Texas Divorce Laws
If you need to file for divorce in the state of Texas, you should know there are numerous issues to address. Divorce is a hard topic to consider, and difficult to endure. Almost all divorces deal with property division, and most involve issues for children like custody, support and your schedule with your children.
Most divorces deal with property division, which generally divides your community property. Property division would almost always include your house, your retirement, insurance coverages, investments and cash. Add to that, you must divide your personal belongings. Of course any property that you can prove is your separate property would be awarded to you. Items or assets you owned before marriage, something that you inherited or items given to you during marriage are all examples of separate property. There can be very complex property issues involving family owned businesses or complicated investments.
It is important to hire an attorney who can help you maximize your wealth, by maximizing your financial position after divorce. In Texas, there is no rule that property is divided in half, or “50-50”. Instead, the Court divides property as the Judge finds is “just and right”. That means taking into account numerous factors that are particular to you as compared to your spouse, such as earning capacity, age, education, ability to accumulate retirement, health, potential earning capacity in the future, among many others. Thus a disproportionate, or uneven, division of property may be appropriate in your case. Even when people are agreeable to some degree, the negotiation for the division of property should be very carefully evaluated.
Many people are relieved to know that you do not have to argue fault or a reason to get a divorce in Texas. Rather, the greatest majority of cases are granted on what is known as “no fault” grounds. Essentially, you ask for a divorce and on that basis alone, divorce is granted. It is every other issue in a divorce that adds to the complication.
Another source of relief for most people in a divorce is that the greatest majority of divorces are settled without going to trial in a courtroom. Every local court requires that the parties work hard at resolving their case through negotiation or mediation. Almost all courts will order the parties to go to a mediation before trial. A mediation is an assisted negotiation with an impartial knowledgeable mediator to help the parties work toward settlement.
However, we are ready to go to Court in any case that trial is required. You need an attorney with experience negotiating settlements as well as going to trial to protect your property rights and your children. In fact, trial experience improves your opportunities for settlement. Further, it is very common during a divorce for the court to enter temporary orders while the case is pending. Temporary orders are available to deal with monthly house bills, business expenses, who lives where, who has possession of what property, schedules for the children and the like. Temporary orders can be negotiated or presented to the Court for consideration.
Divorces also very frequently involve children. Children can and should be protected in a divorce from the conflict between their parents. A divorce decree will include terms for the support of your children, which is monthly child support payments and medical insurance coverage, among other matters. You as a parent will need terms in a decree to set a schedule for when the children will be with you as well as specify holiday schedules. You may customize your schedule to respect your family traditions. Other rights specified for children in a decree will determine who will make certain decisions like education and medical matters. Often you must litigate the custody of the children to determine where the children will live more of the time. This is known as a custody fight. We are prepared to help you get orders from the court that are best for your children.
Hiring a trustworthy attorney with both trial and settlement experience to represent you in your case is a wise decision. You can learn more about the divorce laws in Texas by clicking here..