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DIVORCE
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At Carter Morris, LLP, we know that facing a family law matter often comes with uncertainty. Our FAQ page is designed to provide straightforward answers to common questions about divorce, custody, property division, and more. Whether you're just beginning to explore your options or preparing for a next step, this page is here to offer clarity, confidence, and direction — so you can move forward informed and empowered.
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Every state has its own laws for obtaining a divorce, or dissolution of marriage as it is called in some states. Like many other types of civil process, the legal process is somewhat similar in all states. The first step, in any divorce, is that one spouse or both spouses make a decision to initiate a termination of their marriage. Arriving at this decision is different for each individual. While generally not considered part of the legal process per se, how this decision is made may have significant legal consequences. Persons making this decision should consult first with a trusted attorney, a marriage counselor, a financial consultant, and/or any other trusted third party, before taking this often-drastic step.
At first, the legal process may seem complicated and confusing, but usually follows a rational and reasoned course. All issues to be decided, if taken individually, are typically resolved by taking the time to give each some careful consideration, investigation, and objectivity.
The normal issues to be decided in a divorce are how property is divided, how debts are divided, and, between parties with children, how legal and physical custody will be arranged and setting a visitation schedule. Other issues that may arise when children are involved are child support, and medical and childcare expenses. In longer-term marriages, the issue of spousal support may be addressed, and the terms of any prenuptial agreement will be analyzed. Those able to maintain objectivity and detachment while sorting through these issues often find the divorce process can actually help them move on in their lives without the battle scars some receive during their divorce process.
What is the process for obtaining a divorce?
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As with so many issues involved in divorce cases, domestic violence may or may not play a significant role in the legal process depending upon the exact circumstances. Of course, in cases in which criminal law has been invoked because of the level of domestic violence, it will likely play a significant role in the divorce case. This is especially true in cases involving child custody and visitation determinations. However, if the parties don’t have children and the domestic abuse has been relatively minor, even if law enforcement has been involved, the domestic violence of one party against the other may play a minuscule legal role.
On the other hand, because the very definition of domestic violence implies an on-going pattern of control of one party by the other, using not only physically, but also psychologically and emotionally abusive methods, domestic violence may play a very significant role in the emotional and psychological aspects of divorce. This can be especially true in the original decision-making process of whether or not to initiate a divorce. Many victims of domestic violence leave a marriage because of the abuse, and many victims of domestic violence stay in the marriage because of the abuse, knowing that an attempt at separation might result in an escalation of all aspects of the violence.
Can a divorce decree be changed?
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As with so many issues involved in divorce cases, domestic violence may or may not play a significant role in the legal process depending upon the exact circumstances. Of course, in cases in which criminal law has been invoked because of the level of domestic violence, it will likely play a significant role in the divorce case. This is especially true in cases involving child custody and visitation determinations. However, if the parties don’t have children and the domestic abuse has been relatively minor, even if law enforcement has been involved, the domestic violence of one party against the other may play a minuscule legal role.
On the other hand, because the very definition of domestic violence implies an on-going pattern of control of one party by the other, using not only physically, but also psychologically and emotionally abusive methods, domestic violence may play a very significant role in the emotional and psychological aspects of divorce. This can be especially true in the original decision-making process of whether or not to initiate a divorce. Many victims of domestic violence leave a marriage because of the abuse, and many victims of domestic violence stay in the marriage because of the abuse, knowing that an attempt at separation might result in an escalation of all aspects of the violence.
What role does domestic violence play in divorce?
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Collaborative law is an alternative dispute resolution process gaining popularity in a number of states. In the collaborative law process parties to a divorce, and their attorneys, commit to an honest, open, cooperative resolution of all issues without going to court. In fact, the defining feature of collaborative law is that both parties and both attorneys agree in writing that they will not go to court. Instead, they will provide open, informal, expedited discovery of all relevant facts and documents; they will participate in meetings and commit to bona fide negotiations. Some even agree to the use of a divorce coach or other professionals, such as financial consultants and child specialists, to help them make decisions that result in the best outcome for both parties and their children. If either party or their attorney decides that the case should go to court, the attorneys are both required to withdraw from the case and any disclosures to that point cannot be used in the court case without permission from both parties.
