San Antonio Legal Blog

As a custodial parent in San Antonio, you likely rely heavily on the child support payments you receive from your ex-spouse or partner in order to ensure that your children are properly cared for. Missed payments can therefore throw your financial state into disarray, forcing you and your kids to endure undue hardships. Fortunately, the state provides a number of different methods through which you can ensure child support payment enforcement. One that many who come to us here at The Law Office of Roland R. Esparza often inquire about at this time of the year is garnishing a federal tax return. 

The federal government typically limits who can take funds from someone's tax return. Yet child support arrears are one of the few cases which permit tax return garnishments. In this case, if your ex-spouse has any overdue payments, the local child support agency will be granted access to their federal return prior to it being dispersed to them in order to settle any missed payments. Thus, the matter of them settling their back payments with this additional income is taken out of their hands entirely. 

Contrary to common belief, money is not the root of all contention in some San Antonio divorce cases. Child custody, visitation and support are major sources of conflict that can make the proceedings challenging to navigate if one or both parents are not entirely vested in their children’s best interests. 

To prevent the children from becoming leverage and suffering from the negative impact of divorce, both parents should work to put aside their differences and strive to be the best parents they can be. Though their marriage is over, co-parenting is an ongoing undertaking that requires a great deal of communication and collaboration. Here are things parents can do to ease the transition of divorce while keeping things amicable. 

Drivers can become emotionally distressed for countless reasons, whether they just found out that they lost their job, or they are worried about an upcoming move to a new home. However, romantic issues can be especially devastating, and many people are emotionally distraught when they find out that their girlfriend or boyfriend decided to end the relationship, or that their spouse wants to file for a divorce. When these hardships arise, drivers may be more likely to cause a collision.

Drivers who are struggling with these intense emotions may be more likely to lose their mental focus and become distracted on the road. Furthermore, they may be tired due to missing a lot of sleep, and they may even turn to alcohol or some type of illegal drug in an attempt to cope with the challenges they are going through. All of these factors can play a role in motor vehicle collisions and many accidents have occurred over the years due to these behaviors.

Although it is not illegal for you to use a hand-held cellphone while driving in Texas, many states have banned this practice because of its deadly consequences. As a result, many people have started using hands-free cellphones while behind the wheel to limit their risk of becoming involved in a deadly car accident. Yet, studies show that using a hands-free cellphone to talk to friends or family while operating a vehicle may not be the safest option.

The problem lies in the fact that using a hands-free cellphone still creates a significant amount of cognitive distraction. This occurs when your brain is trying to engage in two complex tasks at the same time and is unable to fully concentrate on either one of them. Instead, your focus bounces back and forth from one task to the other, leaving gaps in time where you are really concentrating on the road at all. It is during these moments where your risk of becoming involved in an accident increases significantly.