SMB Law, PC

When your family or your health is on the line, you should be able to call your lawyer and get your lawyer.

That sounds like a small thing. It isn't. It is the single most common complaint I hear in first consultations — someone hired a firm, met an impressive attorney at the sales meeting, and then spent the next eight months talking to a paralegal and an associate they'd never been introduced to. They found out who was actually handling their divorce on the morning of the hearing.

I'm Shane M. Boasberg. I founded SMB Law, PC in Austin in January 2010, and I have been licensed to practice law in Texas since January 2003. My firm is small on purpose. When you hire me, I am the attorney who reads your file, I am the attorney who negotiates your case, and I am the attorney standing next to you in the Travis County courtroom. There is no handoff, because there is nobody to hand you off to.

What SMB Law, PC does

SMB Law, PC is an Austin law firm with two practice areas: Texas family law and personal injury. We are located at 1204 San Antonio Street, Suite 201, Austin, TX 78701 — three blocks from the Travis County Civil and Family Courthouse — and we serve clients across Travis, Williamson, and Hays Counties.

Those two practice areas sit under one roof for a reason I'll explain in a moment, but here is what each one covers.

Family law and divorce

I handle contested and uncontested divorce, high-asset and high-net-worth divorce, collaborative divorce, military divorce, and LGBTQ divorce. On the children's side: child custody and conservatorship, possession and visitation schedules, child support, modifications when circumstances change, and enforcement when the other side stops following the order. I also handle spousal maintenance (what most people call alimony), protective orders and family violence matters, premarital and postnuptial agreements, QDROs dividing retirement accounts, step-parent adoption, grandparents' rights, and name changes.

Texas is a community property state, and that one fact drives most of what surprises people about divorce here. Property acquired during the marriage is presumed community property subject to a "just and right" division — which does not automatically mean 50/50. Separate property has to be proven by clear and convincing evidence, which is a real evidentiary burden and the reason tracing matters so much in cases involving a business, an inheritance, or an account that existed before the marriage. Texas also requires a 60-day waiting period from the date of filing before a divorce can be finalized, and at least one spouse must have lived in Texas for six months and in the county for 90 days.

Personal injury

On the injury side I represent people hurt in car accidents, truck and 18-wheeler collisions, motorcycle accidents, bicycle and pedestrian accidents, rideshare and scooter crashes, drunk driving crashes, hit-and-runs, and uninsured and underinsured motorist claims. I handle wrongful death claims for families who have lost someone.

The deadline is the thing I wish more people understood. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 gives you two years from the date of the injury to file suit in most personal injury cases. Miss it and the claim is gone, no matter how strong it was. But there are shorter traps hiding underneath that two-year rule. If a government entity is involved — a city bus, a county vehicle, a state employee — the Texas Tort Claims Act requires formal notice within six months. And if the claim is against the City of Austin specifically, the city's charter cuts that notice window to 45 days. I have seen legitimate claims die on that 45-day rule because nobody told the injured person it existed.

Why one attorney handles both family law and injury cases

People ask about this combination, so let me answer it directly.

Life does not organize itself into practice areas. A woman in the middle of a contested custody case gets rear-ended on MoPac. A man recovering from a truck accident, out of work and behind on bills, gets served with divorce papers. When that happens at a large firm, the client gets routed to a different department and a different lawyer, and has to explain their entire life again to a stranger.

At my firm, they don't. Same attorney, both matters, one person who already knows the whole situation. That continuity is the honest reason the two practice areas live together here, and it is worth more than it sounds like on paper — because the two cases genuinely affect each other. A personal injury settlement received during a marriage has a specific characterization under Texas law: compensation for pain and suffering and disfigurement is generally the injured spouse's separate property, while lost wages and medical expenses incurred during the marriage are generally community. Handled by two lawyers who never talk, that distinction gets missed. Handled by one, it gets planned for.

How working with this firm actually goes

You talk to me. Not an intake specialist, not a case manager. If you call and I'm in a hearing, you'll get a call back from me.

The first consultation is free, and it's a real consultation, not a sales pitch with a form to sign at the end. I will tell you if I think you don't need a lawyer. I will tell you if I think your case belongs with someone else — including, sometimes, a board-certified specialist at a larger firm, if what you're facing calls for that.

I'll give you the honest version of your timeline and your odds. Not the version that gets you to sign. Most Texas divorces do not go to trial; most of them resolve in mediation, and knowing that from day one changes how you should prepare and how much you should spend. If your expectations are unrealistic, I'd rather have that conversation in week one than in month nine.

On fees: family law matters are handled hourly against a retainer, with the rate and the retainer disclosed in writing before you engage me — no surprise invoices. Personal injury cases are handled on contingency, which means no fee unless we recover for you, with the percentage stated in your agreement up front. You will never get an hourly bill on an injury case.