The vast majority of collaborative cases do settle without court intervention. Advocates of the process claim that most parties save significant amounts of money and time through the collaborative divorce process. The atmosphere of cooperation rather than competition sets the stage for future dispute resolution without court involvement, and allows for relationships that are more amicable for the parties.
What is collaborative law?
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Texas Divorce Questions
Divorce
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The fact is that in 90% of cases in the United States where parents have decided they will not parent together, the parents are able to come to an agreement regarding child custody and visitation arrangements. However, the remaining 10% of cases where a court is involved can be devastating for parents, children, the extended families, and even for professionals involved in their cases.
Because of the high potential that a custody battle can have long-lasting negative impact on children, most states have instituted as many safeguards against that possibility as possible. In general, all child custody decisions are to be based on “the best interests of the children.” In many states, even in those cases where the parties have signed an agreement regarding custody and visitation, they are asked during the final proceedings whether they believe the custody and visitation arrangements are in the best interests of their children. Safeguards in place include:
In many states, parents with a child custody dispute are required to attempt mediation of the custody issue before a contested custody case may go further. In some states, in any contested custody matter, the court must appoint a guardian ad litem, an attorney whose role is to represent the best interests of the child during the course of litigation. Sometimes the courts order “custody evaluations” which are investigations and reports from impartial professionals with specific training for the task, usually social workers or mental health professionals. In some states, depending on the age of the children, courts allow children to have some input into their custody decisions. All states have a long list of statutory factors that the court must take into account prior to making such determinations.
Who will win custody of the children?
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The consequences for violating child custody and visitation orders almost always correlate to the magnitude of the violation. For instance, if a parent is a few minutes late in arriving to pick up a child at the time for exchange, even though it may happen repeatedly, it is likely there will be little or no consequences for this minimal violation. For the most part, a few minutes difference in arrival time will not endanger the children in any way. On the other end of the spectrum, of course, is the situation in which a parent fails to return the children at the designated time and disappears with them with no trace for days, months and sometimes even years.
At the lower end of the spectrum of violations, most states do not provide much assistance to parties trying to force compliance with a court order. Often a parent, frustrated by such behavior from the other parent, may merely have to have ready a ‘plan B’ that insures the safety of the children while allowing the parent to minimize the inconvenience of the repeated tardiness or other minor violations. At the upper end of the spectrum, depending on how long the children are gone and whether the parent has crossed state lines, and at even the middle of the spectrum, the full force of both state and federal law enforcement is enlisted to protect children and penalize offenders. It should be noted that the violation must demonstrate a criminal intent to withhold or conceal the child from a party with the right of custody before law enforcement considers a crime to have been committed.
All states have procedures for seeking enforcement of a court order through contempt proceedings. These procedures generally require the assistance of an attorney. Most courts look very unfavorably upon violations of its orders, typically providing a remedy for the other parent. Courts have been known to alter a custody or visitation schedule completely in response to a parent’s significant or repeated violation of their order.
What happens when a custody or visitation order is violated?
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Relocating with a child will require court approval if it affects the other parent’s rights to visitation or conservatorship. Texas courts consider multiple factors—such as the distance of the move, the child’s stability, and how it will affect the parent–child relationship. A court can grant or deny relocation requests based on whether it is in the child’s best interests .
Can I move out of state with my child under Texas custody laws?
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Whether or not you pay child support often depends on the visitation schedule in place. In Texas, support is typically calculated based on your income, the number of children involved, and guidelines outlined in the Texas Family Code. Your attorney can help estimate your expected child support obligation and explain any factors that might impact the final amount.
Will I have to pay child support?
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Texas Child Custody Questions
Child Custody
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All state divorce laws address the issue of whether, and for how long, one spouse shall be required to make support payments to the other spouse after termination of their marriage. In cases involving equitable division of property, one of the usual factors for division of property is whether one spouse will pay support to the other. On the other hand, when determining spousal support, or maintenance, as it is known in some states, one of the factors to be considered is the division of property.
