A professional process server may be the person that actually delivers the paperwork to you. He or she will not provide legal advice and is not a divorce attorney. This person will record the date and time you were served and report back to the courthouse. This information will be utilized to determine the deadline that you have to file your Answer. A law enforcement officer may also be hired to serve you, but for the most part divorce papers are delivered and served by a process server.
A question that you will probably come across if served with divorce papers is whether or not you will need to hire an attorney to represent you. As an attorney working for a family law office here in southeast Texas, I can tell you that many of our current clients were once representing themselves in divorce cases. With that said, if you do decide to hire an attorney I would recommend that you schedule at least three interviews with lawyers that offer free of charge consultations.
The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC offers free of charge consultations six days a week where our licensed family law attorneys can answer your questions and give you some general advice on how to proceed. Assuming that you do decide to hire an attorney I would recommend that you begin to collect and organize any paperwork that you can that may be relevant in your divorce case.
Bank documents, house documents, taxes, etc. By organizing these papers early on in the process you are saving yourself and your attorney time and effort down the line. The Respondent files an Original Answer which is a short and sweet document that basically alerts the court to your being an active party in the case. From there you and your spouse through your attorneys can discuss any issues that may require a temporary orders hearing to manage such as payment of bills, child visitation and child support during the divorce.
If an agreement can be reached then no temporary orders hearing is required. If the document is insufficient in some way then the judge will likely ask that you return at a later date after the mistakes have been corrected. All in all, a divorce in which service by publication is necessary can last anywhere between four and six months. Even if your spouse is successfully served by publication he or she has two years to file a motion for new trial in the event that that they come into knowledge of the divorce by some means after it has been finalized.
This is compared to the normal thirty days available to other litigants to file a motion for new trial. If you have questions regarding divorce , it's important to speak with one of our Tomball , TX Divorce Lawyers right away to protect your rights. Our d ivorce lawyers in Tomball TX are skilled at listening to your goals during this trying process and developing a strategy to meet those goals.
Have you recently gone through a divorce that didn't exactly go your way? It can be extremely difficult to proceed with a divorce People ask me all the time: do you need an attorney to represent you in a divorce or child custody case?
The answer to that Right now, would seem to be a strange time for me to write a blog post on getting a divorce during a recession. A recession, as it July 31, By Evan Hochschild.
Your spouse cannot be found-now what? How does Texas define a good faith effort to locate your missing spouse? Not necessarily. If you and your spouse are able to agree on everything including possession and access to the children, child support and property division, the only time you would have to go to court is to do a Final Prove Up of the divorce and even then your spouse can have that done with only your signature. However, if parties contest issues, a hearing or final trial is likely.
Temporary spousal support: While the divorce is pending, the judge may order one spouse to make temporary payments for the support of the other spouse. A judge can order temporary spousal support if the judge decides it is necessary and fair. You can ask for temporary spousal support by filing a Motion for Temporary Orders and setting a hearing.
Temporary spousal support doesnt have the same requirements as contractual alimony and spousal maintenance. Read the law here: Texas Family Code, Section 6. Contractual alimony: Contractual alimony is money one spouse is ordered to pay the other spouse after the divorce, based on the agreement of the spouses. The agreement to pay contractual alimony should be included in the Final Decree of Divorce.
The spouse who receives contractual alimony must usually claim it as income for tax purposes. The spouse who pays contractual alimony can usually deduct it from his or her income for tax purposes. Spousal maintenance: Spousal maintenance can be ordered by the judge even if the parties do not agree. Spousal maintenance can be hard to get. The judge can only order spousal maintenance if the spouse asking for it will not have enough property after the divorce to provide for the spouses minimum reasonable needs and :.
Read the divorce papers right away. What orders does your spouse want the judge to make? Is there a standing order? Has the judge signed a temporary restraining order? Are there any hearing dates?
Calculate the deadline to file your answer. If you have been served with divorce papers, there is a deadline to file an answer.
To determine the deadline, find the day you were served with divorce papers on a calendar, count out 20 more days then go to the next Monday. You must file an answer with the court on or before this date at a. If you dont, your spouse can finish the divorce without you. Note: If the courts are closed on the day your answer is due, then your answer is due the next day the courts are open.
