Texas Legislature & Hiring Illegal Aliens

A Bill has been introduced at the Texas Legislature that would fine or jail any person hiring an illegal alien, except those working in your house or your yard. Your maid and nanny and lawn mowing kid would be okay, but if you hired them to work at someone else's house, you could be arrested. The Bill has not passed, yet.

Houston attorney Harry Tindall asks "why not exclude building janitors, construction workers, waiters, cooks, hospital employees and car wash employees?"

As for me, does my yard include the 6 acres of adjoining farmland? Are illegal alien farm & ranch workers to be despised and lawn boys praised?

Creating exclusions to the rules are nearly always difficult and unwise.

This smacks of a 19th century idea that Mexicans were only good people as maids and gardeners. As Sherlock Holmes would say, "The game is afoot."

Texas Dept. Family & Protective Services

House Bill 1 at the Texas Legislature proposes a cut of 400 caseworkers and investigators from the Dept. of Family & Protective Services. These are the persons who care for neglected and abused Texas children. The recommended caseload is 12 to 15 cases per caseworker, with the Texas average being 27 cases. The cuts in caseworkers would make this average much worse, meaning long delays in getting help for neglected and abused children.

For neglected children, think of the children of meth addicts, or alcoholics, or the homeless. For abused children, think of the children of parents with severe anger problems, or dangerous sexual habits, or emotional or psychological problems that make them dangerous to others. After an outcry is made, these are children who do not need long delays.

As a family lawyer, I have battled with the Dept of Family & Protective Services, have called the agency "out of control" and "too powerful". However, there are courts and Judges to see that justice is done when caseworkers make a mistake; there are no remedies for neglected and abused children who must wait too long for help.

Bankruptcy or Debt Solution Company plan

Debt solution companies - The GAO issued a report last year saying that only 1 in 10 customers of a debt solution company finished the program. The GAO also found that the debt solution companies tended to collect its fees first, then attempt to settle with the creditor. The customer may pay the debt solution company for months or a year with a 1 in 10 success rate.

Telephone collection calls - and other forms of debt collection continue while the customer is in the plan, until the bills are fully paid.

Bankruptcy - The automatic stay provision of the Bankruptcy act stops telephone collection calls and all attempts to collect a debt. This blog does not attempt to predict the outcome of any case, but "automatic" is, well, "automatic" and is better than 1 chance in 10.

The decision to file a bankruptcy - is more complicated than any blog can discuss. The ability to automatically stop harassing telephone calls can allow decisions to be made in silence, and away from the demands of creditors.

New Divorce provisions - Income Tax

It is easy for the attorney to become complacent about income taxes. The client is not a millionaire, the spouse is a working man, and exotic investments are just not a problem. It has been suggested, however, that ( 1 ) if one of the parties may work for cash on the side, ( 2 ) or income tax returns are not being filed as they should, ( 3 ) or if one of the parties may not follow the East Texas "do right" rule, then some added protection should be added:

It Is Ordered that Bad Boy shall pay the income taxes for the tax year 2009 [ and tax years..... ], and shall hold Good Wife harmless from the payment of income taxes for the same years. It Is Ordered that in the event the Internal Revenue Service, for the tax year 2009 taxes, audits Good Wife, seeks to collect income taxes from Good Wife, garnishes wages of Good Wife, seeks to collect penalties from Good Wife, seeks to collect interest from Good Wife, or files a tax lien on property of Good Wife, then Bad Boy husband shall pay Good Wife the sum of $5,000 in legal fees for her legal defense to the Internal Revenue Service claims. It Is Ordered that Bay Boy shall additionally pay Good Wife's expenses, and taxes, interest and penalties owed by Good Wife.

The attorneys fees provision is in line with the costs of wrestling with the Internal Revenue Service over income the Good Wife may not have known existed, on paperwork and from jobs the Good Wife never knew about. Being as specific as possible, especially as to the money to be paid, is best.

This is just a suggestion, of course, and the idea is to be specific, so that the Bad Boy, the Judge, and the Internal Revenue Service, all know exactly what you need to protect yourself from a nightmare.

Divorce Decree clauses - Tattoos & Piercings

Some divorcing parents, with an eye towards their teenage children, add new clauses to divorce decrees. Some examples include:

It Is Ordered that no parent conservator shall consent to a child receiving a permanent tattoo.

It Is Ordered that no parent conservator shall consent to a child being pierced in the face, tongue, nose, stomach, or other parts of the body, for jewelry or decoration or for non-medical purposes.

These provisions are not in the usual divorce decree, but may help a teenage child after he decides to put on a suit and go to a real job interview for a job with a future.

How can a mediator "invent" options to settle my case?

In "Getting to Yes", by Fisher and Ury, a story is told about two sisters who argued over who was to get the last orange in the kitchen. They settled by cutting the orange in the middle and each took her half. One sister took her half orange in the den, ate the fruit, and threw away the peel. The other sister stayed in the kitchen, used the peel to make marmalade, and threw away the fruit.

Each sister liked to yell at her sister, and they did settle, but with a little mediation and a discussion of what they really wanted, each sister could have had all she wanted.

Not all problems can be mediated by asking, "Why?"
Not all problems can be mediated by asking, "What is the real deal?"

However, by asking the right questions, and using the other tools at his disposal, a mediator should offer options to the parties that makes the settlement possible.

What does a mediator do?

A mediator's goal is to settle the controversy. A mediator is not a judge, and cannot make a ruling or force the parties to do something. The mediator does not decide who is right and who is wrong, but strives to help both parties settle the case. To help the parties speak freely without the fear of their statements being told to the Judge, statements made in mediation are confidential, (confessions about the abuse of children are an exception ). A mediator typically does three things:

1. The mediator talks to both sides to find out what the facts of the dispute are. He asks each party if they have made a good faith commitment to attempt to settle the case. The mediator makes a list of what needs to be settled. He spends about the same time with each side.

2. Then the mediator, being more aggressive, goes back to each party, to ask, "What is the real deal here? What is really going on?" The mediator gets to the bottom line, to get the really important facts that are bothering the parties.

3. Then the mediator begins to go between the parties, not simply as a wimpy messenger, but offering alternatives, pushing, pulling, and closing the deal. Everyone should walk away with a copy of the signed settlement agreement; the case is over except for the typing.

As a part of the process, he may remind everyone that a trial will cost another $5,000, in advance, and they are out of money.

He may tell everyone that they are the last people who actually love the children, who can make the rules. A complete stranger, the Judge, will make all the rules at trial.

He may share how the Judge looked at a particular problem in the past. How does the Judge view an alcohol problem? or a drug problem? or smoking? or tattoos on children? or body piercings on children? or overnight guests for the adults?

As a lawyer himself, a mediator may point out the difficulties with your case. The mediator is not the Judge, but he does have his eyes open and can see the same weaknesses in the case that the Judge may see.

The mediator has all parties sign the written agreement. If things go well, the legal matters are settled, and perhaps the problems beyond the legal matters, are settled.