Dallas Divorce Law Blog by Michelle O'Neil

Dallas, Texas — Michelle May O’Neil of Dallas’ divorce boutique firm O’Neil Anderson announces the release of Divorce Cost & Prep — the first in a planned line of divorce-related apps for the iPhone by her newly formed company DivorceApps.com. She and her business partner, forensic CPA Bryan C. Rice, saw a niche in the iPhone app industry that was not being met. “When I got my iPhone, I couldn’t believe how many games were available, but so few apps for divorces,” said Rice. “Michelle and I teamed up to develop some apps that would be beneficial for our clients to use.”

Divorce Cost & Prep serves two purposes. First, a person contemplating divorce can assess the hidden and direct costs of divorce, such as the cost of providing two houses, two wardrobes for the children, or transportation costs for exchanging the children between houses. Second, the app gives divorce clients a list of information and documents to gather for their lawyer to assist preparation of their divorce. O’Neil wanted to provide an app that would make a client’s life easier and her own as well. “Many times clients want to know what documents they can gather for their lawyer, so this will give an easy way for clients to gather everything I will need for their case,” says O’Neil.

Divorce Cost & Prep is available on iTunes for $4.99.

The pair have more apps in the works. Bear Cahill of BrainwashInc.com assisted with the development of the divorce apps for the iPhone.

The app was first featured on CBS11 news in a story by Carol Cavazos (Video link here). The Morning Express with Robin Meade on CNN HLN picked up the story and the app went worldwide. Television and radio stations across the world have featured the Divorce Cost and Prep app. The app has also received rave reviews from reviewers such as walletgenius.com and topcydiaapps.com.

Are there any other Dallas Divorce Lawyers out there on Twitter?  Following advice from some folks on social networking, I joined twitter.  To follow me on twitter… http://twitter.com/michelleoneil .  Not sure how it all works… I’m learning, but it seems like a great way to connect with people all over the place.

You can also link to me on linkedin.com — http://www.linkedin.com/pub/7/475/6b0 

Are you using social media?  Let me know how!

Telephone Recording Device

A Dallas Divorce client asked me a question last week:  My ex left me a really hateful voice mail message – how can I preserve that voice mail message in case we need to use it in the future?

Here’s an answer….  This telephone recording device that I found at Radio Shack.  You put part of it in your ear and the other end sticks out a bit.  Plug it into a handheld recording device — I use one that records digitally and you can download into the computer as an mp3 file. 

So, hook up the device and set it to start recording; dial your voice mail and let it play while you record.  Then download into the computer and save it forever. 

A couple of hints… if you share your computer with your kids, you might password protect the voice mail file so your kids can’t listen.

Also, if you get an urge to record live telephone conversations, please keep in mind that the law only allows you to record a telephone conversation to which you are a party.  If you are participating on the phone, you can record your conversation.  Understand, you cannot record your children’s conversations, your spouse’s conversations, or any other conversations where you are not a part of the exchange.  That would be a violation of federal law!

Planning parenting time splits and possession/access schedules with children can be complex and a frequent source of conflict between parents, even in Dallas Texas divorces.  Fortunately, new software tools have been created to simplify the task.  These software resources assist parents in developing, tracking, and adjusting custody schedules and counting overnights.  For parents who live long-distances apart, these tools can be particularly useful. I have not actually used any of these in my practice. Please let me know if you find these useful so I can make recommendations to my clients.

• CustodyKeeper
• Custody X Change
• Kidmate
• OurFamilyWizard
• ParentingTimeCalendar
• SharedGround
• KidsFirst

Thank you to the Alaska Divorce Blog for pointing me to this.  Check out the article in the May 2008 Newsletter of the ABA’s Family Law Section for a description of each program.

A little bit of technology and a change in Texas family law are allowing families separated by divorce and distance to maintain close relationships. On September 1, Texas became the fourth state to allow video visitation. While proponents of the practice admit that video visitation cannot replace personal visits, they note that it can serve as a powerful substitute. Andrew D. Smith, Denton Record-Chronicle 11/05/2007

I have been honored to be featured in the Texas Bar Journal February 2008 edition Technology column. To see the article, click here. I have also been listed at the Texas Bar’s list of attorney blogs. See that website here.

If you are in need of a Texas Board Certified Family Law attorney, please contact us.