Free tools — no email required, no form to fill out

There are six calculators and research tools on my website at law-smb.com. They are free, and I mean actually free — no email capture, no gated download, no follow-up call. Use them before you ever contact me, or instead of contacting me.

Texas Child Support Calculator — applies the current statutory guidelines, including the net-resources cap that rose to $11,700 per month effective September 1, 2025, and the low-income schedule.

Texas Alimony (Spousal Maintenance) Calculator — enforces the Chapter 8 caps: the lesser of $5,000 per month or 20% of the paying spouse's average monthly gross income, with duration limits of 5, 7, or 10 years depending on length of marriage.

Texas Divorce Cost Calculator — four questions, and it gives you a realistic cost band and timeline instead of a number designed to make you feel better.

Texas Injury Deadline Calculator — the statute of limitations tool, including minor tolling, the six-month Tort Claims Act notice, and the Austin 45-day window, with a live countdown.

Car Accident Settlement Estimator — gives you a range, not a promise. No calculator can tell you what your case is worth, and any tool that pretends otherwise is selling something.

Austin Dangerous Intersections Map — built from City of Austin Vision Zero crash records: 37,012 crashes, 286 deaths, and 25,060 injuries between January 2023 and December 2025, mapped and ranked. As far as I know nobody else in Austin has done that work with the actual data.

Background and credentials

I was born in New Orleans and came to Texas for school. I earned a B.A. in Government and History from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999, then my J.D. from South Texas College of Law in Houston in 2002. I was admitted to the State Bar of Texas on January 16, 2003 (bar number 24038249) and to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before opening my own firm, I clerked at Gallagher, Lewis, Downey & Kim while in law school, working on large commercial litigation matters. I practiced at Heard, Robins, Cloud, Lubel & Greenwood LLP in Houston. I served as General Counsel to Texas State Senator Mario Gallegos, drafting legislation and doing legal analysis at the Capitol. I also worked at the Office of the Texas Attorney General on transportation, eminent domain, administrative law, and legislative liaison work.

That government background is not decoration. Understanding how state agencies and municipalities actually operate is directly useful when your injury claim involves a government vehicle, a road design question, or a notice requirement most private-practice lawyers only read about once.

I was designated a Rising Star by Texas Monthly / Texas Super Lawyers in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016 — a distinction given to roughly the top 2.5% of attorneys in the state, based on peer nomination and independent research.

Professional memberships: State Bar of Texas · Austin Bar Association · Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA) · Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association (CATLA). SMB Law, PC is a BBB Accredited Business.

Where I practice

Austin and all of Travis County, including the Travis County Civil and Family Courthouse downtown. Williamson County: Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Pflugerville, Hutto, Taylor. Hays County: San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs, Wimberley. Also Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Manor, Del Valle, and Bastrop.

Being three blocks from the courthouse is a practical advantage, not a marketing one. Emergency hearings, temporary orders, last-minute filings — proximity matters when a judge gives you two hours' notice.

Who I'm a good fit for, and who I'm not

I'd rather be straight with you than win a client I can't serve well.

I'm a good fit if you want direct access to the attorney handling your case, if you're facing a contested divorce or custody matter and feel like a file number somewhere else, if you want honest expectation-setting instead of reassurance, or if you've been injured in a Central Texas collision and want someone who will actually pick up the phone.

I'm probably not your best option if you need a large litigation team for a nine-figure marital estate with complex business valuations, or if you have a catastrophic injury claim requiring millions in case financing against a national defense firm. Those cases exist and they belong with firms built for them. I'll tell you that in the free consultation rather than take your retainer and figure it out later.

Questions I get in almost every first call:

How long does a divorce take in Texas? The statutory minimum is 60 days from filing. An uncontested divorce with no children and no real property can finish close to that. A contested case with custody and property disputes more commonly runs six months to a year, sometimes longer if the court's docket is crowded.

Do I have to go to court? Usually not for a trial. Travis County requires mediation in most contested family cases, and the large majority settle there.

Is Texas a 50/50 state? No. Texas requires a "just and right" division of community property, which can and often does come out uneven based on factors the court is allowed to weigh.

How long do I have to file an injury claim? Two years in most cases. Six months' notice if a government entity is involved, and 45 days if the claim is against the City of Austin. Don't wait to find out which applies to you.

What does the first meeting cost? Nothing.

SMB Law, PC 1204 San Antonio Street, Suite 201, Austin, TX 78701 (512) 561-5003 · [email protected] · law-smb.com

Free initial consultation. Family law handled hourly against a disclosed retainer; personal injury handled on contingency with no fee unless we recover. Serving Travis, Williamson, and Hays Counties.

This profile is general information about the firm and Texas law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.