In community property states, the division of property between the parties is not necessarily a factor to be considered in the determination of support, but their prior standard of living and the relative economic status of the two parties are relevant factors. In the so-called equitable distribution property states, other factors to be considered are much the same as the factors to be considered by the court in the division of property, such as:
Length of the marriage
The extent to which the supported spouse contributed to the attainment of an education or professional license by the other spouse
The presence of young children in the home
Employment opportunities available to the spouse requesting support
Ironically enough, though spousal support may be a highly contentious issue in divorce, many couples are mutually able to make fair and reasonable support agreements as well. And, generally, at the end of a short-term marriage, in the absence of extraordinary circumstances, neither party is likely to end up with an award of spousal support.
How is alimony, or spousal support or maintenance determined?
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Prior to the institution of child support guidelines, child support determinations were entirely within the judge’s purview, based on only two factors. The first factor was the level of ability for the obligated parent to pay. The second related to the needs of the child. This situation has changed dramatically over the years, with changes gaining momentum from federal legislation that required more uniformity among the states in exchange for federal child support funding.
Now all states have adopted child support guidelines that must be applied in divorce and custody cases in which minor children are involved. States have, for the most part, made a determination that every child has the right to the support of both parents while at the same time, parents’ rights and needs are to be taken into consideration as well. Based on these principles, states have adopted formulas for determining what the level of child support should be. Generally, these guidelines are based on a percentage of the payor parent’s gross income. Of late, more states are taking into account the income and standard of living of both parents, and the actual percentage of time that the children spend with each parent. Most states also provide that the formulas are presumed to result in a correct amount; however, states have also adopted procedures for deviating from the guidelines.
Because of child support guidelines, a determination of child support in a particular case generally requires only entering the parties’ incomes and the percentage of time spent with the children into the formula to arrive at a solution. In other words, current state of the law does not provide much room for disputes about who should pay what amount of child support. Admittedly, the amount of time that children spend with each parent often does come into consideration, and some parties find themselves in the middle of a custody or visitation battle that may actually be a child support battle.
How is child support determined?
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Texas Spousal & Child Support Questions
Spousal & Child Support
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Separate Property in Texas
According to the Texas “Family Code,” a spouse’s separate property consists of:
- the property owned or claimed by the spouse before marriage;
- the property acquired by the spouse during marriage by gift, devise, or descent; and
- the recovery for personal injuries sustained by the spouse during marriage, except any recovery for loss of earning capacity during marriage.
Examples of property that could be separate include:
- Property purchased prior to marriage
- Assets acquired prior to marriage
- Inheritances (including during the marriage)
- A family heirloom
- Birthday presents
- Personal injury awards (unless the award replenishes community property spent because of the injury, such as reimbursement for medical bills, lost wages, etc.)
Dividing Your Community Property in Texas
If you and your spouse are able to come to a mutual agreement of how to divide your community property, that will likely save you both time and money. However, your Texas property division agreement could be subject to the court’s approval. In a divorce case, the judge must weigh all the facts in evidence and create a “just and right” division of the community assets and debts. Of course, what you consider “just and right” may differ greatly.
Despite lore to the contrary, most divorcing couples are able to negotiate a relatively fair division of their community property without having to ask a judge to make all the decisions for them. For those unable to come up with a mutually agreed upon division of property, most state law provides a list of factors that courts consider in making a final. The factors that Texas courts may consider when dividing your property could include the following:
- Length of the marriage
- Age and health of the spouses
- Contribution of each spouse to the acquisition of property
- Contribution of one spouse to the education or training of the other
- Custodial provisions for children of the marriage
- Whether either of the spouses will be awarded spousal support
- Present and potential earning power of each spouse
- The total economic circumstances of the spouses
- Community debts: if you owe more than you own
- The size of one or both parties’ separate estates
- The tax consequences of dividing your property
- Fraud/dissipation of community assets
- The existence of any pre- or post-marital agreement between the spouses
How is property divided?
