Divorce is a challenging legal and emotional journey, and women often face difficulties that are unique to them. Having a better understanding of what to expect during divorce can leave you better prepared to transition into your post-divorce future smoothly.
One of the most important tools at your disposal when it comes to protecting your parental and financial rights throughout the legal process is working closely with an experienced Killeen divorce attorney from the start.
As a Woman, You’re More Likely to Initiate Divorce
There are a lot of divorce stereotypes out there, but one of them isn’t that women are more likely to file for divorce or initiate divorce than men are. However, according to the American Sociological Association (ASA), this situation is true.
Their long-term study found that, while women initiated divorce about 69 percent of the time, this didn’t hold true for breakups in which the couples lived together but weren’t married, which divides more evenly between men and women.
The Weight of Initiating Divorce
If you initiated your divorce, it means that you came to this very difficult decision on your own – or without having it forced upon you – and this can come with its own brand of emotional challenges.
For example, you may feel the immense weight of interrupting your children’s happy, peaceful lives. There is also the vast unknown that lies ahead to cope with. However, if you’ve done the necessary soul-searching and have determined that divorce is the right option for you, the best course of action is moving forward with a seasoned Killeen divorce attorney by your side.
The Consequences of Initiating Divorce
Many people who are facing divorce believe that there is a considerable advantage to being the filer – rather than being the spouse who is served with the divorce papers – but this isn’t really true. However, if you are the spouse who files, it does give you a few small advantages:
Time to gather your thoughts
Time to retain a skilled attorney who is a good fit for you
Avoiding the emotional turmoil of being blindsided by divorce papers
More opportunity to gather and copy all the documentation you’ll need to keep your divorce moving smoothly forward
In other words, if you’re ready to file, now is a good time to do so, but filing before you’re ready simply to get a jump on your spouse isn’t likely to do you any favors.
If You’ve Been Served with Divorce Papers
If your spouse served you with divorce papers out of the blue, it can be a serious emotional blow. You’re well advised to get the help you need – whether that means talking through things with a trusted family member or friend, joining a support group, seeking guidance from a leader in your religious community, or seeking counseling.
At the same time, it’s important to address the legal matter of your divorce, which should involve reaching out for the skilled legal counsel of a practiced divorce attorney as soon as you can.
Points to Keep in Mind
As you move forward with divorce, it’s important to establish your priorities for both your financial and parental rights and remember that Texas courts base their child custody decisions on various factors, including the status quo.
For example, if your main goal is becoming your children’s primary custodial parent and remaining with them in your family home, it’s a good idea to set the stage for that prior to divorce. In other words, it’s not a good plan to move out of your family home while your divorce is pending in the hopes of moving back in when it is finalized.
Status quo in this context refers to your children’s current living situation and how well it is serving them. If, at the time of your divorce, your children are thriving in your family home with their other parent, it won’t support your divorce goal of filling that role. Your knowledgeable divorce attorney will help you make the right decisions for you as your divorce proceeds.
The State of Texas Does Not Favor Women When It Comes to Child Custody
There is a general belief out there that women are favored in Texas child custody cases, but the law doesn’t work that way.
Yes, the mother is more likely to become the primary custodial parent, who has the children for the majority of their overnights, while the father has a visitation schedule that’s addressed in the parenting plan. However, this is because mothers are more likely to fill this role during their marriages, and Texas courts want to limit drastic changes for children.
Legal Custody
Texas addresses child custody arrangements in terms of both legal and physical custody. Legal custody has to do with each parent’s decision-making authority. This authority relates to decisions like the following:
Where your children go to school or attend daycare
The medical care your children receive
The extracurricular activities and travel that your children participate in
The religious education your children receive
The State of Texas holds the well-established belief that children are best served when each of their parents continues to play a primary role in their lives, and as such, both legal and physical custody are generally shared. When it comes to legal custody, you have all the following options:
Making each of these decisions together
Making each of these decisions together with one of you holding tie-breaking power for those instances when you can’t reach a consensus
Dividing these decisions between you according to category
Physical Custody
Physical custody refers to when your shared children are under your care and when they’re under their other parent’s care. One of you may become the primary custodial parent, and women are more likely to fill this role as a matter of how families tend to be structured rather than because they are women.
