Child Custody Lawyer Discussing the Intricacies of this Sensitive Issue for Families | Laine Law Firm, PLLC

In this engaging episode of El Paso Local Area Business Talk, we sit down with Abby from Laine Law Firm, PLLC, a leading family law attorney in El Paso, Texas, to dive deep into one of the most emotionally charged and complex areas of law: child custody, child support, and divorce.

👨‍👩‍👧 Divorce and the Children: Where Custody Begins
Abby emphasizes that when divorcing parents live together, it’s best to continue doing so—at least until temporary court orders are in place. Why? Because staying in the same household helps preserve access to the children and can support a future 50/50 custody claim. If one parent moves out too soon, they risk the court interpreting the other parent as the de facto primary caregiver.

Once the case begins, temporary orders—issued within a few weeks—establish rules about who has access to the children, preventing either parent from moving away or interfering with visitation.

📋 What Judges Consider in Custody Decisions
When it comes to child custody, Texas courts often default to the “extended standard possession order”—a visitation schedule where one parent (usually non-custodial) gets:

Every Thursday overnight

1st, 3rd, and 5th weekends of the month

This typically results in a 60/40 custody split. But judges will weigh several factors to determine whether this schedule is appropriate or needs adjustment:

Who is the primary caregiver?

Stability and safety of each parent’s home

Work schedules and availability

Mental health or substance abuse concerns

Interestingly, a stay-at-home parent often has an advantage over a parent working long hours—despite their financial contribution.

💰 50/50 Custody and Child Support: The Misconception
Many people believe that 50/50 custody eliminates the need for child support, but that’s not always true. Abby clarifies that courts may still require payments based on income disparities, even when custody is evenly split.

This is known as a support offset. For example:

If one parent’s calculated support is $1,000 and the other’s is $500, the higher-earning parent pays the difference: $500.

💼 How Is Child Support Calculated in Texas?
Child support in Texas is largely formulaic:

1 child = 20% of net income

2 children = 25%

3 children = 30%

Adjustments are made if the parent has other children from previous relationships.

There’s a hard cap at 50% of income for total child support obligations.

Abby highlights that courts aim to protect the child’s welfare, ensuring one parent isn’t left struggling while the other lives lavishly. The goal is fairness for both parents and consistency for the child.

📍 Geographic Restrictions & Court Jurisdiction
To prevent one parent from relocating and cutting the other out of the child’s life, courts may impose geographic restrictions—often limiting the child's residence to El Paso County.

If parents separate and one moves to another state, jurisdiction for filing the divorce or custody case depends on:

Where the child lived the last 6 months

Where the parties resided in the 6 months prior to filing

This ensures continuity and fairness when determining legal matters involving minors.

Areas Served by Laine Law Firm

Laine Law Firm proudly serves:

• El Paso County
• Horizon City
• Socorro
• Vinton
• And other surrounding areas within El Paso County

They do not typically serve Hudspeth County unless jurisdiction overlaps.

📞 Contact Laine Law Firm, PLLC

📍 Address: 700 N. Stanton, El Paso, TX
🌐 Website: www.lainelawfirm.com
📞 Phone: [phone]

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
All right, we're here at the Lane Law Firm here
in El Paso, Texas, right offI-10, the heart of, I would
call, the west side centraldowntown area.
Yep.
Great location.
Really is, feels like the heartof El Paso, if I were to call it
a place, the heart, you know?
East side, far east.
This really is the heart.
But yeah, so we were talkingabout earlier about just kind of

(00:21):
generally what kind ofpractice...
the kind of law that youpractice and family law, which
encompasses a lot of things.
We talked about divorce.
So we're going to go ahead andif you don't mind, let's just
talk about child custody issuesand just kind of go into that.
Cause I imagine when people geta divorce, a lot of them have
children, right?

SPEAKER_00 (00:39):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
Yeah.
So if I'm looking for a divorceattorney, particularly because
of my kids, I'm not extremelyworried about the assets, so to
speak.
Can you kind of tell me what youcan do for me if I'm coming to
you with like, hey, this is thedivorce.
I really love my kids.
I really want to keep them asmuch as possible.

