More and more people are turning to online options when it comes to divorce, and while the convenience and cost can be inviting, it’s important to recognize that – in the long run – it can be a far more costly route if your rights aren’t well protected. There is a lot more to divorce than simply sketching out a few terms and hoping for the best.
Ultimately, your divorce terms will directly affect your future, which makes having the skilled legal guidance of an experienced Round Rock divorce attorney on your side from the start in your best interest.
When You Absolutely Should Not Seek an Online Divorce
There are certain circumstances in which filing for an online divorce leaves you vulnerable to terms that don’t protect your legal rights and that, as such, can negatively impact your future.
Your Share Children
If you and your divorcing spouse share children, your parental rights are on the line, and there is a lot to consider. To begin, Texas addresses child custody terms in relation to both physical custody and legal custody, and they each represent important parental rights and responsibilities.
Physical Custody
Physical custody determines you and your divorcing spouse’s parenting time schedule, which is fundamental to your rights as a parent. In Texas, child custody is always determined by the best interests of the children, and in the process, a wide range of factors are taken into consideration, including:
The children’s ages and each child’s developmental stage
The children’s physical, educational, and emotional needs
Any special needs any of the children have
The children’s overall mental and physical health
The ability to effectively address the children’s needs
Each parent’s overall physical and mental health
How close each parent is to the children and the degree to which each has been involved in raising them to date
How well the children’s current living situation – in terms of home, school, and community – serves them, which is referred to as the status quo
The degree to which each parent is committed to supporting the other’s close, loving relationship with the children
The degree to which each parent is committed to effective co-parenting with the other
Ultimately, the State of Texas finds that children are best served when they spend ample time with both parents and parenting time schedules generally reflect this finding.
One parent may, however, become the primary custodial parent, which means having the children for the majority of their overnights and having the right to determine where the children make their primary home – within the geographical limitations set by the court.
Legal Custody
Legal custody refers to parental responsibilities, which determine how you and your ex will make primary parenting decisions like the following post-divorce:
Where your children attend school
The medical care your children receive
The religious upbringing your children receive
The extracurricular activities and travel that your children participate in
Options include:
One parent can take on sole legal custody, which means they will make these important decisions on their own moving forward.
You and your ex can continue making these decisions together like you did when you were married.
While you and your ex may continue making these parenting decisions by consensus, one of you may have the authority to break a tie if your authentic efforts to negotiate a mutually acceptable decision ultimately fail.
You and your ex can divide these decisions between you according to category.
Your child custody arrangements, in other words, are a legally complex matter that requires careful consideration and that can directly affect other terms. For instance, when one parent becomes the primary custodial parent, the other generally has the child support obligation.
Further, your child custody and child support arrangements can play a role in both property division and alimony. This is to say that the terms of your divorce are inescapably intertwined, which means they require the kind of nuanced legal knowledge that only a seasoned Round Rock divorce attorney can provide.
Your Marital Assets Are Complex
The division of your marital assets will directly affect your financial future, and the legal intricacies are challenging in even the most straightforward cases. There are certain factors, however, that up the ante and leave you at greater risk of your financial rights being trampled, including:
Either spouse owns a business, or you own a business together.
You own multiple properties.
Your finances are complex, such as including joint holdings with others.
Your separate and marital assets are seriously intertwined.
The more complex your finances, the more wiggle room there is for your divorcing spouse to take financial advantage – by hiding assets, spending down assets, cooking the books, and beyond. And these are more common divorce practices than you may realize.
In Texas, anything you, your spouse, or the two of you together purchase over the course of your marriage is considered marital – regardless of whose name is attached, who made the purchase, or who uses the property. For example, if you buy a car during your marriage that you, alone, use – it remains a marital asset.
The only exceptions include purchases made with separate assets, gifts and inheritances that either spouse receives in their name alone, and compensation for pain and suffering from one spouse’s personal injury claim that was initiated during the marriage.
Separate Assets
Separate assets refer to those properties that either spouse owned at the time of the marriage and that they kept separate throughout the marriage. Marriage being what it is, however, separate assets can become financially intertwined with marital property, which can weaken the distinction between the two.
Texas courts begin with the presumption that all assets are marital assets. This means that if either of you claims a property as separate, you’ll need to prove its separate nature. Finally, some assets are partially separate and partially marital – making property division that much more complex.
