Trusted Family Lawyer in El Paso, TX | Laine Law Firm, PLLC

👨‍⚖️ El Paso Family Lawyer: Divorce, Child Custody & Support Help from Laine Law Firm, PLLC

If you’re going through a tough time at home—like a divorce, a fight over child custody, or problems with child support—you don’t have to go through it alone. At the Laine Law Firm, PLLC, we help families just like yours deal with serious legal issues, and we do it with care, experience, and results.

Whether you’re ending a marriage or need to change a custody order, our experienced family lawyer is here to guide you through every step.

🏛️ Why Hire a Family Lawyer in El Paso, Texas?

Legal matters involving your family are emotional and personal. That’s why having the right family lawyer in El Paso can make all the difference. At Laine Law Firm, PLLC, we focus on keeping you informed and protected throughout your case.

We help with:

• Divorce (both contested and uncontested)
• Child custody agreements and disputes
• Child support setup or changes
• Custody modifications for changing life situations

We serve all of El Paso and the surrounding area.

💔 Need a Divorce Lawyer? We’re Here for You

Divorce is hard—even if both people agree it’s time to move on. You may have to deal with money, property, and most importantly, the care of your children. Our experienced divorce attorney will help you protect your rights and get a fair outcome.

We can help with:

• Dividing property and debt
• Spousal support (alimony)
• Temporary or emergency orders
• Keeping things peaceful, or fighting for your best interests when needed

👶 Child Custody and Visitation Help

When children are involved, things get even more serious. Child custody cases can be emotional and confusing. We’ll help you understand your rights and fight for a parenting plan that puts your child’s needs first.

We represent both mothers and fathers in custody cases. Whether you’re just getting started or need to change an old agreement, our team is here to help.

💵 Child Support Help Assistance

Child support helps make sure your child has everything they need—from clothes and school supplies to food and medical care. If you’re owed support or can’t afford what you’re paying, we can help.

We work with clients to:

• Set up new child support orders
• Enforce unpaid support
• Request a child support modification when your job or income changes

🔁 Child Custody Modifications: When Life Changes

Sometimes, things change after your original court orders are made. Maybe one parent moves away, or a new job affects the visitation schedule. You can’t just ignore your current court order—you need a child custody modification.

We help you file to:

• Change parenting time
• Update custody arrangements
• Keep your child safe and cared for under new life circumstances

Don’t wait until things get worse. If your custody agreement no longer works, talk to us today.

📍 Why Choose Laine Law Firm, PLLC in El Paso?

At Laine Law Firm, we focus on family law—because we know how important these cases are. We’re local, experienced, and deeply familiar with El Paso’s family court system.

Here’s what makes us different:

• Personalized attention to your case
• Affordable legal help with payment plans
• Quick response to your questions
• We handle the stress so you can focus on your family

If you need a family lawyer in El Paso, call today

Laine Law Firm, PLLC
Address: 700 N Stanton St #200, El Paso, TX 79902
Website: https://lainelawfirm.com/
Phone: [phone]

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
All right.
It's another episode of El PasoLocal Area Business Talk.
We're here with Abby Lane ofLane Law Firm in El Paso, Texas.
How are you?

SPEAKER_00 (00:07):
Good.
How are you?

SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
Good.
Good.
So, you know, basically what Ialways like to do is when we
talk about these podcasts is wejust want to talk about what you
do and we're just going to havea conversation.
So what kind of law do youpractice?

SPEAKER_00 (00:20):
Mostly just family law.

SPEAKER_01 (00:21):
So you're a family lawyer here in El Paso.
That's pretty cool.
So as a family lawyer, what kindof...
fields does that include?
So I'm guessing like childsupport, divorce.
Go into that.

SPEAKER_00 (00:39):
It encompasses anything relating to his family.
So that would be divorces,anything with kids, custodies,
modifications, enforcements,setting child support, setting
paternity, anything related tothat.
Even what is it called?
When you want to divide yourassets before you get married.

