Ms. Wincott with the assistance of her paralegal, Rudy Rodriguez, accepted 22 Pro Bono cases in the past year.

 

 

 

                                                     Posted on October 23, 2012 by Guest Blogger

It's National Pro Bono Week! In celebration, the Texas Access to Justice Commission, Texas Access to Justice Foundation, and the State Bar – Legal Services Support Division would like to spotlight a few star pro bono volunteers from across the state.For those of us who manage pro bono legal programs, we have heard of those rare volunteers who come to every clinic; take whatever cases you have (regardless of how difficult or complicated); will take more than one case at each clinic; and thought to ourselves, “How do we find one those volunteers?” The San Antonio Bar Association’s Community Justice Program was lucky enough to have one of those volunteers find us. Tammy Wincott is a model volunteer attorney who all pro bono legal programs dream of having on their team. Tammy has been volunteering with the program since 2009 and has rarely missed an opportunity to participate in one of the many monthly pro bono legal clinics the Community Justice Program facilitates each year, yet still finds time to manage her own successful legal practice. Tammy was honored this year as the 2012 CJP Pro Bono Attorney of the Year for taking 22 pro bono cases throughout the year — an award she also won last year for taking 19 pro bono cases. Tammy is able to assist the low-income residents in our community because of her vast legal knowledge and experience in many different areas of law — including bankruptcy, family law and immigration. She is particularly compassionate with our indigent veterans who attend the program’s monthly Veterans Legal Clinic. A former member of the U.S. Air Force, Tammy understands the struggles that many veterans and their families face upon leaving active duty and often takes two or three cases during a veterans clinic. Tammy also leads by example and is an inspiration to other attorneys by emphasizing the importance of giving back and making a commitment to service. She is one of those rare jewels in the world of pro bono legal services — she is the attorney who never says no, keeps coming back to each clinic, and is always willing to go above and beyond the volunteer requirements. We are grateful and fortunate to consider Tammy a friend of the CJP and look forward to seeing her each month at one of our family law, wills, or veteran clinics. We thank her for her continued support of the program and dedication to helping low-income residents in our community access legal services.

 

 

The maximum amount of spousal maintenance was increased from $2,500 a month to $5,000 a month, or 20 percent of gross earnings, whichever is less, to provide for a spouse’s reasonable needs. 

 

In a Texas suit for dissolution of marriage, a spouse can seek spousal maintenance if the spouse will lack sufficient property, including the spouse’s separate property, on dissolution of the marriage to provide for the spouse’s minimum reasonable needs and either family violence has occurred during the suit or within two years of the suit or the spouse seeking maintenance cannot support themselves because of a physical or mental disability, is the custodian of a child that requires substantial care, or the parties have been married for 10 years or longer and the spouse lacks the ability to earn sufficient income to provide for the spouse’s minimum reasonable needs.

If the spouses have been married for at least 10 years but not more than 20 years, the court may order maintenance up to five years.

 

The court may order spousal maintenance for up to seven years if the spouses were married to each other for at least 10 years but not more than twenty years.

 

If the spouses were married for thirty years or more, the spouse seeking maintenance may receive it up to 10 years.

 

This is a significant expansion of the old law although a party seeking maintenance must still meet several requirements before the court will order the maintenance.

 

Please contact an attorney to seek advice on this subject.