Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Collin County Standing Orders

Divorce petition was filed in Oct 2006. No temp orders have been put in place for the custody issue of the child. Father has threatened to take the child out of state without the mother's authorization and keep the child for a 2 week period. What should be done to prevent this from happening until a temp order is actually in place and signed by a judge which may be a while. Mother's attny has failed to call her back in over 3 weeks. The only way she has been able to get advise from the attny is through email at this point. What are the rules about switching attnys when there is already a $5K retainer in place and the mother has no signed contract with the attny and needs the remainder of the retainer to retain another representative?


Asked on 12/26/06, 9:57 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
TC Langford Langford Law Office

Re: Collin County Standing Orders

Standing orders in Collin County prevent him from hiding or secreting the child. Email can be a workable solution for communication, but if you are concerned, hire another lawyer and get a substitution of counsel filed. Email your soon-to-be former lawyer that you are picking up your file in a reasonable time, such as 3 days, and that you want an itemized statement of charges, together with a refund of the unused retainer. Difficult to say what the response will be, but you are absolutely entitled to your file, and the new lawyer will need that. It is possible that a lawyer will accept a lesser retainer to start, pending the outcome of the retainer with the former lawyer. Feel free to email me directly. TCL

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Answered on 1/02/07, 7:59 pm


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