Search:

Divorce Law in Austin-What You Need to Know Today

If you are interested in filing for a divorce in Austin or the surrounding counties, your attorney must file a petition for divorce. While this is the first step to filing, there are potentially many steps. But the step of filing the petition gets the process moving and will get you on the court's docket. The petition will need to show evidence as to why you are seeking a divorce.

A divorce can be based on fault or no fault, which we will discuss further, later in this article. You must serve the petition (service of process) on your spouse, by way of a process server, which can be a private process server. Following service on your spouse, he or she will have a limited number of days in which to respond. Note, that depending on which county you are in, there may be additional local rules to comply with.

Note that there is a 60-day waiting period from the time the petition is filed for the divorce to become final. This is the State of Texas' way of giving the parties a cooling off period so that they have time to make sure they are doing the right thing.

However, if the parties are unable to agree to all issues such as child support, spousal support, child custody, property division, etc. then the time frame may take much longer.

For a divorce in Austin, Texas, there are really two grounds: one is the fault divorce, and the other is the no-fault divorce. Texas is a no-fault state, but parties may allege fault. A no-fault simply means that the "marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities that destroys the legitimate ends of the marital relationship and prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation." This basically means that it's neither parties' fault, but that the marriage cannot continue.

So any reason or no reason at all is grounds for divorce. But, there are times when a party may want to allege fault to try and better position your case. These fault grounds are:

Mental cruelty; Adultery; Imprisonment or conviction of a felony, Imprisoned for at least one year for a felon and has not been pardoned; Abandonment whether intentionally or remained apart for at least one year; Living Separate and apart without cohabitating for minimum of three years; and insanity and confinement to a mental hospital.

Eric Willie is a Partner at the Law Office of Willie & Dasher in Austin, TX. You can learn more about the Austin Divorce Lawyers at the Law Office of Willie & Dasher by visiting us online.

Article Source: http://www.articleadventure.com

For more divorce articles, FREE information and access to the lawyers who can help you win your case, visit Austin Divorce Attorney today.

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated