Like many divorcing couples, Attorney General Ken Paxton and his state senator wife, Angela, are attempting to end their marriage amicably through mediation.
The Paxtons chose Randall “Randy” Wilhite, a longtime, award-winning family law attorney, mediator and adjunct professor at law schools in Dallas, Houston and Austin, to try to negotiate a fair outcome in their high-profile case, according to court records.
While mediation has long been an option in divorce cases in Texas, many couples don’t learn about it until after a considerable amount of time and fees already have been spent, according to a December 2023 opinion article written by Dallas family law attorney Chris Lake and published in The Dallas Morning News.
In mediation, a neutral third party helps divorcing spouses negotiate a settlement outside of court. The terms that need to be worked out may include child custody, asset division and support payments.
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Angela Paxton, a Republican from McKinney, filed for divorce in July in Collin County, citing her husband’s alleged infidelity as being among the reasons for wanting to dissolve their union.
Both Paxtons sought to have the case file sealed from public view, but gave up that fight last month after media organizations and a government watchdog group sued to get access.
In the records, Angela seeks temporary control of key assets and a “disproportionate” share of the couple’s estate. Ken Paxton, a Republican running for the Senate, denied the adultery allegations.
The mediation effort highlights how a normally private family-law case involving two elected officials has moved into public view. It also has exposed competing claims over finances and conduct under intense political scrutiny.
Among the details in the newly opened file is that the Paxtons agreed to try mediation. The records also showed they had agreed to retain Wilhite as their mediator.
During his more than 40 years of practice, Wilhite has repeatedly been recognized for his work and expertise in family law, as well as in family mediation and arbitration, according to websites for his law firm, Fullenweider Wilhite, and the peer-review directory Best Lawyers.
His areas of expertise include complex legal issues, valuation disputes, tax issues and business divisions, the websites said.
Among the more notable family law cases Wilhite has been involved in was a highly contentious 2017 child custody case between conservative radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Jones’ ex-wife, Kelly Jones.
Wilhite, who represented Alex Jones as a civil lawyer in the matter, was quoted by the Austin American-Statesman as saying during a pretrial hearing in Austin that his client was a “performance artist” and nothing like the “character” on his radio show and in public appearances.
The News reached out to Wilhite for an interview, which he initially agreed to as long as no clients were discussed or mentioned, but then later declined. His office did not respond to a request to provide his photo.
In addition to being a lawyer, Wilhite is a certified public accountant and co-author of three books on Texas Family Law. He’s also worked as an adjunct family law professor at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, the University of Houston Law School, and Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law.
Among the honors Wilhite has received is being named Mediator of the Year by the State Bar of Texas.
Control over outcome
Working out a divorce through mediation can help couples save a lot of time, money and frustration. It also offers them much more control over the outcome than they’d have if a judge presided over their case.
The spouses are often placed in separate rooms, with the mediator going back and forth between them, talking through their emotions, issues and facts, according to a 2024 column written for The News by attorney Virginia Hammerle.
In successful mediations, the parties involved decide the terms. Yet the agreement is still signed off on by a judge and is just as legally binding as if a judge had presided over it.
In large Texas court systems like Dallas County, divorcing couples are required to try mediation first, said Lake, who’s been practicing family law in Dallas and Collin counties for more than three decades.
“It’s a generally accepted consensus among Texas family law attorneys that mediation settles more than 90% of all family law cases that are actually mediated,” Lake said.
Although the Texas Judicial Branch website maintains statistics on the number of family law matters resolved by agreement, it doesn’t keep specific numbers for those concluded through mediation, Lake said.
Laura Roach, one of Ken Paxton’s divorce lawyers, said as she walked out of a court hearing in the case last month in Collin County that she’s confident the couple will reach a peaceful agreement.