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Texas does not require anyone to be at fault, and it does not divide everything down the middle. Both of those surprise people.
Family Law
A divorce begins with a petition filed in the county where residency requirements are met — generally six months in Texas and ninety days in the county. Texas then imposes a waiting period of at least sixty days from filing before a divorce can be finalised, which even the most agreed case cannot skip. What happens inside that window, and after it, depends entirely on how much is disputed.
Most petitions are filed on insupportability — a no-fault ground. Texas still recognises fault grounds including cruelty, adultery, abandonment and felony conviction, and fault can affect how property is divided. Whether it is worth pleading is a strategic question rather than an emotional one, and it deserves an honest conversation early rather than an argument later.
Within weeks of filing, a court can put temporary orders in place: who lives in the house, who pays which bills, a schedule for the children, interim support, and injunctions preventing either spouse from draining accounts or selling property. These hearings arrive quickly and they set the tone for everything after them, which is why they are prepared for properly.
Texas is a community property state. Assets and debts acquired during the marriage are presumed community and are divided in a manner the court finds just and right — which is not automatically fifty-fifty. Property owned before the marriage, and gifts and inheritances received during it, are separate property, but the presumption runs the other way and proving separate character takes tracing and records.
Conservatorship, possession and support are decided on the best interest of the child, with a statutory presumption that both parents serve as joint managing conservators. That is a starting point, not a schedule — the details of who decides what, and who has the child when, are where these cases are actually resolved.
Agreed divorces, mediation and collaborative approaches are usually faster and considerably cheaper, and Harris County courts will order mediation in most contested cases anyway. Where the other side is hiding assets, refusing to co-operate, or where there has been family violence, litigation is the right answer and the firm is equipped for it.
In the county where the residency requirements are met. Texas requires a period of residence in the state and in the county before a petition can be filed.
Yes. Texas imposes a waiting period from filing before a divorce can be finalised, and even fully agreed cases cannot skip it.
A divorce granted because the marriage has become insupportable, without proving misconduct by either spouse. It is the most common ground.
It can affect how property is divided and, in some circumstances, spousal maintenance. Whether pleading it is worthwhile is a strategic question.
It is characterised as community or separate property, valued, and dealt with in the overall division — commonly by one spouse keeping it and refinancing.
A decree allocates responsibility between the spouses, but it does not bind the lender, which is why how debt is handled matters as much as who is assigned it.
No. A lawyer represents one party. In an agreed case one spouse can be represented while the other reviews the documents independently.
That changes the approach immediately, including protective orders and the arrangements for exchanges of the children. Tell us at the first meeting.
It is manageable, and it raises questions about jurisdiction and service that are better addressed before filing than afterwards.
Many agreed cases are finalised very simply. What matters is that the decree is complete, because it is the document that governs afterwards.
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