We are a client-focused family law firm with the goal of optimizing your outcome through negotiation, mediation, and if necessary, litigation. We vigorously protect our client’s interests and mitigate their anticipated stress. A client’s interests are our top priority. In a divorce context, this means maximizing your parenting time with the children and maximizing your share of the marital estate.
In re Stephanie Lee (11-0732) from Harris County and the 14th District Court of Appeals, Houston. For relator: Scott Rothenberg, Houston. For real party in interest: Clinton F. Lawson, San Antonio. The principal issue is whether a mediated settlement must be enforced that provides, in the absence of family violence, a divorced mother periodic possession of her 7-year-old daughter when the mother is married to a registered sex offender. The trial court, considering the father’s testimony that the child slept between her mother and her new husband when he was naked, found the settlement not in the child’s best interest and refused to enforce it. Lee, the mother, argues that the only statutory exception to enforcing a mediated settlement is when family violence can be shown. The court of appeals affirmed.
Council, John. “Mediated Settlement Agreements Trump Inquiries into Best Interests of Child, Texas Supreme Court Rules in 'In Re Stephanie Lee'.” Texas Lawyer, ALM | Law.com, 27 Sept. 2013,
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Justice Debra H. Lehrmann, “Protecting Our Children: The Legacy of In Re Lee.” State Bar of Texas, Texas Bar Journal, Sept. 2017,
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