Updated on November 4, 2024
If you have reached the point where you know you need a divorce but have no idea how to go about making that happen, you’ve come to the right place.
While you undoubtedly recognize that divorce is a painful emotional journey, you should also know that working closely with an experienced Round Rock divorce attorney can make the legalities of your divorce far less challenging.
Divorce laws are complex, but with your practiced attorney’s skilled legal guidance backing you up, you can proceed with the peace of mind that comes from knowing you’re in good hands.
First Things First: Consult with a Dedicated Divorce Attorney
The most important first step you can take if you are seeking a divorce is to consult with a trusted divorce attorney. This sets the stage for an effective and efficient case in which your parental and financial rights will be well protected. Your attorney will help to ensure that all of the following happen:
That you know what to expect as your case moves forward
That you gather the financial documentation necessary to establish your marital assets and to help ensure their just and right division
That you bypass the problems that too many people going through divorce encounter
That you keep your case moving steadily forward
That you set well-considered divorce priorities, which can afford you greater leverage during negotiations
That you keep your divorce as amicable as possible, which can make the process less emotionally taxing for everyone involved, including your children
Your attorney will ensure that you know what to expect and that you are well prepared to proceed before addressing the filing requirements, which include filing the original petition for divorce and having your spouse served with the papers.
At the point of filing, you become the petitioner in the case, and your spouse becomes the respondent. If you and your divorcing spouse discuss the matter prior to filing and if you are both in agreement on the matter, they can sign a waiver of service form that allows you to bypass official service of the divorce papers.
The Residency Requirements for a Texas Divorce
The State of Texas has specific residency requirements before you can pursue a divorce in the state, including:
At least one of you must have lived in Texas for at least the six months prior to filing.
At least one of you must have lived in the Texas county in which you file for at least the 90 days prior to filing. If you each qualify in different counties, you – as the person who is filing – can choose the jurisdiction that is most convenient for you.
Finally, it’s important to point out that there is also a 60-day waiting period – or cooling off period – that applies to your divorce itself. You must wait at least 60 days after filing before your case can be finalized.
While a 61-day divorce is a possibility in Texas, it is the exception rather than the rule. Most couples need more time to negotiate mutually acceptable divorce terms, and there is also the matter of the court’s busy docket to consider.
Negotiating the Terms of Your Divorce
Before your divorce can be finalized, you’ll need to resolve each of the following divorce terms that apply to your case:
Your child custody arrangements, which include both legal custody – or decision-making authority – and parenting time
Child support
The division of your marital assets
Alimony, or spousal maintenance
Unless you’re pursuing a fault-based divorce, which is not common, the goal is to reach fair terms between yourselves in an uncontested divorce, which tends to make the process less costly, less time consuming, and less contentious. Your respective divorce attorneys will help you engage in productive negotiations, and there is also the option of going to mediation.
Pursuing a Contested vs. an Uncontested Divorce
In Texas, there are two primary approaches to divorce, and they include contested vs. uncontested. In order to finalize your divorce, you’ll need to resolve each of the divorce terms that apply, and the manner in which you do so determines whether your divorce will be contested or uncontested.
Uncontested Divorce
If you’re able to negotiate mutually acceptable terms between yourselves – with the guidance of your respective divorce lawyer – your divorce will be uncontested, which means that you didn’t need the court’s intervention in relation to your terms.
This is generally considered the best path forward because it tends to cost less, be speedier, better protect the involved couple’s privacy, and be less hotly contested.
Contested Divorce
A contested divorce requires the court to determine how one or more terms will be resolved. Most divorcing couples would prefer to retain the right to make important decisions that will directly affect their futures on their own, which motivates many to give negotiations their all.
Fault-Based vs. No-Fault Divorce
Most divorces in Texas and throughout the nation are no fault, which means that they aren’t based on either spouse causing the dissolution of the marriage and that neither spouse has to prove the other’s wrongdoing.
