We are contacted quite a bit by parents seeking help with their Attorney General case. Because AG attorneys and caseworkers represent the State of Texas and not either parent or child, individual parents often need their own legal advisor. Here are some common case scenarios why parents reach out to us when the AG is unable to help them reach their legal goals:

-a parent needs help presenting their case to a judge at a child support hearing;

-a parent needs an attorney present at a Review meeting to ensure the court order is prepared accurately and that their rights are protected;

-a custodial parent does not want the noncustodial parent to start having regular overnight or unsupervised access right away in a court order;

-a noncustodial parent seeks make-up time with a child or to enforce their court-ordered possession;

-a parent seeks to modify conservatorship terms such as to have a right to obtain the child’s passports;

-a parent seeks to modify child support to increase or decrease support payments or add or remove medical insurance;

-a grandparent seeks to be involved in the child’s life because one parent is incarcerated;

-a noncustodial parent seeks a deviated possession schedule (usually by agreement) such as equal alternate weeks, or a 2-2-3 schedule.

-a custodial parent wants to object to a geographic restriction limiting where she can live with the child;

-a noncustodial parent wants to arrange reduce his child support arrears through “negotiate and release”;

-a parent needs an urgent “Motion for New Trial” or “Motion to Set Aside” filed to try to undo a recent final order completed within the prior 30 days;

-a parent needs an urgent appeal to an associate judge’s ruling recently completed within 3 days;

-a custodial parent needs help establishing an obligor’s income alleging he hides his money or works under the table;

-a parent needs help with discovery to try to obtain the other’s bank statements, tax returns, and pay stubs;

I use my AAG experience and skills to help my clients navigate divorce, establish custody and support orders, modify orders, and defend against enforcement suits.  Some of our firm’s divorce and child custody and support cases settle through mediation with little drama between the parties. Other cases require complex litigation spanning many months. Whatever the extent of the case, our law firm’s goal is to diligently protect our clients’ interests and help them obtain the best possible outcomes.

Having worked in-house at the Attorney General’s office, I know child custody and support law impacts millions of people. Whether it’s undergoing genetic testing when establishing an order or defending against the threat of jail when that order is being enforced, Texas family laws are invasive and  tough. Parents and spouses owe it to themselves to know their parental rights under the Texas Family Code. I was founder and editor of the blog Yourchildsupportlawyer.com that helped parents know their rights.

We operate 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday. We operate year-round, except when weekdays fall on: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day. We maintain skeleton crews several weeks each Spring, Summer, and Fall.

Mycase.com is the portal that our clients use to access their case documents, calendars, messages, and bills. It is the best and most efficient way to maintain constant communication with your attorney. Mac Pierre-Louis’s clients can access their Mycase account at the link macpierrelouis.mycase.com. New clients should create their password to enter Mycase from their Mycase invitation email sent out at the beginning of their case

We generally do not grant payment plans unless the matter is of an emergency nature where the Attorney agrees to take the case, but the client’s funds are not yet available in full. Please speak with us to ascertain whether a payment plan is necessary for your legal matter.

While it is difficult to confirm how much a case will cost, our office can give these general guidelines in typical fees: $500 to attend AG Child Support Review Meetings; $1000.00 to attend single-day AG Child Support Court hearings; $2000.00 for uncontested matters; and $3500.00 to begin contested suits. Note additional trial deposits may apply in contested suits. These were attorney’s fees only. Typical additional costs may be for filing fees, services/delivery costs, subpoena/witness fees, court records, translation fees, background checks, and fees to third parties such as mediators, amici, private investigators, etc.

Mediation fees for “half-day” mediations are $350.00 for Zoom mediations and $400.00 for in-person mediations to be held at the Heights Mediation Center located at 3605 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77007. “Six-hour” or “full-day” mediation prices may be reviewed on our mediation booking page on OlowskaPierre.com/Appointments.

Cases can become difficult when we cannot locate a party to issue them personal service. In some civil cases, we may be able to get the court’s permission to execute service by alternative means. In enforcement or “contempt” types of cases, we generally must locate the individual. Know that our office has never “not served” someone. It may take months, span continents, and cost a bit of money to locate the avoiding party, but even if we cannot physically track them down, we’ve discovered that most courts generally will grant alternative, substitute, publication, and social media service after enough satisfactory evidence is presented.

Attorney Mac Pierre-Louis is only licensed to practice law in Texas and Florida. Potential clients residing outside of those states can still hire our office for us to perform services involving legal matters in Texas or Florida. We cannot give legal advice on how other states’ laws apply to any particular set of case facts. We will be happy to refer potential clients to outside legal counsel in other states or countries.

Prior to helping clients in law firms and working for the Attorney General of Texas, I taught elementary school children through Teach for America in the Houston Independent School District. While teaching, I obtained a Master of Education degree from the University of St. Thomas. My interactions with kids, their development, welfare, and family lives, influenced my decision to join the Attorney General’s Child Support Division. Working with kids led me to enter the law and focus on children’s custody and support issues. All my experiences contributed to the publishing of this helpful blog site resource.  A school teacher is both a psychologist and a social worker. After law school, teaching prepared me well for the legal profession and educating parents through this site.

Though we focus our practice around the Houston-metro area and the surrounding courts, we are able to assist clients all across Texas. Note we are unable to appear in-person in courthouses too distant from Houston. However, state law being the same across Texas, we are able to assist our clients remotely through Zoom at AG offices and Courts across the state. We pride ourselves with saying that everything we can do in-person in our physical office, we can do online and virtually with the right set of tools. All our clients need is a phone and/or the Zoom application.