In Texas, when you file for divorce, you have to ensure that you meet the residency requirements. There are two requirements to file for divorce in Texas. Prior to filing for divorce in Texas, one party must have lived in Texas for at least six months and 90 days in the county in question.
NOTE: Just because Harris or Fort Bend county accepts jurisdiction for the divorce, it doesn’t mean that it has jurisdiction over a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (SAPCR) and in some cases it may not have the power to divide marital property.
It is always in a party’s best interest to respond to discovery. This is for two main reasons. First off, it can hurt your ability to put on evidence at trial. Under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, failure to timely respond to discovery may prevent a party from being able to admit evidence at trial. If you plan on using witnesses at your trial and they are not timely disclosed during discovery process they may not be able to testify on your behalf. Evidence can be of the utmost important during a legal dispute, responding to discovery ensures evidence important to your case can be heard at trial.
The second reason it is important to respond to discovery is that the court may take action against a nonresponsive party. A court may grant the opposing party’s motion to compel discovery and attorneys fees, which does not help your case in the eyes of the court. If a party again fails to respond to discovery after a motion to compel is granted, the court may impose sanctions. For those reasons it is very important to respond to discovery in a timely manner and to the best of your abilities.
Posted in Discovery
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Tagged Discovery
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The SAFE program is a supervised visitation program in the Houston area that provides a neutral setting for parents to visit with their children while being monitored by SAFE Program staff members. The SAFE Program is usually court-ordered in situations where there have been allegations of physical or emotional abuse, drug use or other problems. The goal of SAFE is to provide a stress-free environment for children to visit with a parent. A benefit of SAFE is that there is no interaction between the parents and the entire time a parent spends with their child is devoted to fun and positive interaction.
SAFE enables parents to establish a good visitation history with their children, which can be reported to the court through unbiased reports. These reports contain information taken from staff members’ observations during the visits. SAFE makes no recommendations to the court and has no control over the length of time parents participate in the program. There are several SAFE Program locations throughout Harris County. There is an enrollment fee of $75 and the visiting parent is responsible for the $60 per visitation fee.
For more information and requirement please visit the Victim Assistance Centre web site by clicking on the link below:
Victim Assistance Centre – Main home page.
Safe Supervised Visitation – SAFE program information page.
Contact Information:
Victim Assistance Centre
Safe Supervised Visitation, Suite 1030
Houston, Texas 77002
Phone: 713-755-5625
Fax: 713-755-8824
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The most important criteria when hiring a Houston divorce lawyer is to hire an attorney that only practices in the area of family law. Keep in mind, you wouldn’t hire a general family doctor to do brain surgery so why hire a general practitioner to assist with your family law matter.
The practice of family law and divorce can be a fairly complicated and challenging process. The attorney must not only know the law but must also have a strong understanding of the family court system in the counties in which they practice. Each county has it’s own set of rules and within those counties each court has it’s own subset of varying rules and processes. A family law attorney must be able to determine if it’s in their client best interest to settle out of court or take the issue to the judge or jury based on their experience with the court’s previous rulings. Keep in mind, some courts have a track record for ruling in a certain direction based on specific issues. For this reason, it is very beneficial to hire a family law attorney with intimate knowledge and experience with the county in question.
Consequently, we limit our practice to family law and only in Harris and Fort Bend counties.
CAUTION: Don’t be lured in by the neighborhood general practitioner. Yes they tend to be very friendly but in the end they cost their clients large sums money in attorney fees and a stake in the community estate.
In a word, no. Marriage laws are governed by the individual states. Some states have recently recognized the validity of the marriage between a same-sex couple. The State of Texas, however, only acknowledges the existence of marriage between a man and a woman. As such, Texas does not recognize the validity of a same-sex marriage granted in another state. Because a same-sex marriage does not technically exist in the eyes of the Texas law, the state may not grant a divorce.
Justice Kerry P. Fitzgerald wrote in an August 2010 5th Court of Appeals decision, “Texas law, as embodied in our constitution and statutes, requires that a valid marriage must be a union of one man and one woman, and only when a union comprises one man and one woman can there be a divorce under Texas law.” Because of the ongoing legislation regarding this matter, legislation could change in the future. But for now, no same-sex couple may receive a divorce in Texas, even if their marriage was legally obtained in another state.
Posted in Divorce
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Tagged Divorce
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In most divorce proceedings, each spouse is responsible for his or her own attorney’s fees and litigation costs. The court does, however, have the power to require one party to cover all or a portion of the opposing party’s reasonable attorney’s fees. This will depend on the financial resources of both parties and the facts of the case. Either party may request for the other to pay attorney’s fees. It is at the judge’s discretion as to whether that is ordered or not.
Should the court render judgment for attorney’s fees, the party will be ordered to pay directly to the attorney. A judgment for attorney’s fees may be enforced in the attorney’s own name by any means available for the enforcement of judgment for debt.
An uncontested divorce is the quickest and the least expensive way to get divorced in Texas. In this type of divorce both parties must be able to remove the emotional side of divorce and treat the process as a business transaction without the need of extensive litigation.
To quality for an uncontested divorce both parties must be in agreement with all of the following terms:
- Agree to be divorced
- Have a solid agreement on all issues
- Child custody, Visitation and Access
- Child support
- Division of community assets
- Division of retirement funds
- Agree to use one attorney
- Voluntarily sign all legal documents without service on any party
Simply put, a Contested Divorce situation exists when one or more requirements listed above are absent. Furthermore, an uncontested divorce can be finalized on the 61st day after filing the original petition for divorce. This time includes the required 60 day cooling off period required by the state of Texas.
In most cases, the uncontested divorce process is completed at a fraction of the cost of a contested case. An uncontested case without children, real estate and retirement can be accomplished with our law firm for as little at $800.
