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: (915) 200-4316

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

All right, we're here at the Lane Law Firm here in El Paso, Texas, right off I-10, the heart of, I would call, the west side central downtown area. Yep. Great location. Really is, feels like the heart of 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 talking about earlier about just kind of generally what kind of practice... the kind of law that you practice and family law, which encompasses a lot of things. We talked about divorce. So we're going to go ahead and if you don't mind, let's just talk about child custody issues and just kind of go into that. Cause I imagine when people get a divorce, a lot of them have children, right?

SPEAKER_00: 0:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 0:40

Yeah. So if I'm looking for a divorce attorney, particularly because of my kids, I'm not extremely worried about the assets, so to speak. Can you kind of tell me what you can do for me if I'm coming to you with like, hey, this is the divorce. I really love my kids. I really want to keep them as much as possible. Like, what can you do for me in a situation like

SPEAKER_00: 1:06

that? Okay, that's a good question. So what I would start off by asking 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 you the most access to the children. And then that would set you up to ask for 50-50 or as much time as you want to ask for. And then if you're not living together anymore, then I would just advise you to see the children as often as you can, as long as the other party's agreeing, and to document that. Because a lot of times you go to court and then the other parent starts saying that you never see the children, you're not involved, you don't ask about the children, things like that. So that's what I would advise.

SPEAKER_01: 1:41

Well, that's great advice. I hadn't thought about that. So it's... I have a neighbor that's going through a divorce and he's not there anymore. He's kind of my neighbor, like my buddy, whatever. But I hardly ever see him because basically he moved out. That can hurt him in terms of a child custody case if he's not seeing his kids on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_00: 2:00

Yeah. It's

SPEAKER_01: 2:01

like she's establishing custody.

SPEAKER_00: 2:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 2:03

During the separation.

SPEAKER_00: 2:03

Exactly. Oh,

SPEAKER_01: 2:04

wow. That's pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 2:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 2:07

Okay. So... If they're living together, try to stay in the house, even if it's separate bedrooms or whatever, right?

SPEAKER_00: 2:13

Yeah, just until... Because what we would do in that situation is get temporary orders within a few weeks. So then you would just have that arrangement until a few weeks in. So you get to your temporary hearing, and then at the temporary hearing, you try to establish the visitation you want so that you have it in place before you move out.

SPEAKER_01: 2:30

Gotcha. Okay. Well, that's interesting. Okay, so you have these child custody issues, and the judge is going to have to decide who gets... How often does the kids go here? How often do the kids go there? What are some of the deciding factors when a judge is trying to do that? Is it 50-50 as a baseline, or how does that usually start out?

SPEAKER_00: 2:51

It's an extended standard possession order starting out, and then depending on the situation of the parents and their availability, their work schedule, their ability to provide a safe and stable home for the child, then you could argue for more time.

SPEAKER_01: 3:05

So what is an extended possession order, if you can give me a quick definition of that?

SPEAKER_00: 3:09

Yeah, that's when the non-pastoral parent would have every Thursday overnight and then every first, third, and fifth Friday through Monday.

SPEAKER_01: 3:17

Got you. Okay. Now, when the judge is going to grant that 60, it's like a 60-40 split, right?

SPEAKER_00: 3:25

Pretty much,

SPEAKER_01: 3:26

yeah.

UNKNOWN: 3:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 3:28

What are some of the factors that go into the decision to say, hey, you get the kids 60% of time. This person only gets 40%.

SPEAKER_00: 3:37

So some of the factors would be like how we talked about before, where maybe one parent is traditionally the parent that is the primary caretaker. That would be one factor. Stability of the home would be another factor. If any of the parties have any significant maybe drug issues or substance abuse issues or mental health issues, that could be another factor. Also, their work schedule is a big factor. So if somebody works night shifts and the other parent is a stay-at-home parent, that's going to be a factor in their favor.

SPEAKER_01: 4:06

The stay-at-home parent would get the advantage.

SPEAKER_00: 4:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 4:08

So it's a disadvantage to be working hard. You get less of your kids.

SPEAKER_00: 4:11

Yeah, sometimes. Oh,

SPEAKER_01: 4:12

wow, that's interesting. And that's called an extended possession order, right? Yes. Okay, so when it goes into a 60-40 split like that, I imagine that the bills are, are they split 60-40? This is where you start getting into these child support issues because it's 50-50. Is there child support issues at that point when it's 50-50?

SPEAKER_00: 4:37

So when it's 50-50, you can deviate from the Texas child support guidelines, right? And so normally people think when you get 50-50, the other parent doesn't have to pay anything. So a lot of times that can be a motivation. or wrong motivation for some people. They just want to get 50-50

SPEAKER_01: 4:54

so that they

SPEAKER_00: 4:55

don't have to pay child support. But I think that's a mis-homer. I think it's a misunderstanding because even if you get 50-50, the courts, depending on what judge you get, you're also going to have to pay child support for offset. So you're still going to have to pay child support, just not as much.

SPEAKER_01: 5:09

What does that mean per offset?

SPEAKER_00: 5:11

So like if the mom, if we calculate her child support to the dad, And her child support would be$500. But then if we calculate dad's child support to mom and it's$1,000, then he would just pay$500. It's just an offset of what she should be paying him, the person that would pay more.

