Thursday, September 14, 2017

Some of the new Texas laws for 2017

The Texas Legislature met this year and, as usual, many new laws are going into effect.

Here are just a few that involve family law or stalking.

1. There is a new revenge porn law now in effect.

2. The Penal Code for harassment now includes phone calls and electronic communications.

Look at Penal Code Section 42.07(a) and 47.072

3. Code of Criminal Procedure now includes stalking provisions that include that no prior relationship is needed and it can last a lifetime for the parties

4. Penal Code 37.09 has been revised to include evidence tampering that includes social media and creating fake evidence or destroying digitized evidence

5. The issues brought up in the Stephanie Lee case are being addressed in the Texas Family Code 153.0071 - family violence as well as impaired party's ability to reason and not in the child's best interest

If in doubt, talk to a Texas attorney that specializes in the area of the law that you have concerns or questions about regarding the new laws.

If you want a law changed, NOW is the time to begin working on it.
You need to contact your local Texas legislature representatives and begin working on the wording that you want for your change to a law or implementation of a new law.

The Texas Legislature meets again in 2019 and if you wait until 2019 it's probably too late.

To pass a law in Texas, you need to talk to your Texas representative, explain why the law is needed, get signatures supporting the law that you want added and/or changed, have people email their TX representatives voicing their desire to a change in Texas law and you need to be in Austin when the legislature meets in 2019 to talk to the reps. in person. It's a lot of work.


How can I make a woman in Texas have an abortion?

The short quick answer is that you cannot force a woman to have an abortion in Texas.

In fact, courts have held that a minor female cannot be forced to have an abortion by her parents.

So if you "hook up" with a woman and she gets pregnant be prepared to pay child support until the child graduates from high school and/or turns 18 whichever is LATER.

It will be approximately 20% of all your net resources (not just your income but any other money you make through a second job, investments, rental income, etc.)

Plus, you have to carry the child on health insurance.

And if the child is permanently disabled past the age of 18 then child support continues for the entire child's life.

In summary, if you choose to have sex with a woman then be prepared to pay for it for years to come.

You don't have to be involved in the child's life but you have to pay if you are found to be the bio. dad.

If a woman or TX A G comes after you for child support and you ignore the notice you lose your opportunity to ask for DNA testing.

As a recent Texas court has shown on the internet and on t.v., ignoring a court summons can be costly. In this case, a man (not bio dad) was ordered to pay child support by a court. He ignored the court summons and now he owes thousands for a child that IS NOT HIS! Texas law does not adequately address this issue so until the TX Legislature makes a law on this matter, this guy is probably stuck owing thousands of dollars.