Family Law Litigation

MICHAEL A. HILLER
Tel: (713) 784-9500
Fax: (713) 784-9508
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HILLER LAW FIRM
1770 St James Pl, Ste 150
Houston, TX 77056

Traditional Family Law Litigation is when you fully expect for your case to be decided by a judge or jury.  We file your lawsuit serve your spouse with papers, and expect an answer from your spouse   Or you get served and we file an answer.  A Temporary Restraining Order is often issued with the petition to keep you, your property and children protected. A temporary orders hearing usually follows the service.  At that hearing, the status quo is normally preserved, unless one of you needs to move out with or without the children.  In that case, often a custody hearing is included with the temporary hearing. The judge decides if you get temporary custody of the children, who moves out of the house, who pays what bills, and how much child support you pay or receive.  The ORDERS judge makes include temporary injunctions, which are similar to temporary restraining orders.

Michael Hiller will aggressively help you fight through this 1st phase of the litigation, and then discovery begins.  Discovery includes written questions and requests for documents and things, as well as psychology, property and businesses evaluations of the parties, the children, your property and businesses.  We will take depositions (oral questions with a court reporter present) if needed to more intensely discover information.

After discovery is complete, we begin getting you and your case ready for final trial.  That trial is before s judge or jury, and is usually 6-12 months out from the first filing.  All along we may try to negotiate partial settlements of the dispute, while fully protecting yours and your children’s rights.  These negotiations will likely include mediation.

Michael Hiller, his staff, and other attorneys he involves will aggressively fight for you all along these 3 phases.   He of course will advise you from the beginning of your options, including reconciliation, pre-suit private investigation, collaborative law and other options.  If litigation is the best option, for example when your spouse or ex cannot be trusted, that’s the path we will pursue.