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As an attorney I am often asked to draft a Power of Attorney for a client. There are a number of misunderstandings regarding this document. There are two main people involved in a Power of Attorney. The first is the Principal, the second is the Agent. A power of attorney give the Agent authority to act on behalf of the Principal in conducting various business transactions. A prospective agent cannot ask an attorney to draft a Power of Attorney giving him the right to act on behalf of the Principal; the Principal must request the power of attorney. There are

For as long as I can remember, my father had a wooden sign hanging in his kitchen that said, “Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.” When I was growing up I never gave it much thought; my dad had silly signs all over his house, and this was just one of them. When he passed away in 2010, I kept the pig sign as a memento. It now hangs in my law office, but it now has meaning. As an attorney I’ve come to learn that most attorneys with whom

People often appear in my office and tell me that they are “common-law married.” Further conversation usually shows that they are not, but thought they were because of misunderstandings of the law and acceptance of what others have told them. Texas does recognize informal or “common-law” marriages. In order to show that such a marriage exists, you must meet three requirements. First, you must both have had the intent to be married. Not to get married someday, but to be married right now. In other words, you can’t get married by accident—you have to enter into this relationship, as a

There are many practicing attorneys—good, competent, ethical attorneys—who want nothing to do with family law. They say they don’t want to deal with the drama, the emotions. And I can’t argue with them—family law does involve some very emotional issues. There is a saying that, when it comes to family law, we are dealing with good people when they are behaving their worst. I love the practice of family law. When I made the decision to go to law school, it was for the express purpose of practicing family law. I went to law school as a non-traditional student. Prior