SPEAKER_01: 5:28

Okay. That makes sense. Sort of. So if she only makes$500 for the child 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 bank account it goes into or something like

SPEAKER_00: 5:48

that? No, it would go directly to the other party.

SPEAKER_01: 5:52

Wow, that's interesting. So it really has a lot to do with just how much you make.

SPEAKER_00: 5:57

Yeah, it's just in numbers.

SPEAKER_01: 5:59

Based on

SPEAKER_00: 5:59

your income. Yeah, and I think the reasoning behind it is... The child didn't request the divorce, right? So the child's lifestyle shouldn't change, I think, is the thought in the court's mind. So because one parent makes a lot and the other parent doesn't, they don't want the child to be able to go on these lavish vacations with one parent. And then when they're with the other parent, they can't even, you know, by the basic necessities. I

SPEAKER_01: 6:23

got you. So it's kind of a legislating fairness for the child. And also protecting the child. parent that's financially disadvantaged. Right. That's kind of fair, I guess. It's complicated.

SPEAKER_00: 6:37

Yeah, it's complicated.

SPEAKER_01: 6:39

And so the 60-40 split is based on the school that the kid's in, what's best. So a housewife would be awarded more custody than an 80-hour work debt.

SPEAKER_00: 6:51

Probably, yeah. Just depending on if that working parent had the ability to still care for the child and maybe provide alternate care for the child even you know because everybody has to work

SPEAKER_01: 7:04

yeah that's true um now when you're going into this child support battle what's what's the typical timeline because like let's say in the beginning one spouse has full custody how quickly because you said something about temporary orders

SPEAKER_00: 7:21

yeah Yeah, so the temporary orders we can get within a few weeks, and that'll just kind of set into place the rules and guidelines for the parties while the case is going on, so that one party doesn't hide the child from the other party or do anything crazy or move to another state. And then when we get to final, then the judge decides what to do in the final order.

SPEAKER_01: 7:44

Okay, and so that's a great thing I didn't think about. when they're trying to divvy up the child support, is there rules in place, like say the dad can't move out of the city or something like that, or he'll lose child support, certain privileges possibly?

SPEAKER_00: 7:58

Does that happen? Well, no. So the purpose behind the geographic restriction is so that, like let's say you're used to being in your child's life and you live together with your wife and then you separate. And in order for you to be able to still be involved in your child's life, we need to make sure that mom doesn't move to New York. And so the judges, they will put in place a geographic restriction so that both parents can still be involved in the child's life.

SPEAKER_01: 8:24

Gotcha. Okay. And then obviously, so basically child support comes down to the welfare of the child,

SPEAKER_00: 8:31

right? Well, yeah. If it's a 60-40 situation, it's pretty buck and wide in Texas. It's 20% of your income if it's one child, 25% if it's two children, 30% if it's three children. And then there's little step downs if you have more children outside of the marriage.

SPEAKER_01: 8:47

Like multiple wives?

SPEAKER_00: 8:49

Yeah, like if you have three kids with one wife and then you have two kids from another prior relationship, your child support's not going to be 35%. It'll go down a little bit to give you credit for those other children that you're supporting.

SPEAKER_01: 9:02

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 if you're working and you're giving like 80% of your income, you might be incentivized not to even work at that point, right?

SPEAKER_00: 9:20

Yeah. Is there a limit? The limit's 50%. Wow. That's

SPEAKER_01: 9:22

interesting. And, you know, that is pretty interesting. So let's say you have a simple divorce. In a simple divorce, does it already just kind of outline what you're going to do with the kids? It's just, Get it. You know what I mean? Or do you have to still go through a child support type of hearings?

SPEAKER_00: 9:47

So like in a simple divorce. Or uncontested. Yeah. When you're saying that, I think it's uncontested. So then the parties would come to us with an agreement for everything. Child support, custody, visitation, medical support. And then you could always do whatever. So let's say you have an agreement and your child support should be$1,000 a month. But you and the mother agree for$200 a month. It's like an extreme example. But you could do that as long as you have an agreement.

SPEAKER_01: 10:12

Okay, that's pretty interesting. Well, thank you so much. It was very informative learning about the child support and all the little intricacies here. Obviously, the areas you serve are El Paso County, Horizon City, Socorro, Texas, Vinton, basically all the surrounding cities that are part of the El Paso 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, then yeah, 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 of the spouses leaves for a job to another state? They don't break up, but he leaves or she leaves. And then they get a divorce. Where is the divorce going to be filed if there's kids involved?

SPEAKER_00: 11:10

That's a good question. So the county of jurisdiction is where the parties have lived for the prior six months prior to the filing of the divorce. And then if it's a custody case without a divorce, it's where the child has lived for the previous 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 for too much subjectivity. It's very objective. you know, what you're trying to do 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 of the world.

SPEAKER_00: 11:43

Yeah. I think our job is really like to understand the client and then tell their story in a way that can help them most within the confines of what you're confined to legally. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 11:55

Okay. Well, thank you again so much. We're here at the Lane Law Firm located at 700 North Stanton. And, um, It's a beautiful office here on the second floor. You can see the I-10 freeway, the interstate, from this view outside the window. And you really are located downtown, west side. It really is just a nice location. You're so conveniently located. I live on the far east side, and I 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.