(01:03):
Like, what can you do for me ina situation like

SPEAKER_00 (01:06):
that?
Okay, that's a good question.
So what I would start off byasking you is, are you still
living together?
If you're still living together,then I would advise you to
continue doing that.
because that's going to give youthe most access to the children.
And then that would set you upto ask for 50-50 or as much time
as you want to ask for.
And then if you're not livingtogether anymore, then I would
just advise you to see thechildren as often as you can, as

(01:29):
long as the other party'sagreeing, and to document that.
Because a lot of times you go tocourt and then the other parent
starts saying that you never seethe children, you're not
involved, you don't ask aboutthe children, things like that.
So that's what I would advise.

SPEAKER_01 (01:41):
Well, that's great advice.
I hadn't thought about that.
So it's...
I have a neighbor that's goingthrough a divorce and he's not
there anymore.
He's kind of my neighbor, likemy buddy, whatever.
But I hardly ever see himbecause basically he moved out.
That can hurt him in terms of achild custody case if he's not
seeing his kids on a regularbasis.

SPEAKER_00 (02:00):
Yeah.
It's

SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
like she's establishing custody.

SPEAKER_00 (02:02):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (02:03):
During the separation.

SPEAKER_00 (02:03):
Exactly.
Oh,

SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
wow.
That's pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_00 (02:06):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
Okay.
So...
If they're living together, tryto stay in the house, even if
it's separate bedrooms orwhatever, right?

SPEAKER_00 (02:13):
Yeah, just until...
Because what we would do in thatsituation is get temporary
orders within a few weeks.
So then you would just have thatarrangement until a few weeks
in.
So you get to your temporaryhearing, and then at the
temporary hearing, you try toestablish the visitation you
want so that you have it inplace before you move out.

SPEAKER_01 (02:30):
Gotcha.
Okay.
Well, that's interesting.
Okay, so you have these childcustody issues, and the judge is
going to have to decide whogets...
How often does the kids go here?
How often do the kids go there?
What are some of the decidingfactors when a judge is trying
to do that?
Is it 50-50 as a baseline, orhow does that usually start out?

SPEAKER_00 (02:51):
It's an extended standard possession order
starting out, and then dependingon the situation of the parents
and their availability, theirwork schedule, their ability to
provide a safe and stable homefor the child, then you could
argue for more time.

SPEAKER_01 (03:05):
So what is an extended possession order, if
you can give me a quickdefinition of that?

SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
Yeah, that's when the non-pastoral parent would
have every Thursday overnightand then every first, third, and
fifth Friday through Monday.

SPEAKER_01 (03:17):
Got you.
Okay.
Now, when the judge is going togrant that 60, it's like a 60-40
split, right?

SPEAKER_00 (03:25):
Pretty much,

SPEAKER_01 (03:26):
yeah.

UNKNOWN (03:27):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (03:28):
What are some of the factors that go into the
decision to say, hey, you getthe kids 60% of time.
This person only gets 40%.

SPEAKER_00 (03:37):
So some of the factors would be like how we
talked about before, where maybeone parent is traditionally the
parent that is the primarycaretaker.
That would be one factor.
Stability of the home would beanother factor.
If any of the parties have anysignificant maybe drug issues or
substance abuse issues or mentalhealth issues, that could be
another factor.
Also, their work schedule is abig factor.

(03:59):
So if somebody works nightshifts and the other parent is a
stay-at-home parent, that'sgoing to be a factor in their
favor.

SPEAKER_01 (04:06):
The stay-at-home parent would get the advantage.

SPEAKER_00 (04:07):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
So it's a disadvantage to be working hard.
You get less of your kids.

SPEAKER_00 (04:11):
Yeah, sometimes.
Oh,

SPEAKER_01 (04:12):
wow, that's interesting.
And that's called an extendedpossession order, right?
Yes.
Okay, so when it goes into a60-40 split like that, I imagine
that the bills are, are theysplit 60-40?
This is where you start gettinginto these child support issues
because it's 50-50.

