Texas law allows a marriage to end in one of two ways: divorce or annulment. You can only do one of these things, so if you proceed with a divorce you cannot then have your marriage annulled. Likewise, you cannot pursue a divorce once you have had your marriage annulled.

Mediation is strongly recommended but not typically required. It’s encouraged because most cases that go to mediation end up settling. Keep in mind that if one of the two parties involved requests mediation, the court will usually order it.

Some local courts require it. For instance, Travis County require mediation in situations where the hearing is anticipated to last more than 3 hours. Hays, Williamson and surrounding counties do not have the same rule, however they do still recommend mediation.

The timeframe set forth by the Texas Family Code is at least 30 days after your divorce becomes final. If you don’t want to wait that long, you can ask that the Judge waive this at the time of your divorce.

There is no specific answer to this question because it is entirely up to you when you feel ready to begin dating again after your divorce. But you should be aware of the impact it may have on your divorce before you make that decision. While casual dating will likely not have any effect on how the court handles issues like child custody and property division, it may have a significant impact on how cooperative your spouse is in reaching agreements in such matters. There are a lot of emotions and hurt feelings when a marriage comes to an end, so just keep this in mind when deciding whether to openly begin dating again.

Texas uses a 3 question test to determine if a couple is common law married:

1. Are both parties intending to be married?
2. Have you lived together as husband and wife?
3. Have you presented yourself to others as if you were married?

If you answered “yes” to all three questions, then you are considered common law married. If you answered “no” to any of them, then you probably aren’t.

While it’s true that Texas is considered a community property state, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your property will be split 50/50. According to Chapter 7 of the Texas Family Code: Award of Marital Property, courts have the right to make a “just and right” division of property, which may or may not be an even 50/50 split.

No, not at all. Very few divorce cases go to a trial. Most couples are able to reach an out of court settlement. These out of court settlements are often reached using mediation, collaborative law, settlement conferences, and simple negotiation over the phone.

Of course, there are certain situations that may force you to go to court, but that’s usually a last resort. Most people prefer to have control over the decisions made during their divorce instead of letting a judge do it for them.

The Texas divorce residency requirements are fairly simple. There are two conditions that you must meet before you can file for divorce in Texas:

1. Either you or your spouse must have been living in Texas for at least 6 months
2. Either you or your spouse must have been living in the county in which you’re filing for the preceding 90 days.

If you are a member of the military and you are stationed overseas, but you consider Texas your home state, then can file for divorce in Texas in the county where you consider yourself to reside.

Grounds basically means the reason for your divorce. In Texas, you can file for divorce based on fault grounds or no fault grounds.

The fault grounds are adultery, cruelty (domestic violence), incarceration and abandonment.

The no fault grounds are insupportability, living apart for 3+ years, and confinement in a mental institution.

The vast majority of divorce cases in Texas are filed under the no fault ground of insupportability.

Texas courts typically only appoint a lawyer for you in a criminal case. So it’s unlikely that a judge will will appoint an attorney for you for a family matter such as divorce.

However, if one party to the divorce is missing or unable to be found, the court may appoint someone to represent their interests. In this situation, the appointed attorney would be called an attorney ad litem. This attorney ad litem would represent the missing person’s interests as related to children’s issues and property division in the divorce.