Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined review of the Box v. Henderson case filed by the State of Indiana in June of 2020, which presented the Court with the issue of whether a state may adopt a biology-based birth certificate system that includes a rebuttable presumption that a birth mother’s husband-but not wife-is the child’s
Bostock, A Lesson in Diplomacy, and Always Take the Picture
I had the opportunity to attend the 2019 John Hemphill Dinner with members of our firm and other guests, where Justice Neil Gorsuch was the featured speaker. After the event concluded, the attendees had a brief opportunity to meet and take a picture with Justice Gorsuch. I posed for a picture alongside my mentor and
Top 5 tips for LGBTQ+ custody litigation
As I reflect on my first year of practicing family law (including divorce and child custody in Dallas, Texas), I realize that there were many moments where I felt the weight of the responsibility of my new title very heavily on my shoulders. Because I was a paralegal for so many years before law school,
Parameters of an LGBT custody case
LGBT relationships are still a relatively new construct in a legal system that has traditionally been focused almost exclusively on two-parent, opposite gendered relationships. Some courts lag behind in addressing custody issues with same-sex partners, mostly due to inexperience and inconsistency in the laws.
Because same-sex parents cannot biologically birth children together, the legal definition
After the Breakup: Same Sex Couples with Children
For most couples with children, a breakup in their relationship does not equate to losing their children. However, when it comes to same sex couples, particularly those who never married, there are legal barriers that prevent them from asserting their rights as parents to their children.
In a recent case out of the Fourth Court
Can a gay man get custody of his child?
Can a gay man get custody when exiting a heterosexual relationship? I read with interest this article Gay Parent’s Claim for Custody. The article poses the challenges facing a gay man in getting custody of a child when exiting a heterosexual relationship. Some courts do not view gay men as equal to mothers and
LGBT parents face unique legal issues
There are two common situations in which LGBT parents face custody cases. The first involves a time when a person enters into a different-sex marriage and has children, but later divorces and discovers that he or she is gay, lexbian, bisexual, or transgender. This situation comes about frequently and many LGBT parents