(04:32):
Is there child support issues atthat point when it's 50-50?

SPEAKER_00 (04:37):
So when it's 50-50, you can deviate from the Texas
child support guidelines, right?
And so normally people thinkwhen you get 50-50, the other
parent doesn't have to payanything.
So a lot of times that can be amotivation.
or wrong motivation for somepeople.
They just want to get 50-50

SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
so that they

SPEAKER_00 (04:55):
don't have to pay child support.
But I think that's a mis-homer.
I think it's a misunderstandingbecause even if you get 50-50,
the courts, depending on whatjudge you get, you're also going
to have to pay child support foroffset.
So you're still going to have topay child support, just not as
much.

SPEAKER_01 (05:09):
What does that mean per offset?

SPEAKER_00 (05:11):
So like if the mom, if we calculate her child
support to the dad, And herchild support would be$500.
But then if we calculate dad'schild support to mom and it's
$1,000, then he would just pay$500.
It's just an offset of what sheshould be paying him, the person
that would pay more.

SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
Okay.
That makes sense.
Sort of.
So if she only makes$500 for thechild and he makes$1,000, then
he's going to have to, of his$1,000 extra or whatever that he
makes, he's going to have to put$500 as well towards that.
Is there like a special bankaccount it goes into or
something like

SPEAKER_00 (05:48):
that?
No, it would go directly to theother party.

SPEAKER_01 (05:52):
Wow, that's interesting.
So it really has a lot to dowith just how much you make.

SPEAKER_00 (05:57):
Yeah, it's just in numbers.

SPEAKER_01 (05:59):
Based on

SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
your income.
Yeah, and I think the reasoningbehind it is...
The child didn't request thedivorce, right?
So the child's lifestyleshouldn't change, I think, is
the thought in the court's mind.
So because one parent makes alot and the other parent
doesn't, they don't want thechild to be able to go on these
lavish vacations with oneparent.
And then when they're with theother parent, they can't even,

(06:20):
you know, by the basicnecessities.
I

SPEAKER_01 (06:23):
got you.
So it's kind of a legislatingfairness for the child.
And also protecting the child.
parent that's financiallydisadvantaged.
Right.
That's kind of fair, I guess.
It's complicated.

SPEAKER_00 (06:37):
Yeah, it's complicated.

SPEAKER_01 (06:39):
And so the 60-40 split is based on the school
that the kid's in, what's best.
So a housewife would be awardedmore custody than an 80-hour
work debt.

SPEAKER_00 (06:51):
Probably, yeah.
Just depending on if thatworking parent had the ability
to still care for the child andmaybe provide alternate care for
the child even you know becauseeverybody has to work

SPEAKER_01 (07:04):
yeah that's true um now when you're going into this
child support battle what'swhat's the typical timeline
because like let's say in thebeginning one spouse has full
custody how quickly because yousaid something about temporary
orders

SPEAKER_00 (07:21):
yeah Yeah, so the temporary orders we can get
within a few weeks, and that'lljust kind of set into place the
rules and guidelines for theparties while the case is going
on, so that one party doesn'thide the child from the other
party or do anything crazy ormove to another state.
And then when we get to final,then the judge decides what to

(07:43):
do in the final order.

SPEAKER_01 (07:44):
Okay, and so that's a great thing I didn't think
about.
when they're trying to divvy upthe child support, is there
rules in place, like say the dadcan't move out of the city or
something like that, or he'lllose child support, certain
privileges possibly?

SPEAKER_00 (07:58):
Does that happen?
Well, no.
So the purpose behind thegeographic restriction is so
that, like let's say you're usedto being in your child's life
and you live together with yourwife and then you separate.
And in order for you to be ableto still be involved in your
child's life, we need to makesure that mom doesn't move to
New York.
And so the judges, they will putin place a geographic

(08:19):
restriction so that both parentscan still be involved in the
child's life.

SPEAKER_01 (08:24):
Gotcha.
Okay.
And then obviously, so basicallychild support comes down to the
welfare of the child,

SPEAKER_00 (08:31):
right?
Well, yeah.
If it's a 60-40 situation, it'spretty buck and wide in Texas.
It's 20% of your income if it'sone child, 25% if it's two
children, 30% if it's threechildren.
And then there's little stepdowns if you have more children
outside of the marriage.

