Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Reminds Those Facing Criminal Charges That Their Voting Rights are at Stake

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A criminal conviction can have an extensive impact on your life and your liberty. Unfortunately, many people who get charged with crimes do not realize just how many areas of their life will get affected by their criminal case until they get convicted. One thing that can get affected by a criminal conviction is your voting rights. A recent case illustrates how the impact of a conviction on your voting rights can harm you above and beyond being unable to vote.

Some people commit crimes unknowingly, and that’s just what happened to Crystal Mason. She broke the law by voting in the 2016 election, and she had no idea at the time she cast her vote that it was illegal for her to do so. Unfortunately for Mason, she’s a convicted felon. Mason served three years after she got sentenced for assisting people in filing inflated tax returns, and then she went on supervised release. The election happened during the time she was on supervised release, and Mason did not know that in Texas, a felon’s right to vote cannot get restored until after they have completed their entire sentence, including any release time.

When Crystal Mason went on supervised release, no one told her that she wasn’t supposed to vote until her release got completed. At the voting location, no one stopped Mason from casting her ballot. When Mason’s name wasn’t on the voting rolls, election workers gave her a provisional ballot. As the worker helped her through the voting process, she did not read all the way through the affidavit before declaring, through her signature, that she could legally vote.

Because of an innocent mistake regarding her voting status, Crystal Mason just got sentenced to an additional five years in prison, a sentence that is longer than what she initially got for her original tax crime. That is not a good thing, but it also not the worst case scenario. Fortunately for Crystal Mason, she’s an American citizen and does not have to face deportation in addition to her new prison sentence. That’s what happened to Rosa Marie Ortega, a woman who cast her vote while unaware that although she was a legal resident of the United States and had a green card, she wasn’t a full citizen and had no legal right to vote. Ortega’s mistake resulted in an eight-year prison sentence and possible deportation.

Approximately one out of every forty Texans does not currently have voting rights because of felony convictions. If you have a felony conviction, you can not vote until you have fully completed your parole or release. Once you do that, it is essential that you restore your right to vote. While restoring your right to vote is just one part of the experience of reentering society, it should not get overlooked. Your overall experience of reentry can help you move forward in your life and avoid recidivism.

Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra – Fighting Hard for Texas Defendants

A Texas Criminal Defense Attorney is equipped to help you successfully resolve your Texas criminal law matter. Call Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra, at (903) 753-7499, or fill out a contact form on our website.

Texas Family Law Attorney Talks About How Pending Tax Changes Could Affect Your Divorce

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It’s no secret that divorce affects each divorcing couple financially. The exact ways that each couple gets affected depend primarily on their financial circumstances during their marriage. Unfortunately, though, a recent tax change will soon change the way that divorced Americans get taxed, and many divorcing couples will get affected by the tax change in addition to the financial circumstances of their marriage.

The change in the tax law does not go into effect until January of 2019, but it is not too early for couples contemplating divorce or divorcing to learn about it and understand how it will affect them. For over seventy-five years, divorced couples whose divorce decrees included the payment of alimony have dealt with the payment and receipt of alimony on their tax returns in the same way. Individuals who paid alimony during a tax year got to deduct those payments from their income, and individuals who received alimony payments reported those payments as taxable income. That rule affected couples in different ways, depending upon the financial situations of each, but the overall effect is that each of the individuals in former couples with disparate incomes benefitted from the way that the law required them to report the alimony on their tax returns.

While the individuals who were paying and receiving alimony were benefitting, the government was not getting enriched by the way that alimony got treated under the tax laws. Legislators anticipate that the United States will realize just over eight billion dollars in additional tax revenue between 2019 and 2029 as the result of the change in the way alimony gets taxed. Divorce has always affected the finances of the individuals who get divorced, establishing and maintaining two separate single-income households is not easy, and when there are children, the costs are even higher. Unfortunately, the impact of divorce on each former spouse’s finances is about to increase. The new tax law will have a harmful effect on divorcing couples, especially on women, who receive a majority of the alimony that gets paid in the United States.

The tax change will affect divorced individuals in a way that runs contrary to the very purpose of alimony. Alimony can serve to even out financial resources between spouses with vastly different incomes for a time sufficient to allow the spouse who was earning less to get on their feet and chart their path to financial independence. It can take years for even the most motivated and diligent person to become financially independent, especially if they were out of the work force for a significant period of time and if they are juggling parenting responsibilities along with trying to support their new household.

What does the tax law change mean for divorcing couples? The tax law change removes what had been a powerful incentive for couples to consider making alimony a part of their divorce settlements. Fortunately, you don’t have to navigate your Texas divorce alone. An experienced and dedicated Texas family law attorney can help you work through your divorce towards a result that will work for you. Call (903) 753-7499, to arrange a consultation with Texas Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra. Alternatively, visit our web page anytime and submit an online contact form.