No. In Texas, you're married or you're not. Usually this comes up when protecting oneself from debts incurred by the other spouse while a divorce is contemplated. While Texas is a community property state, there is no such thing as community debt. However, debts incurred during marriage may be satisfied by taking away community property under the control of the other spouse, such as a paycheck. If you are concerned about a spouse running up bills, your best solution is a divorce as quickly as possible.

There is a sixty-day waiting period from the date the divorce suit is filed with the county clerk until a court will grant the divorce. Of course, if the parties are not in agreement on the terms of the divorce, it probably will take longer to get the divorce accomplished

Texas Texas is a "no fault" state, this means that a person wanting a divorce does not have to prove that his/her spouse is at fault in the marriage. The most common grounds for divorce is that "the marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities between you that has destroyed the legitimate ends of the marriage." However, there are several other possible "fault" grounds for divorce which a person may use, including adultery, cruelty, conviction of a felony, abandonment, living apart, and confinement in mental hospital. Sometimes a client will want to file for divorce and use a fault, such as adultery. J. Elaine Mosher does not recommend filing adultery. Most all divorces are settled by agreement, and it's just harder and more expensive to reach an agreement with someone when you have exposed them in public for adultery.

An agreed divorce is a divorce at which both parties are in complete agreement with all aspects of their divorce including, division of prperty and debt, child custody, visitation, child support and the grounds for which the divorce is being filed. J. Elaine Mosher offers a falt fee for all agreed divorces.

Texas law does provide some basis for an annulment instead of a divorce, but cases in which the facts fit the law are extremely rare, so these cases almost always wind up as divorces. Annulment statutes are based on some sort of trick or deception at the time of marriage, and also require that the parties have not lived together since the trick or deception was discovered. An annulment may be had: One of the spuses is under 14 years of age. if one of the spouses is under 18 years of age and no parental consent was obtained before the marriage. if the person asking for annulment was under the influence of alcohol or narcotics at the time of marriage, and has not voluntarily cohabited with the other party since the effects of alcohol or narcotics have ended. if one of the spouses was permanently impotent at the time of the marriage, the person asking for annulment didn't know about the impotence at the time of marriage, and the person asking for the annulment has not voluntarily cohabited with the other party since learning of the impotence the other party used fraud, duress, or force to induce the petitioner to enter into the marriage, and the petitioner has not voluntarily cohabited with the other party since learning of the impotence lack of mental capacity concealed divorce less than 30 days before the marriage sought to be annulled (and no cohabitation since) if the parties married less than 72 hours after the marriage license was granted and an annulment suit is filed less than 30 days after the marriage

The division of property can be highly complex. Texas is a Community Property state, and as a general rule, only the community property is subject to division at time of divorce. Community property is all property acquired during the marriage except that acquired by gift or inheritance. The court cannot generally divide separate property, but it can consider separate property when deciding on a just and right division of community property. The divorce court is supposed to make a "just and right" division of the community property. This does not mean 50/50, although that is where most courts start before they begin hearing evidence. In making a just and right division of property, the Court may consider a number of factors, including fault in breakup of the marriage, relative earning capacity of each spouse, the needs of any children, and other factors. We suggest you give J. Elaine Mosher & Associates for further information regarding property division. We offer a free 30 minute consultation to help in the assessment of your legal matter.

In Texas, if one spouse wants a divorce, he or she can obtain one, assuming the residency requirements have been met. There is no way one spouse can legally prevent the other spouse from getting a divorce.

You or your spouse must have been a resident of the State of Texas for a period of at least six months and a resident of the county in which you seek to file suit for divorce for a period of a minimum of ninety consecutive days immediately prior to filing the Petition.

If you have been formally served with paperwork notifying you of a lawsuit, you should contact an attorney immediately to schedule a consultation. If you fail to file an Answer to a lawsuit within a timely manner a default judgment may be entered against you adversely affecting your rights.

The property division, if agreed to, is final and binding and the parties cannot later change their minds about the terms. If the Final Decree is ordered by the judge after a trial, it may be appealable, but only if the judge made legal errors that caused an unjust result or made decisions that were not supported by the evidence. Simply disagreeing with the judge's order is not sufficient grounds to appeal it. If the decree is not appealed within 30 days, it is normally final as to the property division and cannot be changed. But all of the court orders regarding the children are subject to future change. Thus either party can come back to court later and ask that child support be increased or decreased or that visitation or custody be changed. However, to do so, the party wanting the change must show the court that a significant change of circumstances has occurred that makes this change necessary or that the last order has become unworkable. Such changes are not made lightly by courts.

Often, one of the spouses knows very little about the property belonging to the marriage. Without this knowledge it may be impossible to proceed with negotiations regarding property division. If this is the case, the lawyer can require the other spouse to provide all relevant information about the spouse's property, debts and income. This process is called "discovery" and may take some time depending on the complexity of the parties' property and finances. Similarly, if child custody is disputed, both parties may require information from each other that are relevant to this issue.

One or both of the spouses may need court orders immediately after filing for the divorce to determine how the parties finances and/or relationship with the children will be handled until the divorce is final. These Temporary Orders potentially include child support, temporary alimony, child custody, or provisions as to who pays what debts while the divorce is pending and who has the right to temporary use of the house and other property. If you believe you need Temporary Orders, speak to your attorney about it at the time of your first appointment.