Texas

I am going to start with Texas because I live here and that is where divorce number two for me happened.  It is relatively easy to get a divorce in Texas.  Here are some court ground rules:

1. You or your spouse need to have been a resident of the county you are filing in for a minimum of  90 days and a resident of the state of Texas for a minimum of six months.

2. You must list a reason for the divorce and in Texas, there are 7 acceptable reasons: No fault, cruelty, adultery, conviction of felony, abandonment, living apart, and confinement in a mental hospital.

There are a lot of forms required for a divorce:

• The petition is used to tell the court and your spouse that you want a divorce.  This form is six pages long and needs to be signed by the spouse who is filing, known in courts as the petitioner.  
• The vital statistics form is two pages and contains information regarding all parties affected by the divorce.
• The declaration of indigency form is to be used for a court fee waiver if you can't afford the filing fee.
• The waiver of service form is to be used if both parties agree to the terms and the non-filing spouse is waiving his or her right to attend a hearing, known in courts as the respondent.
• The form called respondent's original answer is to be used in place of the waiver of service form if the respondent wants to attend the hearing.
• The final decree of divorce form varies in length depending on if the parties have kids together or not.  It is eight pages without kids and up to thirty-one pages with kids.  
• Income withholding form is used if the parent with custody of any minor children will be filing for child support that will be collected through income withholding done by the State of Texas.
• The certificate of last known address is to be used only in a default divorce and is used to show the court the last address  you have for your spouse.

All of these forms, in the form of divorce kits, can be found by clicking here . If you don't understand a form and can't afford an attorney, feel free to message me and I will help you if I can.

There is a 60 day waiting period from the date you file your petition to when you can have a hearing scheduled.  The courts call this the cooling off period to make sure both parties want a divorce.

There are special rules for filing for divorce in Travis County and you can access a pdf file of these rules by clicking here.


       

First steps to get a divorce

The smartest thing to do first is to tell your spouse that you want a divorce.  Don't put it out in the world for someone else to tell them- trust me, that way sucks!!  I mentioned I wanted a divorce to a few people and also on a group I am a member of on facebook and my husband's sister was sent a screen shot of my post who then sent it to my now ex-husband,  He sent it to me and was pretty mad that I told other people before I told him.  So take it from me, tell him or her first!!  I am going to post instructions on how to fill out paperwork for each state over the next few months, so stay tuned!!