Texas Family Law and Domestic Violence Attorney

Law Offices of Barbara Lynch Schnack, P.C.

2719 Colquitt Street Houston, Texas 77098 USA

 (713) 581-1779 or (888) 802-8694
 (713) 524-0909

www.barbaralynchschnack.com
 Contact the Firm

Law Firm Overview

At the Law Offices of Barbara Lynch Schnack, P.C., we believe in encouraging a sense of family, and we feel fortunate with every opportunity to put a family back together after difficult times. We want to bring humanity to the practice of family law with every case we take on, emphasizing the positive in all people and using our legal knowledge as an instrument for the good.

We're supportive of all lifestyles, recognizing the startling changes in the American family in this new century. We advocate for amicable solutions for everyone who contacts us, regardless of his or her compelling legal or emotional issue. We seek consensus in every domestic situation and family matter we handle. When that's not possible, we argue passionately for our client's rights and interests in the courts of south Texas.

Our law firm founder's background as social worker, mediator, advocate and counselor indicates that our firm is built on providing compassionate, professional services to the men, women and children we work with. Where many attorneys' bottom line is solely financial, ours is more personalized: helping clients through a difficult divorce; helping clients attain their goal of a private adoption; and helping a parent exercise the rights, privileges and duties of being a parent.

Attorney Barbara Lynch Schnack is board certified in family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Further, she is a skilled family law mediator with more than 1,000 hours of mediation experience.

Practice Areas

Practice Areas Description

- Divorce

At the Law Offices of Barbara Lynch Schnack, P.C., we provide guidance and representation through the divorce process and help Texans get back on the right track. Led by firm-founding attorney Barbara Lynch Schnack, our firm has helped countless men and women work through family law challenges such as divorce. We know how difficult and drawn out a divorce can be, especially if the parties are unable to reach agreement on the critical issues involved. We work through mediation, collaboration and litigation to achieve results in: contested divorce and uncontested divorce.

- Division of Property

Texas is a community property state, so husbands and wives both share equally in all property accumulated during marriage. In cases where there was misconduct in the marriage, such as an affair, the judge may grant a deviation from equal property division. To best protect your rights and interests in divorce and property division, lead attorney Barbara Lynch Schnack works to obtain a consensus in property division through mediation, collaboration or settlement negotiations. When these fail to result in an appropriate outcome, she aggressively works on behalf of her clients in the courtroom to achieve an equitable division of goods.

- Child Custody

We want you to be aware of the child custody options available. These possibilities include: joint managing conservatorship, which deals with decision-making and the parents' ability to share parental rights and responsibilities after divorce, although one parent will likely have primary physical custody; and sole managing conservatorship, which is usually reserved for situations where one of the parents has been a bad actor (abusive or neglectful) or where it would be unreasonable to ask the divorcing parents to cooperate post-divorce.

- Grandparent Rights

The right of a fit parent to raise his or her children without interference from others is protected by the U.S. Constitution. However, the law also recognizes that circumstances can exist in which a child's best interest will be served by having contact with a loving grandparent over the objection of a parent. In Texas, grandparents may assert their rights to access to their grandchildren if: the grandparents' child (the co-parent of the minor child) has been jailed or imprisoned for a three-month period; and the grandparents' child has been determined to be legally incapacitated, deceased, or has no actual or court-ordered access to the child.

- Child Support

We work hard to explore all avenues in pursuing the best child support settlement possible for you. Our skilled child support lawyer seeks an airtight, ironclad agreement that assures your children the financial resources they need now and in the future. It should also be fair, functional and in accordance with Texas child support law. Calculations for child support amounts in our state are based on a percentage of the net income of the noncustodial parent. Net income is equivalent to gross income after subtractions of income tax withholding, Social Security taxes, health insurance premiums for the child and other minor deductions, such as union dues.

- Temporary Orders

A temporary order is a court order that is enforced for a limited amount of time. A temporary order is often used to establish guidelines for the following matters following divorce: child custody, visitation, child support, spousal support, living arrangements and parental relocation. The instability following separation lends itself to all kinds of bad behavior. By seeking a temporary order, parties can feel more assured of their safety, well-being and financial security.

- Father's Rights

Our skilled, caring lawyer Law Offices of Barbara Lynch Schnack, P.C., has assisted many women in establishing the legal paternity of their children and helped many men obtain parental rights to their children. We are also highly familiar with how to deal with cases in which paternity is in question. Among the great social changes of the past half-century is the greater participation of fathers in the day-to-day care of their children. No longer can it be assumed that mothers carry the responsibility alone, and many, many fathers are active and fully participate in the joys and burdens of child-rearing.

- Paternity

Our aggressive paternity lawyer can counsel you if you're a mother who wants to use a paternity suit to identify the father of your child for purposes of establishing child support obligations. We also represent fathers whose paternity suits can help them gain child custody and visitation rights, as well as clients whose paternity suit could prove they are not a father in a given case. We can call on DNA testing resources to establish or disprove paternity, and we negotiate and draft relevant documents for our clients. Every aspect of our firm's paternity practice is carried on in an atmosphere of utmost discretion and privacy. Our work and our word are our bonds we provide to you in pursuing the protection of your rights and interests.

- Adoption

Adoptions are the happiest occasions in which a family lawyer has the privilege to participate, and these are the best reasons to come to work each day. At our Houston law offices of Barbara Lynch Schnack, we're proud of our years of experience of legal assistance to numerous families with the private domestic adoptions of children, from infants to teenagers, including adoptions of stepchildren by new spouses. We enthusiastically handle legal work on behalf of birth parents, which are looking to relinquish their rights, and prospective adoptive parents. You can depend on our seasoned, skilled adoption lawyer to stay on top of every detailed, minuscule step that the process of private adoption in Texas requires.

- Collaborative Law

In the successful practice of Texas family law since 1994, those of us at the Houston law offices of Barbara Lynch Schnack have become supporters of collaborative law. We believe that the collaborative law process conducted between spouses, legal representatives, mediators, and other allied professionals in private, supportive settings promotes healing and harmony in ways that the traditional courtroom litigation approach cannot. The collaborative law approach accepts that conflict, sometimes very deep conflict, is a normal and expected part of the process, but allows the spouses to address the issues without attacking each other in the contentious and damaging ways which occur in the courtroom setting. In the collaborative law process, the issues are viewed as problems to be solved, not fights to be won.

- Domestic Violence

At the Law Offices of Barbara Lynch Schnack, P.C., we take strong legal action for victims of domestic violence and abuse. To protect men, women and children from the damaging impact of physical, sexual, mental or emotional abuse, we work with legal authorities to obtain protective orders and to hold to account those who commit restraining order violations. At our firm, we are committed to helping victims of abuse find freedom from fear and peace in security. When called, we can work on behalf of the victimized men, women and children to obtain an immediate ex parte order offering temporary protection from the alleged perpetrator. Often he or she is forbidden to have contact with you or your children until your case goes to court.

Attorneys

Ms. Barbara Lynch Schnack Attorney Family Law

More Information on Law Offices of Barbara Lynch Schnack, P.C.

Houston, Texas Divorce Attorneys
Houston, TX Domestic Violence Lawyers
Child Custody Modifications Law Firm in Houston, Texas
Child Support Enforcement Attorneys in Houston, TX
Houston, Texas Temporary Order Lawyers
Houston, TX Paternity / Fathers Rights Law Firm
Adoption Attorneys in Houston, Texas
Collaborative Law Lawyers in Houston, TX
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