MEDIA REVIEWS

Protecting Your Assets From a Texas Divorce

By Ike Vanden Eykel, Kathryn Murphy, Rick Robertson
PSG Books, 333 pp, $19.95

Reviewed by JOHN R. WALKER


“The difference between a divorce and a legal separation is that a legal separation gives a husband time to hide his money.”
– Johnny Carson (1925 – 2005).

Statistically, for roughly 40 percent of married Texans, their ultimate divorce typically represents both their single largest financial transaction and their only participation in the civil justice system. These two events may occur simultaneously at the participant’s most emotionally fragile point in life. The divorce attorney becomes financial advisor, confidant, devil’s advocate, and champion of sometimes unreasonable causes.
The authors, three seasoned Dallas divorce attorneys, provide a wealth of information on all issues arising in a Texas divorce. In this self-help book, written for the client and the potential client, the authors distill their experience into an easy to read, informative format. A particularly effective use of “He said, She said” examples throughout the work gives the reader a concrete illustration of the legal principles involved, while gently reminding that the spouse will most probably present “the other side of the story.”
The title is misleading. Almost none of the book is devoted to protecting assets from a divorce. Rather, it appears to be an expansion of the authors’ earlier work, Successful Lone Star Divorce (1999). It effectively covers all issues which arise in a divorce in a friendly and straightforward manner: collaborative divorce, legal roles and procedures, community and separate property, division of assets, alimony, child support and custody issues. It also provides solid practical advice to clients on hiring a lawyer and on ways to control legal fees.
Required reading for anyone con-templating a divorce, Texas divorce attorneys should consider giving a copy to every prospective client before agreeing to accept a retainer.

John R. Walker is a shareholder with Hays McConn Rice & Pickering and practices a wide range of civil litigation.

Text is punctuated without italics.

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