(01:00):
So like prenuptial

SPEAKER_01 (01:00):
agreements?
Yes, thank you so much.
Prenuptial agreements.
Do you guys do postnuptialagreements?
Is that a thing in Texas?
You can do that.
Okay.
Well, let's start off with likedivorce because I know a lot of
people get divorces.
So as a divorce attorney, kindof just explain what the process

(01:21):
is.
Let's just pretend I'm cominginto you and I'm getting ready
to get a divorce and I need tohire you.
What does that typically looklike to you?
And I'm sure there's all sortsof things, but let's go ahead
one by one, just kind ofdescribe that to you.
So I'm coming to you, hey, I'mgetting a divorce, been married
for whatever amount of years.

SPEAKER_00 (01:38):
Yeah, so then you set up a consultation, we
schedule an hour, that way wecan really talk about all the
issues and figure out what youwould need in your particular
case, because it depends if youhave children or...
no children and it's just aproperty issue, then we have to
really look at the property andtry to figure out how to protect
your assets as much as you can,but also be fair and reasonable
in the process.

SPEAKER_01 (02:00):
Awesome.
Do you ever get people that justare in total agreement of what
they want to do?
What do they call thosedivorces?

SPEAKER_00 (02:06):
Yeah,

SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
uncontested.
We

SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
have a lot of those.
People come to us with anagreement and then we draft
their order for them and makesure that it has all the legal
things that it needs to have toprotect you in the future.

SPEAKER_01 (02:19):
Awesome.
Typically, how long does it takefrom beginning to end?
I'm sure it varies, but when youhave a client coming in for a
divorce settlement or a whenthey get their final divorce
decree, how long does thattypically take?
So I'm going to come see you.

(02:40):
I need a divorce.
And the other lady, the wife hasa lawyer too.
They're kind of battling it out.

SPEAKER_00 (02:48):
Okay.
So that's a good question.
That's a question a lot ofpeople ask and they want to
know.
So when you file a divorce,there's a mandatory 60-day
waiting period.
It's called a cooling off periodin Texas in case people get back
together and they want to remainmarried.
That does happen a lot too.
and so the quickest you can getit done is 60 days and that's
like if the conditions are idealyou guys have an agreement on

(03:10):
everything then 60 days would bethe soonest but then
realistically if you're fightingabout children or property it's
going to take you a few monthsexpect expect anywhere from like
six months to a year

SPEAKER_01 (03:22):
okay

SPEAKER_00 (03:24):
it's depending on how complex if they have an
attorney and Then we have tohave several hearings, and yeah,
it took up to a year.

SPEAKER_01 (03:31):
What's the longest divorce you've ever had to deal
with?

SPEAKER_00 (03:35):
Well, right now I have one that was filed in 2022,
and they're still going throughit pretty hard.

SPEAKER_01 (03:42):
That's three years?

SPEAKER_00 (03:43):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
Going on four years?
Is there an end in sight?

SPEAKER_00 (03:46):
There's an end in sight, but I'm hopeful, but I'm
not sure if it's going to end.
I don't know.
I feel like some people, they'renot really ready to move on and
they're not really ready to getdivorced.
And so that can complicate theprocess a lot.

SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
Okay.
Well, without naming names, canyou go into some detail of what
that entails, why it's taking solong?
Are they dividing theirproperty, their community
property, things like that?
Is it a child's custody type ofbattle, things like that?

SPEAKER_00 (04:15):
Yeah.
I think most of the time when itdrags out like that, it's
because of assets.
like a large estate that needsto be divided fairly.
Sometimes it's not even a largeestate.
Sometimes, like I said, it'sjust like parties are so kind of
bitter towards each other thatit prevents them from really
being reasonable, either one orthe other or both.

(04:37):
So then it just prolongs thewhole process.

SPEAKER_01 (04:40):
Okay, so when you're dealing with the opposition
counsel, so their divorceattorney, how do you communicate
with them?
You just kind of just...
what does that look like likewhen you're communicating back
and forth with their attorney

SPEAKER_00 (04:55):
mostly emails and then you know sometimes we have
informal settlement conferencesover zoom or mediation over zoom
phone calls just depends on theattorney some attorneys are
really um hard to get a hold ofso the email is the best way to
get a hold of them butpreferably you talk to them and
you can work something out

SPEAKER_01 (05:14):
wow that's a long time so That's good when people
can just do it uncontested.
Is that what a simple divorceis?
I see that all the time.
At traffic stops, you just seethese little homemade signs that
say simple divorce.
That's basically the same thing,right?