Child custody – or parenting time – can also be shared more equally, with each parent having the children for about half of their overnights. Texas courts turn to factors that support the children’s best interests when it comes to child custody orders. Consider these common best-interest factors:
Each child’s age, developmental stage, and needs, including any special needs
Each parent’s ability to effectively address these needs
The relationship each parent has with each of the children
The degree to which each spouse has parented the children to date
The preferences of those children who are considered mature enough to voice them
Each child’s and each parent’s overall mental and physical health
Whether domestic violence, child abuse, or child neglect is an issue
How well the status quo supports the children’s best interests in terms of home, school, and community
The degree to which each parent supports the other’s strong, ongoing relationship with the children
The degree to which each parent is committed to effective co-parenting with the other
Women Tend to Take a Bigger Financial Hit in Divorce
There is a significant body of research out there supporting the claim that women tend to take a bigger financial hit in divorce, but again, this generally stems from household dynamics and social factors rather than from a bias on the part of divorce courts.
The Gender Pay Gap
There is an undeniable gender pay gap in the United States. Over the past two decades, women have earned an average of about 80 percent of men’s earnings. This percentage increased slightly from 80 percent in 2002 to 82 percent in 2022, but the rise is hardly noteworthy. This disparity accounts for some of the financial disparity women tend to experience in divorce.
Women Make Up Nearly Half the Workforce
An analysis of the latest census data shares all the following telling statistics:
Women make up 47 percent of the workforce, but only 42 percent of managers are women.
Managers who are women are less likely than their male counterparts to have children at home.
The pay gap for women who are managers is even greater than it is for workers generally. Female managers in full-time positions earn 71 cents for every dollar that full-time male managers make.
While women make up about half the workforce in this country, they continue to take on the lion’s share of homemaking and caring for the children within marriages, and this, too, leaves them vulnerable to divorce-related financial inequities.
Women Are More Likely to Put Their Careers on Hold during Marriage
While many married women with children continue to work full-time, women are also more likely than their husbands to put their careers on hold when their children are young. In so doing, they provide invaluable services while supporting their spouses’ earning power.
However, their own ability to earn moving forward can be seriously affected. Getting back into the work world after a lengthy hiatus can leave women with few options and with no way to continue supporting themselves at the same standard of living achieved during the marriage.
When you have a trusted Killeen divorce attorney in your corner from the outset, you help to ensure that your financial rights will be well protected and that your divorce terms will support your ongoing financial security.
The Division of Marital Property
In Texas, any assets that you acquired while married are considered marital, and it doesn’t matter if only one of your names is attached or if only one of you made the purchase. These assets are marital, and they must be divided fairly – or in a manner that is considered “just and right” – upon divorce.
Any separate assets that either of you owned prior to marriage will remain that spouse’s separate property, but only if the asset was kept separate throughout the marriage, which means no intermingling of the financing.
While your marital estate must be divided between you fairly, this doesn’t necessarily mean equally. If your divorce attorney can prove that your position within your marriage leaves you at an unfair financial disadvantage, considering your overall effort, it can directly affect the division of your assets.
Consider the factors that guide the division of marital property in Texas:
The length of the marriage
Each spouse’s separate estate
The size of the marital estate
Each spouse’s contributions to the marriage – including in terms of childcare and homemaking – and to the other’s career
Each spouse’s age and overall mental and physical health
Each spouse’s level of education and employability
Any extenuating circumstances that are relevant to the case at hand
Alimony
Alimony is the exception rather than the rule in Texas divorces. Still, there are situations in which alimony can help balance the earning discrepancy between exes until the recipient gains greater financial independence.
Alimony is considered appropriate when divorce leaves one spouse without the financial means to address his or her own reasonable needs in the context of the standard of living achieved during the marriage while his or her ex has the financial ability to help.
Alimony is intended to provide the recipient with the resources needed to become more financially independent through education or the acquisition of job skills. The longer your marriage and the greater the financial divide between you and your ex, the more likely alimony becomes.
An Experienced Killeen Divorce Attorney Is Standing By to Help
Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard is a focused Killeen divorce attorney who dedicates his impressive practice to helping clients like you obtain terms that fairly address any financial disadvantages they face, and he’s here for you, too. For more information about how we can help you, please don’t hesitate to contact us online or call us at (254) 781-4222 and schedule a FREE consultation today.