For example, if you had a retirement account when you married, the value up to the date of your marriage is a separate asset, but in any increase in its value will be treated as a marital asset in your divorce.
Factors that Affect Property Division
In the event of divorce, your marital assets must be divided between you fairly – in light of the unique circumstances involved – which may or may not mean evenly. The factors taken into consideration in this fair division include all the following:
The overall size of the marital estate
Each spouse’s separate estate
Each spouse’s age and overall mental and physical health
Each spouse’s earning power
Any gifts either spouse gave the other in the course of the marriage
Any wasting or spending down of marital assets
The tax implications of the proposed property division
Each spouse’s alimony and child support obligations
Any factors considered especially relevant to the case at hand.
Every divorce is unique, and there is no one-size-fits all means of dividing marital assets fairly, which makes online divorce a less-than-ideal option if you’re interested in protecting your financial rights.
Your Spouse Has Legal Representation
If your spouse has legal representation, you need legal representation, and at that point, filing your divorce online isn’t going to save you time or money. Your spouse’s attorney is paid and legally bound to support your spouse’s best interests, which means it’s up to you to protect your own.
If your spouse has an attorney and you don’t, your case is legally lopsided, and there is a very good chance that the terms you walk away with will not align with your rights. At this point, it’s time to seek a focused Round Rock divorce attorney of your own.
Your Spouse’s Wrongdoing Caused the Breakdown of Your Marriage
While most Texas divorces are based on insupportability, which means they are no fault divorces, the state does grant divorces that are based on fault.
The most common fault grounds are adultery and cruelty, and if you can prove that your spouse’s wrongdoing led to the breakdown of your marriage, it can directly affect your divorce terms, which can leave you better prepared to face your post-divorce future. No fault divorces can be resolved out of court, but fault-based divorces generally cannot.
Seeking a divorce that’s based on your spouse’s wrongdoing generally takes longer, is likely to become quite heated, and is likely to be more costly in terms of legal expenses, but this is not to say that seeking a fault-based divorce is never the right choice.
There are situations in which doing so can better protect the rights of the filing spouse, and this is a determination you should not make without skilled legal counsel in your corner.
Your Uncontested Divorce
If you and your spouse are truly on the same page regarding every divorce term that applies in your case and if there are no complicating factors like children or challenging finances, seeking an online divorce may seem like a no-brainer, but you’re encouraged to do a bit of reflecting before diving in.
For instance, a divorce that begins peacefully enough can quickly turn south, which can leave you scrambling to protect your rights from an already weakened position.
Even if you and your divorcing spouse stick to the terms you’ve hammered out between yourselves throughout the divorce process, there’s a lot to be said for having professional legal representation. Not the least of this is the peace of mind that comes from knowing your divorce terms have been vetted by someone who has keen legal insight regarding your rights.
The bottom line is that – if you and your soon-to-be ex are able to negotiate mutually acceptable terms that you’re both willing to sign off on and never veer from this agreement – you can seek a speedy, inexpensive divorce through your respective attorneys.
In other words, you’ll get the convenience and cost-effectiveness of an online divorce with the assurances that come from knowing you’re in good legal hands.
Your Attorney’s Role
If your uncontested divorce starts heading sideways as you push forward – the way many divorces do – working with an attorney means you’ll have a savvy legal guide who is up to speed with your case backing you up. Your divorce attorney, however, has a lot more to offer, including all the following:
Your attorney will help to ensure that you see your divorce in relation to the bigger picture – instead of focusing on each term in a vacuum, which can skew the results.
Your attorney will honor your focus on expediting the divorce process and keeping your legal fees down and will help you make that happen.
Your attorney will help you navigate the divorce process as smoothly as possible – avoiding the costly mistakes that too many people who try to go it alone make.
Your attorney will ensure that your divorce filings are made timely and correctly and that you avoid the glitches that those who pursue online divorces often face.
An Experienced Round Rock Divorce Attorney Is Standing by to Help
If you’re tempted by the advertised convenience of an online divorce, it’s a good idea to take a step back and give yourself a moment to carefully consider everything that’s at stake.
Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard is a dedicated Round Rock divorce attorney who appreciates your desire to keep your divorce as uncomplicated, speedy, and inexpensive as you possibly can and has a long and impressive track record of helping clients like you do just that – while ensuring that their parental and financial rights are well protected.
To learn more about what we can also do to help you, please don’t put off contacting or calling us at 254-781-4222 to schedule your free consultation today.