SPEAKER_00 (05:29):
Yeah, that's what I think that's intended for.
But I feel like those are reallydangerous because there's really
never, hardly ever a simpledivorce.
You might think it's going to besimple and agreed, but then it
becomes complicated.
And then it's really hard to goback and fix that.
You know,

SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
once it's already.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (05:46):
Yeah.
And then the other thing issometimes you think it's going
to be simple and then you getthis divorce decree done by some
person that's going to do it forthirty five dollars.
And then 10 years later, yourealize they never split up the
house properly.
So then your wife's now comingto get your house and she can

(06:06):
because it wasn't done right.
It

SPEAKER_01 (06:07):
wasn't stated in the.

SPEAKER_00 (06:09):
It wasn't stated in the.

SPEAKER_01 (06:11):
So let's just kind of go so.
They're going to go, you'regoing to battle it out.
Child custody, asset division,things like that.
Now, once everything's agreedupon, what's the next step?
What do you tell your client?
Hey, look, everything seems likeit's in order.
We're going to go ahead and moveforward with the agreement.
What happens next?

SPEAKER_00 (06:31):
Then we just draft the decree.
It's going to be about 40 pages,very detailed.
And I just go through it withthe client.
And then we present that to thejudge.
Simple.

SPEAKER_01 (06:42):
that's it they approve it they sign it and then
typically how long does it takefor that to happen once it's

SPEAKER_00 (06:49):
uh well if once the

SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
agreement's made usually what's like the
turnaround time

SPEAKER_00 (06:53):
yeah probably i would say at least two weeks to
get everything drafted the rightway and because we required an
inventory and appraisement sothat we make sure we're covering
everything in the decree thatneeds to be in there and no
properties left out kind ofcovers everybody's

SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
All right.
Well, we're going to, let's justtalk a little bit more about the
divorce.
Then we'll go into like some ofthe other areas that you do,
like child custody, the thingsthat we're talking about, but
prenuptial agreements.
So that's basically, can youjust kind of explain to the
audience what that entails andwhat it does cover, what it
doesn't cover?
Like maybe there's some kind ofclause, like a no cheat clause

(07:30):
or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 (07:32):
Is

SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
there something like that?

SPEAKER_00 (07:33):
So the prenuptial is kind of like the divorce process
where you have to do aninventory and appraisements.
Everybody has to know whatproperty they have and then
you're dividing it before youget married.
So then once you're married,whatever property is yours and
the prenup is yours, you keep itno matter what.
And then same for the otherside.
So it's kind of the same lengthyprocess of like giving a

(07:54):
property just ahead of time.

SPEAKER_01 (07:56):
So it's like a reverse divorce kind of thing.
Okay, well, so let's say youagree to that, and then you get
married.
Are they entitled to like halfof your income as you're making
money, or can you put that inthe prenuptial agreement as
well?

SPEAKER_00 (08:10):
Yeah, you can include that, whatever
provisions you want forcommunity property that
accumulates during the marriage.
You can put that in the prenup.

SPEAKER_01 (08:19):
Okay, cool.
And then postnuptial agreements,what does that look like?
Is that even possible?
Is there such a thing here

SPEAKER_00 (08:27):
in Texas?
I've never done one of those, soI can't really speak about it
too much, but I would assumeit's kind of like a prenup.

SPEAKER_01 (08:33):
Just after the fact?

SPEAKER_00 (08:34):
Yeah.
It's like preemptive to gettingdivorced, I guess.
It's like I don't know what elseyou'd want.

SPEAKER_01 (08:39):
Yeah, so like in a prenup, can you decide the
child's custody rules as wellbeforehand?

SPEAKER_00 (08:47):
I don't know that.

