The Guerra Law Firm

Carrollton TX Family Law Attorneys

Attorney Profile  

This is a family law firm.  Family law often involves the very emotional and difficult breakup of a family unit and the division of marital property, assets, and debts.  Family law requires patience and understanding, high ethical standards, and knowledge of the law.  Contact us if you need a divorce lawyer or child custody lawyer with the experience and ability to negotiate these emotionally charged issues.  While we will help clients achieve peaceable resolution of their family law disputes whenever possible, our family law attorneys are also experienced trial lawyers, should litigation be needed.

Karen S. Guerra

Karen Guerra has been certified as a Specialist in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1995.*  

Karen was born in Nebraska and grew up in Iowa.  She has lived in Texas since 1973. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, Texas, with a BBA in Finance. Karen then attended Baylor Law School, where she was a member of the Baylor Law Review.  Karen graduated from Baylor Law School in 1989 with honors in the top five percent of her class.

After her graduation from law school, Karen and her husband, John, formed Guerra and Guerra law offices in McAllen, Texas, where Karen practiced general civil litigation and family law.  Early pioneers in the mediation movement, Karen and John provided mediation services and mediation training in South Texas and throughout the State.  While living in the Valley, Karen and John were actively involved in marriage preparation programs of their church, and were a presenting team for Worldwide Marriage Encounter and Engaged Couples Encounter.

In 1997, Karen accepted a position as the managing attorney for a child support office of the Texas Attorney General in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Working with the Attorney General's Office, Karen gained extensive experience in interstate child support litigation, as well as experience with creative child support collection techniques. In 1999, Karen and John moved to Carrollton, Texas, when Karen accepted a position with the Fifth District Court of Appeals. From 2001 to 2004, Karen worked for Hammerle Finley law offices in Denton and Lewisville.  She opened The Guerra Law Firm in Carrollton in July, 2004.

As an experienced Family Law Specialist, Karen has handled numerous divorce cases and complex family law issues, and she has extensive jury and non-jury trial experience. She has experience in family violence protective orders, contempt and enforcement procedures, marital property agreements, contested property divisions, retirement matters, post divorce modifications, adoptions, paternity suits, and termination of parental rights litigation.  She has handled interstate and international child visitation and child support issues, writs of attachment, writs of habeas corpus, execution of judgments, and bills of review.  Karen also has significant experience in appellate law and has successfully prosecuted and defended appeals of numerous family law issues.  Although Karen's primary emphasis has been in family law, she also has experience in handling personal injury cases, business organization, contract disputes, and real estate matters.  As an experienced mediator, Karen has mediated family and non family law disputes.

Continuing legal education is important to Karen, and she stays on the cutting edge of the development of family law as it impacts her clients' cases. She has authored numerous scholarly papers and has been a speaker for the State Bar of Texas and other organizations both in area of family law and Alternative Dispute Resolution.  Karen has a strong background in financial issues, extensive family law experience, and expertise in mediation and negotiation. This experience, coupled with her genuine concern for people, make Karen well suited to help clients deal with the significant emotional and financial stressors they experience when involved in family law disputes. 

John F. Guerra, Retired, Of Counsel

John Guerra was certified as a Family Law Specialist by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization from 1990 until 2008, when he officially retired from the practice of law due to his progressive disability associated with Multiple Sclerosis.

John Guerra was born in McAllen, Texas. He received his bachelor of arts degree from St. Mary's University in San Antonio in 1974 with dual majors of Philosophy and English. After obtaining teaching credentials in 1975, he entered St. Mary's Law School, where he graduated in 1977.

John and Karen have been married for 36 years. Prior to moving to the DFW area, John and Karen practiced law together in McAllen. There they also opened the Lawtalk, Inc. mediation and training center. As course director for Lawtalk, Inc., John developed one of the first 40-hour mediation training courses in Texas, as well as training programs for the Advanced Mediation of Divorce and Family Cases, Negotiation Strategies for Lawyers, Peer Mediation for School Aged Children, and For Kid's Sake Parenting Training. John was a founding member and served a three year term on the Governing Council of the State Bar of Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Section. In 1993, he served on the statewide Interdisciplinary Task Force on the Quality of ADR Practice in Texas, and also served as the President of the Texas Association of Mediators in Texas.

In 1996, John was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and, on the advice of his physician, took a sabbatical from trial work. He became an advocate for persons with disabilities and has represented numerous people with discrimination and accessibility disputes. John obtained his Master's of Science degree in Educational Psychology & Counseling from Texas A & M University in Corpus Christi in 1999.

John and Karen have a son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren, who are their pride and joy.

*To become Board Certified in a specialty area, an attorney must have been licensed to practice law for at least five years, devoted a required percentage of practice to a specialty area for at least three years, handled a wide variety of matters in the area to demonstrate experience and involvement, attended continuing education seminars regularly to keep legal training up to date, been evaluated by fellow lawyers and judges, and passed a 6-hour written examination. To remain certified, an attorney must apply for recertification every five years and meet substantial involvement, peer review, and continuing legal education requirements for the specialty area. Certified Family Law specialists have participated in the contested trial of cases involving matters such as divorce, property division, child custody, child support, adoption, paternity and other matrimonial matters.