In a fault-based divorce, the spouse who claims that the other is at fault is called upon to prove that the other’s actions, such as adultery or cruelty, were the direct cause of the divorce, which significantly increases the amount of effort involved.
Divorces that Are Based on Fault Are Contested
The vast majority of no-fault divorces in Texas are uncontested, which means they don’t require the court’s intervention, but fault-based divorces are contested, which means that at least one or more of the terms must be resolved by the court.
If you accuse your spouse of causing your marriage to fail and seek better terms through a fault-based divorce, you can expect them to fight back, which is why fault-based divorces are contested divorces.
If you choose to seek a fault-based divorce and can prove that your ex is to blame for the breakdown of your marriage, the court can award you a more favorable division of assets, and the fact of your ex’s fault can also increase your chances of receiving alimony.
The downside of a fault-based divorce is that it’s likely to take longer to resolve, is likely to cost more overall, and tends to make things more emotionally charged.
The Right Path Forward for You
Only you know the right path forward for you, but your focused divorce attorney will help you explore your best options. Most couples choose the no-fault divorce route as a means of turning down the heat on their cases, but there are situations in which going to court makes sense, including:
If your divorcing spouse simply refuses to engage in reasonable negotiations that allow you to protect your rights
If your spouse’s wrongdoing was directly responsible for the failure of your marriage, and you’ve come to the carefully considered decision that pursuing a fault-based divorce is worth the additional effort
Your Child Custody Arrangements
Once you’ve filed for divorce and have sorted out your priorities, you’ll be ready to engage in negotiations, and if you share children, your child custody arrangements are of primary concern. In Texas, child custody is addressed in terms of both legal and physical custody.
Legal custody determines how you and your ex will make parenting decisions moving forward, while physical custody addresses parenting time schedules.
The State of Texas is guided by the best interests of the involved children, and the guiding belief is that children are better off when both parents play active roles in their lives, which generally translates to parents making primary parenting decisions together and to each parent receiving ample parenting time.
Only if there is a considerable reason for ruling otherwise will a parent’s decision-making authority or parenting time be seriously curtailed.
Legal Custody
The kinds of important parenting decisions addressed by legal custody include all the following:
The medical care your children receive
The education your children receive
The extracurricular activities and travel your children participate in
Your children’s religious upbringing
Shared legal custody can take all the following forms:
You and your ex can continue to make these decisions together – the way you did while you were married.
You and your ex can make these decisions together, while one of you has the right to break a tie if there is no other way around it.
You and your ex can divide these decisions between you according to category.
If the situation calls for it, one of you may be awarded sole legal custody, which translates to that parent making each of these important decisions on their own.
Physical Custody
Physical custody establishes the parenting time schedule, and this can take two basic forms. You and your ex can divide parenting time between you more or less evenly, or one of you may take on the primary custodial role while the other has a generous parenting time schedule.
When a parent takes on the primary custodial role, they provide the children with their primary residence and have them for the majority of their overnights while the other parent has what amounts to visitation. When one parent does take on that primary custodial position, it is often based on factors like the following:
The primary custodial parent played a larger role in raising the children thus far.
The primary custodial parent has established a closer bond with the children than the other parent has.
The primary custodial parent filled this role prior to the divorce being finalized.
The children have fared well in terms of their home, education, and community under the parent’s primary care, which is referred to as the status quo.
The amount of time a parent is allowed to spend with their children will only be seriously limited, such as when supervision is required, if there is a serious reason for doing so – such as in response to child abuse or neglect.
Child Support
Child support is calculated according to Texas’s predetermined formula – unless there is a verifiable reason for ordering child support that deviates from these requirements. The basics when it comes to child support is that the parent who is the higher earner generally has the child support obligation – even when the parents split parenting time evenly or nearly evenly.
