Board Certified - Family Law and Criminal Law
Texas Board of Legal Specialization
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Texas Divorce Guidelines and Information

General:
A divorce suit is possibly as many as four suits in one. One suit is for the dissolution of the marriage, another for division of the marital property, the third being a suit affecting the parent-child relationship, and the four being any inter-spousal or third party contract action.

Caption:
This suit is to be styled “in the matter of the marriage of ____ and ____”. If there is a child, the caption should continue with “and in the interest of ____, (a) child(ren).” 

Citation:
The citation is the same as in civil cases generally. If a child in involved, the following persons are entitled to citation: 

• any managing conservator;

• any possessory conservator;

• anyone having possession of or access to the child under and order;

• anyone required by law or order to provide for the support of the child;

• any guardian of the person of the child;

• any guardian of the estate of the child;

• each parent as to whom the parent-child relationship has not been terminated or process has not been waived under Code chapter 161;

• any alleged father unless there is attached to the petition an affidavit of waiver of interest executed by the alleged father under Code chapter 161 or unless the petitioner has complied with the provisions of Code section 161.002(b)(2) or (b)(3).

• a man who has filed a notice of intent to claim paternity under Code chapter 160, subchapter D;

• the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, if the petition requests that the department be appointed managing conservator of the child; and

• the title IV-D agency, if the petition requests termination of the parent-child relationship and support rights have been assigned to the agency under Code chapter 231.

Pleadings Generally:
A divorce petition need not specify the underlying evidentiary facts if the petition alleges the grounds relied on substantially in the language of the statute.

Grounds:
The court may grant a divorce on any of three no-fault grounds: insupportability, living apart for three years, and respondent’s confinement in a mental hospital for three years.
The court may also grant a divorce on any of these fault grounds: cruelty, adultery, respondent’s conviction of a felony, and respondent’s abandonment of petitioner for one year. 

Residence Requirements:
One can meet resident’s requirements if either the petitioner or the respondent has been a domiciliary resident of Texas for the six months, and a resident of the county of suit for ninety days, preceding the filing of the petition. A petitioner does not lose the right to maintain a divorce suit in his count of residence if he has been temporarily absent from the county during the ninety-day period. A domiciliary does not lose his domicile if he is absent from Texas for military service or other public service of the state or nation. 

Waiting Period:
The court may not grant a divorce before the sixtieth day after the date the suit was filed, but a decree entered in violation of this provision is not subject to collateral attack. The waiting period on a cross-petition is the same as in the original suit. 

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