustodial parent aren't always a sure thing, if they come at all. The reasons are varied; some parents are unemployed or underemployed and can't afford to support themselves or their children. Others simply refuse to pay what they owe, despite a risk of financial penalties and jail time.

Child custody cases in which two parents disagree on where to raise their children are quite common in Texas, but when these disputes involve parents who live extreme distances apart, the non-custodial parent is often left feeling desperate and out of control. And even though more fathers are gaining custody these days, more often children end up living with their mothers.

Most people would easily acknowledge that a woman who gives birth to a baby is that infant's mother. But a child custody case in Texas is calling that seemingly simple fact into question. Is a mother still a mother if she's genetically unrelated to the child to whom she gave birth?

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time to keep in mind the untold number of people in Texas and across the nation who suffer from abuse at the hands of a partner or family member. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every four women will experience some form of domestic violence in her lifetime.