Laura D. Heard

Career Highlights

• Firm Founder and Managing Attorney: Founded the practice now known as South TX Family Law and leads its multi-attorney team in family law, divorce, child custody, mediation, estate planning, and probate matters.
• Nearly Four Decades of Texas Advocacy: Has served Texas families since 1987 and has represented clients in courts across the state, from the Texas Panhandle to Corpus Christi.
• Fourth Court of Appeals Experience: Began her legal career as a briefing attorney for the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio, assisting with the research and writing underlying appellate decisions.
• Distinguished Law-School Record: Graduated in the top 10% of her law-school class and earned American Jurisprudence Awards for achieving the highest grades in Domestic Relations and Agency and Partnership Law.
• Published Legal Author and Scholar: Authored the 2022 consumer guide Divorce and Estate Planning in Texas: How to Plan Ahead for the Unexpected and Save Your Family’s Future, published two works in the St. Mary’s Law Journal, and prepared professional materials addressing probate ethics and post-trial practice.
• University and Continuing-Education Instructor: Served as an adjunct professor at Wayland Baptist University from 1993 through 2005, teaching Business Law, Business Ethics, Criminal Law, Health Care Law, and Law and Society. She also taught at the San Antonio Bar’s People’s Law School in 1995 and presented continuing legal education programs for the National Business Institute from 2006 through 2007.
• Longstanding Children’s Advocate: Has served as guardian ad litem for hundreds of abused children and devoted more than two decades to representing children in matters involving child-protective services.
• Extensive Public Legal Education: Has produced hundreds of publicly available videos explaining divorce, child custody, wills, probate, trusts, and other legal subjects in practical language for Texas families.
• Professional Leadership: Served as president of the San Antonio chapter of the Christian Legal Society, was a charter member of the Texas Women Lawyers Board of Directors, and is a founding member of Women in Business for Good.
• Volunteer Mediation Service: Has contributed her family-law and conflict-resolution experience as a volunteer mediator with the Bexar County Dispute Resolution Center.
• Community Commitment: Has supported Prevent Child Abuse Texas, Habitat for Humanity, and Food for the Hungry. Her community involvement has also included volunteering with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and serving as a Girl Scout troop leader.
• Sustained Professional Recognition: Received a 2018 Top Lawyers in Texas award recognizing high ethical standards and professional excellence, was named an Outstanding Lawyer by the San Antonio Business Journal in 2019, and was selected among the 10 Best Family Law Attorneys in Texas annually from 2019 through 2022. She was also recognized as a Top Family Lawyer in San Antonio in 2021 and among San Antonio’s Best Appellate Lawyers in 2005 and 2006.
• Firmwide Ethics Recognition: Under Heard’s leadership, South TX Family Law received the 2025 Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Ethics.

Proven Experience

• Custody Modification Protecting a Child’s Welfare: Represented a father seeking a change of custody in his daughter’s best interests. Custody was transferred to the father, who later credited the result with placing his daughter in a safe and responsive environment when she required emergency medical treatment.
• Child-Custody and Support Victory: Helped a parent prevail in a child-custody case while obtaining fair and clearly defined child-support arrangements, providing greater stability for the family.
• Needed Child Support Restored: Represented a parent after a former spouse stopped providing regular support for their child. The matter produced a fair outcome that restored the financial support the child needed.
• Divorce Results Respected by Opposing Parties: Two people who faced Heard on the opposing side of their respective divorces publicly described decisive results for her clients. Both later recommended Heard themselves, and one reported referring additional people who were also pleased with her representation.
• Divorce and Estate Planning That Helped Restore Stability: Guided a client through divorce while also preparing the client’s will. The client credited Heard’s work with helping the family reestablish itself, rebuild, and move forward with greater security.

A Note About Family-Law Case Privacy

Divorce, custody, support, parentage, and domestic-violence proceedings frequently involve children, financial records, medical information, and other sensitive personal matters. Depending on the court and jurisdiction, records may be confidential, sealed, redacted, or unavailable for remote public review. Consequently, an attorney’s publicly documented results may represent only a portion of their family-law experience.