What is a BVS form in the State of Texas?

You will need to submit a BVS form to the Court for all divorces and other family law cases in Texas.

BVS stands for Bureau of Vital Statistics.

This form is sent to Austin to be filed -- it is entered into a central computer system available to people to "track" to see if you are divorced.

Before Texas started the BVS Form tracking system, attorneys had to call each county clerk's office to see if a person was divorced in that county.  It was time-consuming and inaccurate.

I think this tracking system started less than 10 years ago - but I could be wrong on the exact time of when it started -- quite frankly I've forgotten.  

Initially attorneys hated filling out the form because it required getting a lot of information from clients - Social Security numbers, dates of birth, Texas Driver's License Numbers, home addresses, city they were born in, race, maiden name, kid's social security number, kid's date of birth, etc.

Also, a lot of attorneys did not like a state agency having all of this information available on Texas residents - but now attorneys have gotten grown accustomed to it.

The judges will not grant a divorce without submitting the form -- no form - no divorce.

Now an attorney can just contact Austin and find out if a divorced has been filed -- quick and easy!

Do It Yourself Forms for Texas Residents - TexasLawHelp.org

Go to www.TexasLawHelp.org for assistance if you are doing a divorce or need other assistance in a civil matter in the State of Texas.

Texas Law Help.org

I talked to a Harris County Family Court judge 2 days ago and he does NOT like this website because he said the Final Decree of Divorce does NOT properly divide real estate!

So, if you own real estate -- BEWARE!  It will not give you proper title to the property so you will have trouble selling the real estate in the future since no title company will issue you a title policy if this is the only piece of paper you have giving you ownership of the real estate.  In other words, if you try to use this Final Decree of Divorce from the above-listed website as proof that you own a piece of real estate at a later date, you have a worthless piece of paper!

YOU NEED TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY TO DRAFT YOUR FINAL DIVORCE DECREE plus ADDITIONAL REAL ESTATE DOCUMENTS THAT ARE FILED IN THE REAL ESTATE RECORDS OF THE COUNTY THAT THE REAL ESTATE IS LOCATED IN SO THAT YOU ACTUALLY OWN THE PROPERTY THAT YOU ARE AWARDED IN THE DIVORCE BY THE JUDGE!!!!

But if you have no kids, no property...this website might work for you.

You will need to submit a BVS form to the Court for all divorces in Harris County.
This form is sent to Austin to be filed -- it is entered into a central computer system available to people to "track" to see if you are divorced.  Before Texas started the BVS (Bureau of Vital Statistics Form tracking system, several years ago, attorneys had to call each county clerk's office to see if a person was divorced in that county.  Now an attorney can just contact Austin and find out if a divorced has been filed -- quick and easy!

Updating my website - www.familylaw4u.com

Stay tune for changes to my website!

James Strictland, my outstanding and creative web designer, and I talked for an hour today.
I authorized him to do a total over-haul of my website.
It's the first time in over 6 years that I'm letting him have full reign to do what he wants to do!
I trust him so it's time for my website to get a fresh, clean new look & feel.

He is totally re-designing the site and making it faster + making me the latest & greatest in technology.

He convinced me to add some new "techie" stuff to my site so "stay tuned" for some new gadgets to be added in the next month!

I want it to be "dazzling", fast and consumer friendly.

I want it to impress the under-30 crowd but not over-whelm anyone visiting my site.

I will now also have an abbreviated site for smart phones -- something that did not exist a couple of years ago.  Now that I surf on my own smart phone on a daily basis, I want my website to be accessible to people looking for a mediator.

Check back frequently in the next few weeks.

Additionally, this blog should be moving to my website to make it easier for me to post -- Google+ has been a nightmare -- I now have 4 Google+ accounts that I can't seem to all merge plus posting to this blog is getting harder with the changes in Google+.

(Google are you listening!##$@#$@#$#@$@$@#$@#^$@%^#$%&*#%^&!!)

I look forward to your input and comments.

If you see any typos -- let me know!

www.familylaw4u.com

www.crinfo.org - FREE mediation website

www.crinfo.org The Conflict Resolution Information Source website --  CRInfo (pronounced "See Our Info") stands for "conflict resolution information source."  It is a FREE service, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.  As a "linking" site, their staff of editors maintains a keyword-coded catalog of over 20,000 Web, print, and organizational resources, as well as event listings and other conflict resolution-related resources. I just found it and it seems full of interesting sites to look at for mediation information.

I am now advertising with Mediation.com

I just signed on with Mediation.com and Arbitration.com for the next 2 years.

I checked with a mediator in Spring, Texas that has success with their services.

I have found it very difficult to get productive mediation leads but it never hurts to get my name out in the public.

I can add "arbitrator" to my list of qualifications

I just completed "arbitrator" training so I can now add that title to my list of qualifications.

In family law, arbitration is not often used so I don't think that I will use it much.

It seems to be used mostly for government work.

FYI: The Better Business Bureau (BBB) does some arbitration work for free or for low cost.