SPEAKER_01 (08:48):
Okay, no problem.
So when they are going throughthe divorce process and they go
through like a child's custodyprocess, battle, I imagine, if
there's kids of all 50 50,because, you know, what are some
of the, I guess, parameters thata judge looks at, when they're
trying to determine who getsmajority custody or how you

(09:08):
split it 50-50.
Can you kind of go into that alittle

SPEAKER_00 (09:11):
bit?
Yeah, that's a good question.
I think the courts really wantto make sure that the child's
life is not disrupted as much aspossible.
So if like one parent was theprimary caretaker, that parent's
probably going to remain theprimary caretaker.
And then it just depends also onthe schedule.
So if one parent is availableand then the other parent has
like an overnight shiftschedule, it's going to be hard

(09:32):
for that parent to get custody.
To kind of really just look atthe situation on a case by case
basis and kind of determine, youknow, what would be in the best
interest of the child.

SPEAKER_01 (09:43):
Got you.
Does a judge really try to do itas impartially as possible?
Because I hear a lot of storiesabout how fathers don't have
rights.
I see posts online.
Fathers have rights too andthings like that.
Is there some truth to that?

SPEAKER_00 (09:57):
So I think that's a big misconception because I
think like maybe a lot of yearsago that was true where the
mother was favored.
all the time, no matter what,over the father.
But I think now, especially inEl Paso, I can't speak for
anywhere else, but the judgesare trending more towards the
fathers actually, or just beingequal.
And some of the courts actuallyjust, their baseline is 50-50

(10:19):
for both parents.

SPEAKER_01 (10:21):
Gotcha.
And so being here in El Paso,Texas, obviously your office is
located What is it?
Would you call this the westside, downtown?
What area would you call this?

SPEAKER_00 (10:30):
I don't know.
I guess it's central west,probably west side because we're
close to Utah, close todowntown.

SPEAKER_01 (10:36):
Yeah, it's a great location here in El Paso.
Is the divorce rate...
Do you know what the divorcerate is here?
It's higher than normal in othercities, right?

SPEAKER_00 (10:46):
That's a good question.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (10:48):
I think it is.
I think I read something likethat.
The divorce rate in El PasoCounty is higher than...
most other counties in Texas.

SPEAKER_00 (10:57):
Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 (10:58):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (10:58):
I wonder why that is.
It's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 (11:00):
Yeah, I don't know either.
Especially because it's not sucha wealthy city.
I think people stay togethermore, keep their resources
intact.

SPEAKER_00 (11:09):
I do notice a lot of divorces from Fort Bliss.
I don't know if that makes thenumbers go up more.
There's a military base and Ithink a lot of the military
members, there's a lot offactors I think that would make
divorces more common formilitary people because most of
the time they're young and Idon't know, there's just a lot
of

SPEAKER_01 (11:26):
factors.
Yeah, so Fort Bliss has to filein El Paso County as well.
What about the residents inHorizon City?

SPEAKER_00 (11:34):
Also El Paso County.

SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
So anything that encompasses El Paso County is
filed here downtown somewhere?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Do you practice family lawanywhere else other than El Paso
County?

SPEAKER_00 (11:50):
No, just El Paso County.
We get a lot of calls for NewMexico because we're a border
city, but I don't have a NewMexico license.
I don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
Got you.
Okay.
So you basically serve the wholecity, the west side, east side,
far east, Verizon City, Socorro,Texas, all those.
That's interesting.
Okay, cool.
Okay, so I think we've coveredkind of what divorce looks like,
kind of child custody.
What happens when somebody isnot married?

(12:18):
You know, they just have a childout of wedlock.
Is the child custody type ofhearings, is it the same
guidelines?

SPEAKER_00 (12:27):
Yeah, pretty much.
A lot of times those go throughthe Attorney General's office,
but you can always hire your ownattorney to represent you.
And then again, you're lookingat custody, visitation, child
support, medical support.
Kind of

SPEAKER_01 (12:43):
the same.
Okay.
So I think we've covered thedivorce, child custody issues.
What are some of the otherservices that you offer here in
Sun City?

SPEAKER_00 (12:52):
So we offer enforcements.
So that can be enforcement, likemaybe about father's rights.
Who's not getting to see hischildren.
We enforce those orders.
Or if somebody was ordered toget child support, they're not
getting that.
We enforce those.
And then modifications areanother big one where maybe
you're not happy with thecustody arrangement that you had

(13:12):
and things have changed.
So you need to change that.
We do a lot of those adoptionsalso.

