Spencer Fane Family Law attorneys guide individuals through sensitive family issues and disputes related to domestic relationships, child custody, and assets, with a focus on protecting the client’s interests during often-complex and difficult proceedings.
Our team includes a former family law judge who is also certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization – Family Law, a distinguished credentialed for Alternative Dispute Resolution practitioner by TX Mediator Credentialing Association, and former chair of the Houston Bar Association Family Law section. In addition, one of our attorneys has served as Special Master of Chancery for discovery disputes in which parties have disagreements concerning what can and should be disclosed in the process of discovery for family law litigation and they are appointed by the Family Law Courts as ad litem to represent the interest of minors.
Our attorneys also frequently write and present on family law topics and trends, and Spencer Fane has a bilingual attorney who serves Spanish speakers — beneficial to those dealing with international divorces and custody disputes.
We help clients navigate divorce, asset division, custody, paternity, adoption and guardianship matters; name changes; premarital and marital agreements; cohabitation agreements; dissolution of nonmarital arrangements; enforcement of unpaid child support or breaches of protective orders; same-sex family law issues; and surrogate parenting matters. Our experience includes international custody matters, international jurisdictional disputes, complex asset cases, and high-net-worth divorces, including representing professional athletes.
Our team advises clients in various types of divorces, including conventional, collaborative, and cooperative. A substantial part of our practice is alternative dispute resolution (ADR), especially in matters of custody, access, child support, and division of property disputes. Our Family Law practitioners have received advanced ADR Family Law training in the area of child abuse and are qualified to conduct mediation and arbitration of disputes, in addition to handling litigation.
Representative Experience
- Mediated and arbitrated a case involving character of employee benefits that was reviewed and the decision of the arbitrator was validated.
- Defeated a contentious claim for gifts among spouses.
- Defeated a claim for common law marriage.
- Prevailed on the jury, as ad litem, to award custody as requested by one of our attorneys.
- Represented multiple professional athletes with complex property division including retirement plans.