Houston Divorce Lawyer Blog

One of the most far-reaching revisions to the Texas Family Code in decades was the increase in the child support guideline cap that went into effect in the Fall of 2007.

The statute is Texas Family Code Section 154.125.

This was the first time since 1995 that the amount of the cap had been raised. The increase will only impact cases were the payor makes over $100,000 per year, but my guess is that literally tens of thousands of divorce and paternity orders per year in Texas fall into this category and will now yield a higher child support amount.

Under the old guidelines a Court was limited to considering the first $6,000/ month of payor “net resources” (a statutorily defined term that is usually close to the payor’s after-tax pay). The amendment raised this cap amount to $7,500/ month.

The end result is that a court setting child support under the guidelines in a case where the payor has an annual gross income of $125,000 and one child will be setting the child support at $1,500/month. Under the old law this would have been $1,200/month.

It should be noted that the amendment did not automatically effect previous orders and applied only to cases filed on or after September 1st.

Anyone receiving child support under an existing order who was subject to the old cap may have the right to a child support increase based on this statutory change by filing a modification case. Given the large number of existing child support orders that were set based on the old cap, there are probably a huge number of cases in the state where there are very good grounds for a modification.

Steven Ballard had an interesting post about Shaq O’Neal’s divorce case revealing a shockingly high level of spending by the NBA star. What was really amazing is how someone can make $20 million a year and still have almost nothing left over to save or invest.

By now you have probably heard about the so-called “Youtube divorce video.”  The homemade video has gotten a huge amount of attention and publicity with over 2 million viewings currently.

Here is the link to the divorce video.

The basic story is that Tricia Walsh-Smith, a former actress and playwright, is upset about the status of her Manhattan divorce proceedings.  She is married to Philip Smith, a very wealthy Broadway producer.  Philip is 25 years older than Tricia and had her sign a premarital agreement.

Trisha is now upset over several of the premarital agreement terms, especially the one that allows him to evict her from their luxury apartment.

Tricia’s response to the situation (probably not surprising given her theatrical background) was to post a tell-all video for the world to see.  In it she describes the unfairness of the situation, makes some embarrassing claims about their sex life, and goes through their wedding album pointing out certain family members and describing them as “bad” or “evil.”

Will this help Tricia in her divorce case?  I doubt it.  The video’ s theme is rather vindictive and is probably going to irritate the very judge who will be deciding the legal issues in her case.  All in all, not very helpful.

Unfortunately, my guess is this will become a trend.  Making a video and posting it online has become so simple and quick that I doubt that this is the last divorce video we will see.

Hi and Welcome to the Houston Divorce Lawyer Blog. This blog is a collection of my thoughts on a variety of divorce and family law related subjects - some serious, some informative, and some that are downright silly. I hope you find it useful and entertaining. I invite you to participate in the blog by commenting on any posts you find worthwhile. I also encourage you to visit my homepage for additional information on Texas divorce and family law issues.

Scott Morgan