Family law paralegals in Texas perform substantive legal work under attorney supervision, handling everything from drafting pleadings to managing discovery in divorce and custody cases. Understanding what paralegals can and cannot do helps attorneys make informed decisions about delegation and case management.
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Core Responsibilities in Texas Family Law
A family law paralegal handles substantive legal tasks that directly support case progression. These professionals work exclusively under attorney supervision and cannot provide legal advice, represent clients, or make strategic decisions. Their role centers on execution: taking attorney direction and converting it into completed work product.
In Texas family law practice, paralegals typically manage three primary categories of work: legal drafting, discovery coordination, and research support. The specific tasks within each category depend on case complexity, attorney preferences, and the paralegal's experience level. What remains constant is the requirement for attorney review and approval of all work product before filing or client delivery.
Common Daily Tasks
- ā¢ Preparing initial divorce petitions and responses
- ā¢ Drafting discovery requests and responses
- ā¢ Organizing financial documentation for property division
- ā¢ Creating exhibit lists and trial binders
- ā¢ Conducting statute and case law research
- ā¢ Managing filing deadlines and court calendars
Legal Drafting and Document Preparation
Document drafting represents the most visible paralegal function in family law cases. This includes initial pleadings, motions, proposed orders, settlement agreements, and final decrees. The paralegal works from attorney instructions, case facts, and legal standards to create documents that meet both procedural requirements and strategic objectives.
In a standard Texas divorce case, a paralegal might draft the original petition based on client intake information, prepare discovery requests targeting specific financial information, create temporary orders following a hearing, and draft the final decree incorporating negotiated settlement terms. Each document requires attorney review before filing, but the paralegal handles the initial composition, formatting, and cite-checking.
Pleadings and Motions
Original petitions, answers, counter-petitions, and various motions form the backbone of family law litigation. Paralegals prepare these documents by applying Texas Family Code provisions and local rules to the specific facts of each case. A motion for enforcement of child support, for example, requires proper statutory citations, specific violation allegations, and requested relief tailored to the client's situation.
Settlement Documents
Mediated settlement agreements, final decrees of divorce, and parenting plans require precise language that translates negotiated terms into enforceable orders. Paralegals draft these documents following attorney direction, incorporating specific property divisions, custody schedules, and support calculations. The attorney reviews for legal sufficiency and strategic alignment before client signature or court submission.
Pro Tip
Experienced family law paralegals maintain template libraries organized by case type and issue. This allows faster document production while ensuring consistency in language and formatting across similar cases.
Discovery Management and Organization
Discovery in Texas family law cases often involves substantial document volumes, particularly in high-asset divorces or complex custody disputes. Paralegals manage this process by preparing requests, organizing responses, tracking deadlines, and creating systems for document review and production.
The paralegal role in discovery extends beyond drafting interrogatories and requests for production. It includes reviewing opposing party responses for completeness, organizing produced documents into usable categories, preparing privilege logs, coordinating with clients on document gathering, and maintaining discovery calendars to ensure compliance with response deadlines.
Request Preparation
Effective discovery requests require understanding what information matters in Texas family law cases. A paralegal drafting requests for production in a property division case targets financial records, business documentation, real estate information, and retirement account statements. In a custody case, the focus shifts to school records, medical documentation, and communications relevant to parenting capacity.
Response Coordination
When responding to discovery, paralegals work with clients to gather responsive documents, organize materials by request number, prepare objections for attorney review, and compile complete responses within the 30-day deadline required by Texas rules. This often involves multiple client communications, document scanning, and detailed tracking to ensure nothing is missed.
Legal Research and Case Analysis
Legal research by paralegals focuses on finding relevant statutes, case law, and procedural rules that support attorney strategy. This might involve researching the standard for modifying conservatorship under Texas Family Code Section 156.101, finding cases interpreting specific property characterization issues, or identifying local rules for a particular county's family court.
Research assignments typically come with defined parameters. An attorney might ask a paralegal to find cases addressing whether a bonus received during marriage but earned partly before marriage is community property, or to research notice requirements for a hearing on temporary orders. The paralegal conducts the research, reviews relevant authorities, and summarizes findings in a memo for attorney review.
Research Focuses in Family Law
- ā¢ Property characterization and division principles
- ā¢ Conservatorship modification standards
- ā¢ Child support calculation guidelines and deviations
- ā¢ Enforcement procedures and remedies
- ā¢ Procedural requirements for specific motions
- ā¢ Local court rules and judge preferences
Ethical Boundaries and Limitations
Texas paralegals cannot practice law. This prohibition includes giving legal advice, representing clients in court, accepting cases, setting fees, or making strategic decisions. Every paralegal action must occur under attorney supervision, with the attorney maintaining responsibility for the work product.
In practice, this means a paralegal cannot tell a client whether to accept a settlement offer, explain what custody arrangement would be best, or advise on litigation strategy. The paralegal can explain procedural steps, gather factual information, and relay attorney instructions, but cannot substitute their judgment for attorney counsel.
Client Communication Boundaries
Paralegals regularly communicate with clients to gather information, provide case updates, and coordinate logistics. These communications must avoid legal advice. A paralegal can ask a client to provide tax returns for discovery responses but cannot advise whether certain deductions will affect property division. They can explain what documents the attorney needs but cannot interpret how those documents impact the case outcome.
Important
Paralegals must clearly identify themselves as paralegals in all client communications and cannot create the impression that they are attorneys or that their opinions constitute legal advice.
How Paralegals Work With Attorneys
Family law paralegals work either as in-house staff within law firms or as external contractors providing services to multiple attorneys. Both models operate under the same ethical requirements but differ in engagement structure and workflow integration.
In-house paralegals typically handle all cases for their employing attorney or firm, maintaining direct access to case files and ongoing familiarity with each matter. External paralegals work on specific assignments or case categories, receiving discrete projects that the attorney delegates based on workload or specialized need.
External Paralegal Services
Some attorneys work with specialized providers such as Paralegal Texas, which operates exclusively in Texas family law and provides external paralegal support for drafting, discovery, and research. This model allows attorneys to access experienced paralegal assistance without maintaining full-time staff, particularly useful for solo practitioners or small firms with variable caseloads.
External arrangements require clear communication protocols, defined project scopes, and systems for attorney review and approval. The attorney remains responsible for supervising the work, ensuring quality, and maintaining client relationship continuity, while the external paralegal executes specific tasks according to attorney instruction.
Whether in-house or external, effective paralegal-attorney collaboration depends on clear role definition, open communication about project requirements, and mutual understanding of ethical boundaries. The attorney must provide sufficient direction for the paralegal to produce useful work product, while the paralegal must recognize when issues require attorney decision-making rather than independent action.
Please note: The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is not a substitute for professional legal counsel. For advice on specific legal issues, please consult with a qualified attorney.