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When is an expenditure or a conveyance considered a dissipation?
In general, only conveyances of marital assets that are made or caused by one spouse, in anticipation of divorce, and for a non-marital purpose constitutes a dissipation of marital assets.
- Made or caused by one spouse. A majority of states consider intentional, reckless, or negligent actions resulting in the waste, concealment, or conveyance of marital assets sufficient.
- In anticipation of divorce. Before divorce is contemplated, a spouse is generally entitled to spend marital funds as he or she sees fit. To discourage misconduct related to marital assets and to preserve each spouse’s right to share in the marital estate, certain conveyances of marital assets are improper when divorce is anticipated. In general, divorce is anticipated when a marriage is irretrievably broken. “An ‘irretrievably broken’ marriage is one where either or both parties are unable or refuse to cohabit and there are no prospects for a reconciliation.” Harwell v. Harwell 233 Ga. 89, *91, 209 S.E.2d 625, **627 (Ga. 1974).
- Non-marital purpose. Not every use, sale, or conveyance of a marital asset in anticipation of divorce is a dissipation to which the innocent spouse is entitled a remedy. For example, a spouse’s reasonable expenditure of marital assets to purchase clothing only he or she will wear is not a dissipation even though the purchase benefits only one spouse. The determination of whether a use of marital assets was for a proper marital purpose is made on a case-by-case basis and typically involves an examination of factors such as the need for the expenditure, the amount of the expenditure, and the alleged purpose of the expenditure.
The following remedies may be available to a person whose spouse has caused the dissipation of marital assets:
- Rescission. A potential remedy for the dissipation of marital assets is to treat the dissipating spouse’s transfers as fraudulent conveyances and order the cancellation of the transfers or return of the transferred property (rescission). Most states have a fraudulent conveyance statute, and such statutes generally apply to transfers in which both the spouse who transferred the property and the person to whom the property was transferred had a fraudulent intent or transfers made “without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer” and resulting in the transferring spouse’s insolvency. Unif. Fraudulent Transfer Act § 2(a).
- Unequal division of marital estate. The court can provide a remedy to the innocent spouse by considering the dissipated assets when ordering distribution of the marital estate. In general, the court can order an unequal division provided such division is reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances of the case. This remedy is typically available in cases where the dissipation was the result of fraud, waste, concealment, or a conveyance for a non-marital purpose. Additionally, this remedy may be available when neither spouse is completely innocent or when assets were not conveyed in anticipation of divorce but still conveyed in some way that is not completely fair to the other spouse.
- Dissipated assets classified as marital property. In general, only property owned jointly or individually by the spouses on the date it is classified as marital property may be so classified. However, in a majority of states, the court will treat dissipated assets as part of the marital estate and use those assets to satisfy the dissipating spouse’s share of the marital estate. If the value of the dissipated assets exceeds the dissipating spouse’s share of the marital estate, a cash payment to the innocent spouse may be ordered.
How does dissipation of marital assets work?
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Debt division is considered part of the property division process. In community property states like Texas, liabilities, like assets, that are brought into the marriage belong to the spouse who incurred them. In equitable distribution of property states, the debt, like the property, is divided equitably between the parties. If the debt is secured debt, the general rule is that the value of the encumbered asset is reduced by the amount of the debt in determining division. For instance, this often happens in the case of family cars. For many divorcing couples, each spouse has a vehicle, but one may be a paid-for clunker worth relatively little with no car payment. The other may be a late model car worth well over $10,000, but with a loan balance equal to its present value. Despite the fact that the vehicles may have very different gross values, the net value for them is equal.
A very common problem for couples in our current economy is that they have accumulated high amounts of unsecured debt, with little asset acquisition during the marriage. This situation poses a complicated issue for debt division. In cases such as these, the advice of a financial consultant, or even a bankruptcy attorney, could be very helpful to the parties.
As with other property issues, if the parties cannot come to a fair and equitable division of debt on their own, state laws typically provide a rationale for courts to follow in making debt division decisions.
How are debt and other liabilities and obligations divided?
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Texas Property Division Questions