SPEAKER_01 (13:18):
Oh, you do adoptions.
Oh yeah.
Let's talk about that.
So yeah.
Just kind of explain the processof, I'm guessing that's going to
be like a stepfather, stepmomthat wants to adopt.

SPEAKER_00 (13:29):
A lot of times, we've had a few grandparents
also adopting their grandchild.
So those are always nice.

SPEAKER_01 (13:36):
Yeah, that's pretty cool.
Those are like the fun ones.

SPEAKER_00 (13:40):
Yeah, those are the happy ones.

SPEAKER_01 (13:42):
The happy ones,

SPEAKER_00 (13:43):
yeah.
Few and far between happymoments.

SPEAKER_01 (13:45):
Awesome, okay.
Is there anything else that youwant to let the audience know,
like, Hey, this is Abby.
She sounds like a really sharpfamily lawyer.
Is there any other services?

SPEAKER_00 (14:00):
No, that's pretty much all we handle.
We try to focus on that.
We do some criminal, because Iwas a district attorney,
assistant district attorney, soI have that criminal law
experience.
Well,

SPEAKER_01 (14:09):
you're a former DA here in El Paso?

SPEAKER_00 (14:11):
Yeah.
Oh, okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
How many years did you work there?

SPEAKER_00 (14:14):
For two years.
I did felonies, so mostly thehearts of murders.
Oof.
child sex abuse cases.
Is

SPEAKER_01 (14:25):
that pretty stressful?

SPEAKER_00 (14:26):
Burglaries, things like that.
Yeah, it was stressful.
I had 900 cases.
You

SPEAKER_01 (14:31):
did 900 cases in two years?

SPEAKER_00 (14:33):
Well, that was my caseload.
So you continually have 900cases.
Oh,

SPEAKER_01 (14:37):
I

SPEAKER_00 (14:37):
see.
The DA's office is alwaysshorthanded.

SPEAKER_01 (14:41):
Wow, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 (14:42):
Yes, but that's kind of why I just wanted to open my
own thing and really be able tohelp people more.
And so...
That's where I focused on.
I could do criminal law, but Ithink we decided here in the
firm to just focus on family lawjust to make it more like our
specialty.

SPEAKER_01 (14:58):
Yeah, kind of carve out a niche or whatever.
So you left working in thepublic sector to be a family
lawyer, a divorce attorney, etc.
How many years have you beenpracticing family law?

SPEAKER_00 (15:12):
Just about 20 years.
20

SPEAKER_01 (15:15):
years?
So you've been doing this for 20years?

SPEAKER_00 (15:18):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (15:19):
Oh, I thought you just recently started.

SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
No, I started in Abilene.
And I had my own firm there forabout eight years.
Then I moved to Lubbock for alittle bit.
And then I have a lot of familyhere.
I'm from here and have childrenalso.
So I wanted them to know myfamily.
So I moved here to El Paso.

SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 (15:39):
I started with the attorney general's office
actually doing, I was a speciallitigator for the child support
division for five years.
And then I went to the DA'soffice and then I opened my own.

SPEAKER_01 (15:50):
Awesome.
Okay.
Well, that's great.
Well, Abby, can you just kind ofgive us the information for the
audience?
We'll go ahead and post it onthe links and everything on the
podcast when we upload it andeverything.
But go ahead and just do theLane Law Firm, your address,
phone number, things like

SPEAKER_00 (16:05):
that.
Okay.
Yeah.
So we're located...
downtown 700 North Stanton, ElPaso, Texas.
And then the website islanelawfirm.com.
Lane is L-A-I-N-E lawfirm.com.

SPEAKER_01 (16:16):
Phone number?

SPEAKER_00 (16:17):
915-200-4316 is our phone number.

SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
Well, Ms.
Lane, it was a pleasure meetingyou.
And if I ever have any familyissues, I'm definitely going to
be coming to you.
But again, this is a Lane LawFirm located in the heart of El
Paso, Texas.
If you need any legalconsultation from the main law
firm here in El Paso, don'thesitate to give them a call.

SPEAKER_00 (16:40):
Thank you so much.
Thank you.