El Paso Family Law Blog

A woman who is facing criminal charges related to an online advertisment offering to give up her 3-year-old son for adoption may have been dealing with mental health issues related to her pregnancy. Prosecutors have charged her with a misemeanor and child protective services has taken custody of the son.

The ad appeared on the online marketplace Craigslist on May 1. Signed "Desperate," the ad offered readers the chance to adopt a 3-year-old boy. The writer says that "I'm not in a good place in my life" and believes that he or she is unable to care for the child.

Perhaps the most difficult transition in divorce for many people is no longer being able to see their children every day. But for other people, the loss of a beloved pet can be almost as heart-wrenching. In most states, including Texas, dogs, cats and other domestic animal companions are considered personal property. Even though your pet feels like part of the family, in the eyes of the divorce court he or she is treated the same as the car or living room furniture.

In many cases, the spouses are able to negotiate a division of property. Hopefully, that includes an agreement about who gets to keep the pets. People can even make arrangements to share "custody" of Fido if they choose. Unfortunately, in some cases the court must divide the marital property, including the pets, leaving one spouse unable to see the animal any more.

In a recent entry, we discussed the struggles being faced by a transgender man who was denied the ability to get a legal divorce from his wife. The judge in the case did not believe that the husband was a "legal man" at the time of the marriage, making his union a same-sex marriage that was not recognized under state law. Because the couple was never legally married, the judge reasoned, they could not get a divorce.

These two individuals are not the only ones facing this problem. Many same-sex couples have sought legal marriages in other states. If they try to get a divorce, though, they will find that Texas law does not offer them the same protections that opposite-sex couples receive.

Readers in El Paso may recall the female-to-male transgender man who gave birth to his and his wife's children. Dubbed the "Pregnant Man," he was an international sensation a few years back. Now the man and his wife are trying to divorce, but their efforts just hit a roadblock as the court in their state refused to recognize the validity of their marriage.

The ruling, issued on March 29, involved issues of the definition of gender, the rights of an individual to change their gender and when that person is legally recognized as being that new gender. By the time he married his wife in 2003, the man had undergone surgery to remove his breasts, changed his name and received a new birth certificate legally recognizing him as a man. Nevertheless, the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence that he was a man at the time of the marriage.