Since 2022, in partnership with legal nonprofit Volare (formerly Network for Victim Recovery DC), Baker Botts has provided pro bono appellate representation in defense of its client’s divorce decree and spousal maintenance award. On June 20, 2025, that representation culminated in a significant victory in the Texas Supreme Court.

In Texas, spousal maintenance (sometimes called alimony in other states) requires that the spouse seeking maintenance prove that 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.” Initially, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals reversed and vacated our client’s spousal maintenance award, holding that she lacked evidence that her property was insufficient to meet her minimum reasonable needs.  In doing so, the court of appeals considered our client’s receipt of child support awarded in the divorce as part of her “property,” without accounting for her child-related expenses or any other expenses that had not been itemized in precise dollar terms.

After the Texas Supreme Court granted our petition for review and held an oral argument (with Senior Associate Tony Lucisano arguing), the Court issued a unanimous opinion reversing the court of appeals’ judgment and reinstating our client’s spousal maintenance award. The Court’s opinion clarified the interplay between child support and spousal maintenance awards, holding that the court of appeals erred by considering the child support award as wholly available to satisfy our client’s own minimum reasonable needs. And the Court held that the court of appeals erred by disregarding qualitative—even if not itemized—evidence that our client could not meet her minimum reasonable needs. The opinion is significant because it is the first from the Texas Supreme Court to evaluate a spouse’s eligibility for spousal maintenance under Chapter 8 of the Texas Family Code, which has existed for nearly 30 years.

The Baker Botts team was led by Tony Lucisano, with assistance at the Texas Supreme Court by Laura McGonagill and Nathan Thibon, and at the court of appeals by Andrew Swallows. Sasha Drobnick from Volare served as co-counsel.

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