If you are considering a divorce, the best thing you can do is get a divorce attorney in San Antonio with plenty of experience in Texas divorces. With an attorney, every step in the process of filing for divorce will go a lot more smoothly.

Process of Filing for Divorce in Texas

Filing a Petition

One of the parties has to start the process by filing and paying the required court fees. What you’re filing is something called an “Original Petition for Divorce.” Once you have filed this, the clerk of the court where you filed it will assign a case number to your divorce. The person who files the divorce is officially known as the Petitioner and the other spouse becomes known as the Respondent.

The divorce petition needs to be filed in the same county as you live, in most cases. It can be filed in either county that you or your spouse have lived in for at least 90 days, however. You also must have lived in Texas for at least six months before filing for divorce.

Your petition must also give the grounds for your divorce. The most common ground for divorce these days is “insupportability”, which is also known as a no-fault divorce, and this is usually the simplest in most cases. However, if you have grounds for divorce that are serious, and you are able to prove them, this can have a positive effect on the final settlement in your favor.

The six other grounds that Texas will support for divorce are in cruelty, abandonment, separation for a minimum amount of time with no intention of reuniting, adultery, a felony criminal conviction, or if one party is confined to a mental hospital for a minimum amount of time and with no reasonable chance of release in the foreseeable future. Your attorney will help you to understand whether it’s better to file for one of these grounds or for a no-fault divorce.

Notifying the Respondent

The next step is to provide notice to the Respondent, telling them that the divorce has been filed. This has to be done officially, which means that the respondent must be “served” with divorce papers that must then be signed. If the spouses mutually agree to divorce, this process is usually pretty quick and the Respondent can simply sign a Waiver of Service as the petition is filed, to keep things moving quickly. Signing this waiver does not mean that the Respondent agrees to everything that the original petition says. It only acknowledges that they are also willing to go forward with the divorce.

If the Respondent wants to contest the divorce, things get more complicated. You will either want to hire a process server to officially give them the petition or, if they can’t be found, you will have to publicly post notice in a local newspaper or otherwise publish it. You are not allowed to do this, however, unless the court gives you an order permitting it, which it will only do if you have tried every possible  avenue to find your spouse and cannot.

Answer and Counterpetition

If you and your spouse agree on all the terms of your divorce, this step usually isn’t an issue. But it’s rare for spouses to absolutely agree on everything, and so, in most cases, the Respondent will file and answer to your petition for divorce. They may also file a counter petition that states their grounds for filing and what they want the court to award them. They do have to send this counter petition to you if they choose to file it. Your spouse has 20 days from the time they are served with notice of the petition for divorce to make an answer.

Waiting Period

Texas requires all couples interested in divorcing to wait 60 days as a “cooling-off period.” There are sometimes exceptions granted to this 60-day waiting period; usually if there is domestic violence or family violence, where the court may waive the waiting period and allow the divorce to proceed quickly.

The purpose of this period is twofold. First, it does give the spouses a chance to reconcile, which happens in some cases. But more importantly, it keeps the process from continuing until both parties have had a chance to cool off from the initial heat of whatever finally led to the divorce. This allows them a chance to talk together on important issues, like child custody or division of assets, in a more profitable and helpful way. Together with their lawyers, who can guide them through mediation, it may be possible to reach agreement. If agreement is possible, then the divorce process will generally be faster and cheaper for everyone. It’s also likely to be less stressful not only on the divorcing couple but on any children.

If you can’t come to an agreement during the cooling-off period, you will have other opportunities to do so before the final divorce decree. However, if you cannot reach an agreement at all, the court will make all these decisions on your behalf.

Hearings

Even if you have a no-contest divorce where you and your spouse agree on everything, you will still usually need at least one hearing before the court to make all the final decisions. If the divorce isn’t contested, and you agree, the Respondent may not even need to show up for this hearing, though the Petitioner will. However, if you and your ex disagree on a number of things, it’s likely there will be several hearings to make a final decision on all the issues in the divorce. These will include the distribution of assets like property, money, and retirement accounts, the distribution of debt, child custody arrangements, and more.

These hearings can take a while, as both parties have to be given time for “discovery.” Discovery is the time when either party may request details and information from the other in order to help them make decisions about what they should ask for and what they should agree to. Your lawyer will help you here.

Final Divorce Decree

Once everything has been finalized, and either you and your spouse have reached an agreement or the court has made a declaration on all important matters, you will sign the final divorce decree.

Your Divorce Attorney in San Antonio

The above process can take anywhere from several weeks to several months; and even years if you and your spouse cannot come to an agreement, and especially if there are many valuable assets in the marriage. Every step in this process is also legally complicated, and getting something wrong can make it harder to get what you want out of the divorce or even set you back by days (or even weeks) in the process. A skilled divorce lawyer will help you avoid any of these issues and move you through the process as quickly as possible. A divorce lawyer also provides an objective view of the situation, helping you to stay focused on the big picture and your future after divorce.

For experienced help with divorce in the San Antonio area, contact us today at the Rojas Law Firm, PLLC.