Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Houston Chronicle article by Shannon Buggs

On June 1, 2009, Shannon Buggs wrote an article under "Assets & Values" in the Houston Chronicle about Divorce. In one column she attempted to cover, mediation, collaborative law, DIY divorces, social security issues, etc. Her attempt was excellent! She had limited space and she wrote so that the average reader could grasp what she was conveying. Unfortunately, each paragraph could have been a separate article itself. My only complaint would be the websites she listed for DIY divorces. I'm sure that she "googled" DIY and these were the top sites. It is difficult to compete against these national sites. Their budget is so much greater than mine. Unfortunately, I don't recommend any of these sites. Most of them are located outside of the State of Texas and they claim to be able to give you the forms needed to do your own divorce. They do not include any of the Texas State forms or county forms. They don't include Employer Withholding Orders. I guess that you get what you pay for. I began offering DIY kits to offer people an alternative to these out-of-state sites. My forms are based on the forms that I use for people that retain my legal services. I only sell a kit if I think it will work. I personally talk to each person before preparing the forms. I don't sell you blank forms. I fill in the information so that the forms look like what the judge expects to see. My kits start at $175 and go up to $1,000 -- depends on what I need to do.

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