Houston Divorce and Family Law Blog

A covenant not to compete may sound like arcane legal agreement, but it can have a significant impact on the ability to practice one's craft, whether it is medicine, engineering, running a restaurant or anything else. It can also protect an employer against a departing employee's "stealing" the company's customers and goodwill.

A non-compete agreement typically states that the employee will not provide the same product or service in competition with the employer, once the employee no longer works for the employer. Specifically, a covenant not to compete will limit:

• Time: the number of months or years after employment that the employee must not compete against the employer
• Activity: the types of products or services the employee is prohibited from producing or performing
• Geography: the geographical area in which the employee must not perform the activity

Physicians often must sign covenants not to compete when they sign employment contracts. In Texas, covenants not to compete involving physicians trigger special rules. Such agreements must:

• Allow the physician access to a list of patients he or she treated the year prior to termination of employment
• Upon patient authorization, allow access to medical records for a reasonable fee
• Allow the physician to buy out the of the agreement for a reasonable cost
• Not stop the physician from continuing treatment of a sick patient

While non-compete agreements protect physicians' employers from competition that could seriously hurt their business, the agreements must not be too restrictive. If the court views a non-compete agreement as going too far - whether it is too limiting on the physician's ability to earn a living or help patients, or it is overzealous in protecting the employer's goodwill or business interests - the court may decide that it is an unreasonable restraint of trade and throw out the agreement.

Because of the complexity of non-compete agreements for physicians, we recommend speaking with an attorney before you sign one or offer one.

Texas treats parents' obligation to support their children very seriously. Take, for instance, the case of a Tyler man who went so long without paying child support that he faced criminal prosecution. After attempts to secure the money through civil remedies failed, prosecutors charged the father with criminal nonpayment of child support. Now the man has been sentenced to two years in jail and must pay a $10,000 fine.

Another man was recently arrested in Tarrant County for criminal nonsupport. Attorney General Greg Abbott announced that the man "ignored his legal and moral responsibility to support his child."

Texas courts calculate child support based on disposable income, according to defined guidelines; a court may, however, exceed those guidelines if it is in the best interests of the child. Child support typically is withheld directly from parents' wages.

Texas law takes a proactive approach to the failure to pay child support. Indeed, Texas statutory language states, "Prompt action is required to avoid the accumulation of substantial arrearages of support. It is much easier for the obligor to make current payments from a certain level of disposable income than to make current payments and also pay down arrearages from the same level of income." This means, essentially, that the faster the problem is taken care of, the less likely it is to get out of hand. And that is better for everybody.

Ultimately, the goal is to satisfy the best interests of the children. Texas will get tough on parents who refuse to pay. This is why parents who owe child support should do everything they can to meet their obligations -- or explain to the court why they legitimately cannot. Interference with the paying parent's visitation rights, for example, is not an excuse for refusing to pay child support.