If you are considering getting a divorce, it is important to discuss your case with someone who understands the legal aspects of a divorce. There are many rules regarding grounds for divorce in Texas as well as how the divorce process shall proceed.
For help understanding your divorce options and getting the legal help you need to file for divorce and protect yourself financially during the process, contact the Odessa, TX divorce lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm today. To schedule a free legal consultation with our divorce attorneys, call us today at (817) 476-1797.
Grounds for Divorce in Texas
Texas has both “fault” and “no-fault” divorce options. This means that if you are in a dire situation and need to get divorced because of severe problems with your marriage, you can sue for divorce. Alternatively, you may also file for a no-fault divorce to end a marriage that is no longer working.
No-Fault Divorces in Texas
Texas law has 2 no-fault options for divorce. Any married couple can file for divorce based on “insupportability.” Insupportability means that the marriage has “discord or conflict of personalities” and the parties can no longer enjoy the “legitimate ends of the marital relationship.” This type of divorce is popularly known as a divorce for “irreconcilable differences.”
Alternatively, you can also get a divorce if you and your spouse have been living separately in different households for 3 years. After that 3-year separation, you can file for divorce.
Fault Divorce Grounds in Texas
If you want a divorce but do not want to talk things out with your spouse or your spouse has harmed you or themselves in a way that jeopardizes your marriage, you can also file for divorce based on fault grounds. There are 5 fault grounds for divorce in Texas:
- Cruelty – If one spouse is abusive or verbally/emotionally cruel to the other, the victim can file for divorce.
- Adultery – If one spouse cheated on the other, the faithful spouse can file for divorce.
- Conviction of a Felony – If your spouse was convicted of a felony and is likely to spend at least a year in prison, you can file for divorce as long as you did not testify against your spouse.
- Abandonment – If one spouse intentionally left and abandoned the other for more than a year, the abandoned spouse can file for divorce.
- Confinement in a Mental Hospital – If your spouse has been sent to a mental hospital and is unlikely to recover from their condition, you can file for divorce.
Division of Property and Children in Divorce in Texas
In any divorce case, the division of assets and wealth is often an important point of contention. In marriages with children, deciding who takes the kids may be the most vital issue.
Property Division
Texas is a “community property state.” This means that there is an expectation that all shared property is divided 50/50 when you get divorced. These rules only divide shared “community property” this way; any property that you owned individually before the marriage is not split unless you intentionally shared ownership of this property with your spouse.
Determining which property is community property and which property is individual property is often one of the most difficult and contentious parts of a divorce. If you have a prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement, that agreement can set aside certain property as individual property, making a divorce simpler by pre-establishing how property will be divided.
Child Custody
If you have children when you get a divorce, you must also establish who will take custody of the children and how much child support will be paid. Any time you and the other parent live in separate households, you should go to court to set up strict child custody and support rules, especially after a divorce.
The parties can often come to an agreement about how custody will be split, but the court can also make these decisions for you if you are unable to come to an agreement. In Texas, you can have sole custody (a “sole managing conservatorship”) or joint custody (a “joint managing conservatorship”), potentially allowing both parents to share in important decisions in their children’s lives and to share in parenting time with the children living in their household.
Rules for child support are also important to set during a divorce. These rules establish how much you need to pay to support your children while they live with the other spouse. If one parent has the children for the majority of the time, the other parent will likely pay some level of child support, but this can be reduced if they share time evenly or have a lower income than the other parent.
Odessa, Texas Divorce Attorneys Offering Free Legal Consultations
If you are considering filing for divorce or your spouse has filed for divorce against you, talk to the Odessa divorce lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm today. Our divorce attorneys represent husbands and wives in divorce cases and work to protect their property and child custody rights through the divorce process and help them achieve the proper divorce under the right grounds to fit their situation. For help with your case and to schedule a free legal consultation, call (817) 476-1797 today.