How much of our legal system in the United States and in particular in the State of Texas is based on old English law especially the English Magna Carta. As a family law attorney in Dallas, I deal with legal rulings that remind me of the old medieval courts. Family law is an area in the legal system that is based on old religious principles of ‘right and wrong’ instead of modern-day principles which are constantly evolving. Reforms in Texas are sometimes not what a family law attorney may want to deal with especially when it applies to divorce, child custody, child support, and other family law issues.
Many times, family law reforms are pushed forth through the legislature by special interest groups mainly groups that are associated with some religious group. The legislators capitulate for different reasons to special interest groups attempting to pass family law regulations that seem to be from ancient times.
As a family attorney in Dallas County, Texas, I often hear clients telling me that they thought this was the land of the free; however, our legal system is shaped by a minority of our citizens particularly the law as it applies to divorce, custody, support, and separations in Texas.
The most famous of the provisions of old English law was the unquestionable commitment to the legal principle that states ‘no free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land’. Well, I can count dozens of times when clients have contacted my office complaining about the fact that the court sentenced them to six months in jail for failure to pay child support. I attempt to make people understand that they have a legal obligation to support their children. That legal obligation is the duty to pay child support to the custodial parent of their children. However, how can the legal system in the State of Texas compel a person to make payment under a court order when the individual is unable to do so or has become indigent for various reasons.
The idea that in America we have the right to a trial by jury rings well in the ears of most of us. However, the ideal of a trial by jury is not an affordable option to most people especially in the family law arena. The State of Texas and Texas courts have a keen awareness of the historical significance of the right to trial by jury. But, most family law cases are settled either out of court in mediation or by bench trial in front of a family court judge.
It is an ideal that most of us family law attorneys strive for that ‘no one should be denied justice or have their rights delayed. Our courts are still the last bastion for justice that most of us rely on for our family law disputes whether they involve divorce or issues dealing with children.