Try to talk to a lawyer. A family law lawyer can explain your options and give you advice. You can hire a lawyer to handle your whole case. You also have the option of hiring a lawyer just to give you advice or review your forms. However, Texas law also allows that certain property may be considered a separate property under some circumstances. Those instances include:.
There are complexities when it comes to separate property. Any inheritance acquired during a marriage is considered separate property but if the assets of the inheritance are commingled, perhaps in a bank account, or if both people live in an inherited residence, then it may be possible to claim that the inherited assets have become community property.
In cases where a home was bought before two people married, if both people live in the home during the marriage and both contribute to mortgage payments, then the case can be made that the house is no longer separate property, but community property instead. The issues of community property vs.
There are big differences between them, including how much they pay out, for how long, how a spouse gets the support and how they may be changed or enforced. Spousal support is paid over and above child support. With spousal maintenance, a judge can order a spouse to pay involuntarily as part of divorce litigation. Contractual alimony occurs when one spouse voluntarily agrees to pay the other spouse. The court still needs to approve this arrangement. A court can legally enforce this type of alimony payment if needed, treating it as he or she would any other contract in Texas.
Because Texas is a community property state, the value of various assets are divided as close as possible to be even with each other. A spouse who has stayed at home and taken care of children or not worked outside the home will not be penalized for doing so. When a couple divorces, spousal maintenance is seen as a bridge for a non-working spouse to carry them to self-sufficiency until they can get a job. While some view this as a disincentive to work, the state also recognizes that a person who has been out of the workforce for some time will need assistance in training, getting a better education, caring for family members or if they have been a victim of domestic violence.
For court order spousal maintenance to occur, a spouse must prove at least one of the following conditions exist:. If a judge rules that a spouse is eligible for spousal maintenance, then they must decide how much to award. The judge will also consider:. Statutes also cap how long spousal maintenance can take place and will vary based on several factors. Child support in Texas is based on how much money the paying spouse makes minus certain allowed deductions. That amount will be reviewed and probably changed in September In addition, the amount of parenting time spent by each parent is also an important factor as well.
Part of the reason that child support is one of the more confrontational issues is that one or both of the parents may not accurately release their current financial information.
When it is suspected that this is the case, significant delays can take place. Under Texas law, a paying spouse is calculated as a percentage of net monthly resources.
It will vary by the number of children who must be supported as well. In some cases, a parent may fall behind on child support payments, or they may completely disregard what the law says and what the court has put in place.
When this happens, the other spouse can seek a court order compelling the parent to pay the required level of child support. Unless parents can come up with a parenting plan that is approved by the courts, a judge will set forth the terms of the conservatorship. In call cases, the terms of the conservatorship are determined by the best interests of the child involved in the divorce.
A joint managing conservatorship means that both the mother and the father will share the rights and duties of being a parent. However, certain decisions and responsibilities may be assigned to one parent only. If both parents are made conservators, then the courts will decide which parent or it both parents make decisions jointly.
This can become complicated when there are not equal possession and custody of a child. See more about Our Family Wizard here! A sole managing conservatorship means that the courts grant rights to only one parent to make certain decisions about a child. Custodial rights are often determined by a number of things, but always with the overarching principle of what is in the best interests of the child.
Other factors may include:. Texas is a no-fault divorce state, so this does not need to be stated as a reason for ending a marriage. However, when it comes to child custody and visitation issues, the presence or drug or alcohol abuse by one spouse will definitely have a major impact on their ability to secure these rights. Courts always make decisions based on the best interests of any child involved in a divorce. Substance abuse can also affect a division of assets in Texas when it is determined that one spouse or the other spent considerable marital resources on to feed a drug or alcohol habit, or that it contributed to related negative behaviors such as a gambling problem.
Before it can be introduced as a factor, a substance abuse problem must be documented and proven. This can be done by testing, the testimony of other family members, representatives from social services agencies or other parties who have an interest in the outcome of the divorce and can provide additional insights.
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