Rockwall Family Law & Criminal Defense Lawyer

Rockwall Family Law Attorney Dedicated to Advocating for Your Interests

When you are faced with a legal dispute or proceeding, it can be difficult to know how to protect your rights and pursue your objectives. As a family law and criminal defense attorney, Michael E. Goodman has over 17 years of experience guiding people in Rockwall, Kaufman, Hunt, Collin, and Dallas Counties who are going through challenges in their lives. We understand your concerns, apprehensions, and questions and know how important it is for our clients to receive the personalized, compassionate, and timely legal counsel that they deserve during this stressful time when the stakes are high. We have committed to keeping our firm small so that we can provide the one-on-one relationships that our clients have come to expect and enjoy. It is easy to tell a client what they want to hear, but we strive to provide our clients with a realistic review of their potential case so that they can make the best decision about how to proceed.

Family Law

Family law cases can be difficult to handle. Almost every case is charged with emotion, and the complications of family dynamics, strong feelings, children, and property can all cause a significant amount of stress. Although there are some instances in which spouses or parents agree on the resolution of certain matters related to divorce or child custody, there are often issues that require negotiation and court involvement. There are certain legal requirements that you must satisfy to obtain a divorce in Texas. First, one of the spouses must be a resident of Texas for at least six months and a resident of the county in which the proceeding will be filed for at least 90 days. The party seeking the divorce must state the grounds for their decision to dissolve the marriage. Some examples of grounds for divorce include adultery, abandonment, and cruel treatment.

Some issues that may arise in divorce proceedings involve spousal support and the distribution of assets. In general, spousal support constitutes a payment that a former spouse pays to the other to assist the receiving spouse with maintaining the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. The payments can be temporary, allowing the receiving spouse time to become financially independent. A dedicated family law attorney at our Rockwall firm can help you advocate for an arrangement that works for you, whether you are the paying spouse or the receiving spouse. When you work with our team, we do everything and anything within our power to provide you with comprehensive representation for your case and to help protect your rights and interests. We have tried more than 300 bench trials and have earned multiple pro bono awards.

Child Custody

Our founding attorney has more than 15 years of experience guiding clients to favorable resolutions in child custody cases. In Texas, child custody arrangements focus on possession and access, and conservatorship. Unless both parents can agree on the appropriate custody arrangement for a child, a family law judge will decide the arrangement. If the parents agree, they can submit a written agreement for court approval. If the court is required to intervene, there are certain factors that the judge will consider. The guiding principle is the best interests of the child. When it comes to the type of conservatorship that the judge can order, there are two main types. They can order joint managing conservatorship that involves both parents, or they can order sole managing conservatorship that primarily gives authority to one parent. A conservator has many rights, including making decisions about the child’s education and medical treatment. If you are facing a child custody dispute, it is essential that you speak with a Rockwall family law lawyer as soon as possible to protect your rights.