The standard calculation involves the higher earner paying a specific percentage of their net income based on the number of children covered by the order, which breaks down as follows:
20 percent for one child
25 percent for two children
30 percent for three children
35 percent for four children
40 percent for five children
At least 40 percent for six children
The Division of Marital Assets
In Texas, everything that you and your spouse acquire when you’re married is considered part of your marital estate, and it doesn’t matter who made the purchase or whose name the lease is in. These assets must be divided between you fairly upon divorce, and while this can mean equally, it doesn’t always.
Texas courts take a wide range of circumstances like the following into consideration when determining property division:
The size of the marital estate and of each spouse’s separate estate, which refers to those assets each spouse owned prior to marriage and kept separate throughout
Each spouse’s age and overall mental and physical health
Each spouse’s income and earning power
The contributions each spouse made to the marriage, including in the form of homemaking and caring for the children
Any wrongdoing on the part of either spouse, which can make a difference, even in a no-fault divorce
The tax consequences of the proposed property division
While separate assets remain the property of the original owner, there are several points that should be kept in mind, including:
The commingling of separate and marital assets can weaken the dividing line between the two.
Texas courts begin with the presumption that all assets are marital, and proving the separate nature of a property falls to the spouse who claims it belongs to them alone.
The amount that a separate asset increases in value during the marriage is very likely to be treated as a marital asset.
Alimony
Alimony – or spousal maintenance – only applies in those divorces in which one spouse is left with too few assets and too little income to address their own reasonable needs while the other has the financial ability to afford assistance.
The goal of alimony is providing the recipient with the leg up they need to gain greater financial independence through the acquisition of further education, job training, or job skills.
Setting the Stage for Divorce
Once you file for divorce, you and your spouse will be required to share financial information with one another within 30 days. Sometimes, this is a straightforward process, and sometimes, it’s not.
Factors that tend to complicate matters include high assets, business ownership, diverse investments, and assets that require valuations. If you can’t obtain all the information that you need to protect your financial rights at this stage, your determined divorce attorney will take the steps necessary to acquire it moving forward.
Standing Orders
In Round Rock, there are also standing orders in place that are designed to preserve the status quo – or specific circumstances that are currently in place – until the case can be resolved. The basics include:
Your children’s lives shouldn’t be disrupted, which includes not moving them out of state or having them change schools.
Marital property should be preserved, including not spending excessively and not incurring excessive debt.
Current insurance policies should be maintained.
Personal and business records should be preserved.
In other words, both spouses are expected to play fair from the outset, and any overstepping by either spouse can work against them.
Maintaining the Status Quo while Your Divorce Is Pending
Although standing orders are automatically implemented whenever a couple files for divorce in Williamson County, this doesn’t mean that you are forbidden from engaging in the transactions that are necessary to run your home, care for your children, and do your work – or run your business.
As long as your actions are considered reasonable in relation to each of these, you’re unlikely to have any problems. Additionally, your knowledgeable Round Rock divorce attorney will provide you with the guidance you need to stay on the right side of your standing orders while continuing to live your life as normally as possible.
Identifying Financial Infidelity
Both spouses are required to abide by the rules when it comes to money and divorce, and any attempts to do otherwise are considered a form of financial infidelity, which is a specific kind of fraud on the marital estate.
Financial infidelity refers to any form of intentional cheating or subterfuge that is designed to keep more of the marital estate for the spouse perpetrating the infidelity, and it can take a range of forms, such as hiding assets, concealing key financial information, spending behind the other spouse’s back, and beyond.
Fortunately, your formidable Round Rock divorce lawyer is well-equipped to spot the tell-tale signs of financial infidelity and take the necessary actions to protect your financial rights in response.
An Experienced Round Rock Divorce Attorney Can Help
Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard is an accomplished Round Rock divorce attorney who dedicated his imposing practice to helping clients like you smoothly navigate the divorce process with their rights well protected. Learn more by contacting or calling us at 254-781-4222 to schedule a free consultation today.