As long as you OR your spouse have lived in Texas for 6 months, you can file for divorce in Texas. However, you OR your spouse must also have lived in the county where you want to file for at least 90 days.

There is a 60-day waiting period from the date that your divorce is filed until the date that you could possibly get divorced. The reality is that most divorces take much longer than 2 months to finalize. The time it takes to complete your divorce is often decided by how complicated your divorce is. Things that tend to take time include disputes about child custody, visitation, child support and the division of things you own or debts you owe.

No. Texas is a “no-fault” divorce state. Basically, that means that you can file for divorce if you and your spouse just don’t get along anymore. You can also still get divorced even if your spouse doesn’t want to divorce.

If you were married in another state or foreign country, your marriage is recognized as a valid marriage in Texas and you still need to file for a divorce to legally end the marriage. As long as you meet the residency requirements mentioned in Question #1 above, you can file for divorce in the county that you live in Texas.

In Texas, there are two types of marriage. A formal marriage is when people are married by a justice of the peace or by someone else authorized to marry people, such as minister. An informal marriage, also called a “common-law” marriage, is when you and your spouse agreed to be married, represented yourself as married, and lived together in Texas. Except in certain situations for common-law marriages, a divorce must be filed to end either a formal or common-law marriage.

No. Texas doesn’t have a legal separation process. You can file for divorce and get temporary orders, which address temporary custody, child support, visitation, and property issues. If you and your spouse reconcile, you can dismiss the divorce.

A divorce will legally end your marriage and divide up the things you own (house, retirement benefits, household goods, cars, bank accounts and investments, etc) and the debts you owe (mortgage, credit cards, car loans, hospital bills, etc). You can also get a name change in a divorce and if needed, permanent orders to have a spouse stop bothering another spouse. If you have children, it will also determine custody, child support, health insurance for the children, and visitation issues.

Texas uses the word “maintenance” instead of alimony. It is very difficult to get and if awarded, only lasts for up to 3 years. You have to have been married for at least 10 years and not be able to support yourself OR your spouse must have a conviction for domestic violence within 2 years from when the divorce was filed.

After you are divorced, there is a 30-day waiting period before you can get married. You can ask a judge to waive the waiting period.

In Texas, custody is called “conservatorship” and has to do with the rights and duties that each parent has regarding the child. In Texas, it is presumed to be in the best interest of the child for the parents to be named joint managing conservators. This means that both parents have similar rights, such as the right to make decisions about things like education and health care, and similar duties, such as the duty to care for the child. However, one parent is named as the primary conservator with the right to decide where the child will live and the right to receive child support. The other parent will have visitation with the child and the duty to pay child support.

In certain circumstances, such as situations where there has been domestic violence, naming the parents as joint managing conservators is not presumed to be in the best interest of the child. If this is the case, one parent will be named the sole managing conservator and the other parent will be named possessory conservator. Typically, the sole managing conservator will have the right to make decisions without consulting the possessory conservator. The child will live with the sole managing conservator, who will have the right to receive child support. The possessory conservator will have visitation with the child and pay child support.

The Court looks at many things to decide which parent it would be in the best interest of the child to live with, such as:

• Who gets the kids up in the morning, who takes them to school, who feeds them, who takes them to the doctor, who meets with their teachers, and the like.
• Whether a parent has a drug or alcohol problem
• Whether a parent has anger management or family violence issues
• Whether a parent has inappropriate parenting skills
• The ability of the parents to communicate with each other and with their children.

In Texas, child support is based on the net income of the person who is ordered to pay child support. Net income is not the same thing as take-home pay. Net income is the amount the person is paid less taxes and things like union dues but not things like contributions made to 401(k) plans.

There are established standard guidelines based on the number of children that the parent is paying to support:

• 20% of net income for 1 child
• 25% of net income for 2 children
• 30% of net income for 3 children
• 35% of net income for 4 children
• 40% of net income for 5 or more children.

If the parent paying child support is also obligated to pay child support for other children, the percentages of net income paid for your children will be slightly less.

As long as you and your ex-spouse are in agreement, your children can see your ex-spouse whenever it is mutually agreeable. However, the Court will also order set out specific times and days for visitation in case you and your ex-spouse don’t agree about visitation.

In Texas, the standard possession order is presumed to be in the best interest of children who are 3 or more years old. Visitation under the standard possession order is basically the 1st, 3rd, and 5th weekend of each month, every Thursday, and alternating holidays.

In situations where the standard possession order would not be in the best interest of the children, such as when child abuse has occurred, the Court can order a different visitation schedule, such as supervised visitation. The Court can also put conditions on the visitation to protect the children, such as no drinking for a certain period of time prior to the visitation or during visitation. It is unlikely that the Court will order no visitation unless there is a significant risk to the child’s safety or welfare and there is no alternative.

If a lawsuit is filed and the alleged father says he is not the biological father of the child, he can request a paternity test. Paternity tests are very expensive. A paternity test involves taking a blood sample from the alleged father, the mother, and the child and running a DNA test on the blood samples. Results are normally available in 2-3 weeks.

If the results show the alleged father is the biological father, the suit will move forward so that custody, child support and visitation can be ordered. If the results are negative, the suit is normally dismissed.

In Texas, domestic violence is called family violence. It is defined as any act that is intended to result in physical, sexual, or bodily injury OR any threat that reasonably causes you to be afraid that physical, sexual or bodily injury is about to occur. It does not include any act or threat that is taken to defend yourself.

The difference between family violence and an assault is that an assault is violence that occurs between people who are strangers or possibly friends. A physical, sexual, or verbal assault becomes family violence when you are abused by:

• Your spouse, even if you no longer living together or are no longer married.
• A person with whom you have a child, even if you’ve never lived together.
• A person with whom you have a dating relationship.
• Someone with whom you live or used to live.

You can apply a protective order through the Travis County Attorney’s Office at (512) 854-4163.

A protective order can order your abuser to stop violent behavior or threatening violent behavior. It can order your abuser to stay away from you, your home, your work, and the schools or day care centers of your children. It can order your abuser to take anger management classes and to go for drug or alcohol testing and treatment. If you have children together, it can establish child support and visitation. If you are married, it can also establish spousal support.

Up to two years.

Adults can file for themselves but a child must have an adult file on their behalf.

Call SafePlace at (512) 267-7233 [(512) 267-SAFE] or (512) 927-9616 TTY to see if they can find you a place to stay. They are also an excellent resource for adult and child counseling at reduced or no cost.