SPEAKER_01 (08:47):
Like multiple wives?

SPEAKER_00 (08:49):
Yeah, like if you have three kids with one wife
and then you have two kids fromanother prior relationship, your
child support's not going to be35%.
It'll go down a little bit togive you credit for those other
children that you're supporting.

SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
So let's just say it even goes down to 20%.
You're going to have to give 20%to those kids and then another
20%.
Is there like a max limit?
Like, I mean, because imagine ifyou're working and you're giving
like 80% of your income, youmight be incentivized not to
even work at that point, right?

SPEAKER_00 (09:20):
Yeah.
Is there a limit?
The limit's 50%.
Wow.
That's

SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
interesting.
And, you know, that is prettyinteresting.
So let's say you have a simpledivorce.
In a simple divorce, does italready just kind of outline
what you're going to do with thekids?
It's just, Get it.
You know what I mean?

(09:43):
Or do you have to still gothrough a child support type of
hearings?

SPEAKER_00 (09:47):
So like in a simple divorce.
Or uncontested.
Yeah.
When you're saying that, I thinkit's uncontested.
So then the parties would cometo us with an agreement for
everything.
Child support, custody,visitation, medical support.
And then you could always dowhatever.
So let's say you have anagreement and your child support
should be$1,000 a month.
But you and the mother agree for$200 a month.

(10:07):
It's like an extreme example.
But you could do that as long asyou have an agreement.

SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
Okay, that's pretty interesting.
Well, thank you so much.
It was very informative learningabout the child support and all
the little intricacies here.
Obviously, the areas you serveare El Paso County, Horizon
City, Socorro, Texas, Vinton,basically all the surrounding
cities that are part of the ElPaso County.

SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
Anything inside of El Paso County, that's what we
handle.

SPEAKER_01 (10:32):
So, Hudspeth County would not be included, right?
They have a separate facility?

SPEAKER_00 (10:37):
I don't think.
Is Hudspeth in El Paso County?

SPEAKER_01 (10:40):
Well, they have some JP courts here.
A JP court that I know of.

SPEAKER_00 (10:44):
Or

SPEAKER_01 (10:44):
something separate.

SPEAKER_00 (10:45):
I'm not sure.
If it's in El Paso County, thenyeah, it would have to be filed
here in El Paso.

SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
Okay, I do have one more question about the divorce.
What if they break up and one ofthe spouses leaves for a job to
another state?
They don't break up, but heleaves or she leaves.
And then they get a divorce.
Where is the divorce going to befiled if there's kids involved?

SPEAKER_00 (11:10):
That's a good question.
So the county of jurisdiction iswhere the parties have lived for
the prior six months prior tothe filing of the divorce.
And then if it's a custody casewithout a divorce, it's where
the child has lived for theprevious six months.

SPEAKER_01 (11:26):
Yeah, so there's a lot of things that are pretty
clear cut.
So there's not a lot of room fortoo much subjectivity.
It's very objective.
you know, what you're trying todo is just advocate for your
client.

SPEAKER_00 (11:37):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (11:38):
Um, you just give them the best opportunity, best
chances within the framework ofthe world.

SPEAKER_00 (11:43):
Yeah.
I think our job is really liketo understand the client and
then tell their story in a waythat can help them most within
the confines of what you'reconfined to legally.
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (11:55):
Okay.
Well, thank you again so much.
We're here at the Lane Law Firmlocated at 700 North Stanton.
And, um, It's a beautiful officehere on the second floor.
You can see the I-10 freeway,the interstate, from this view
outside the window.
And you really are locateddowntown, west side.
It really is just a nicelocation.

(12:17):
You're so conveniently located.
I live on the far east side, andI got here really quick.
So very convenient.

SPEAKER_00 (12:23):
Right off the freeway.

SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
Yeah.
Again, thank you so

SPEAKER_00 (12:26):
much.
Thank you.