What Is The Process Of Divorce In Texas?
Family law is an area of law where clients need to hire lawyers who are extremely sensitive to their position. It’s a person’s quality of life that’s at stake. Usually, their relationship with their spouse and their children is more important to them than anything; it’s at the core of who a person is. It’s a good idea to have an attorney who can understand divorce, child custody, and child support from a personal perspective.
If someone is seeking a divorce, they would hire an attorney to file a petition for divorce. The state of Texas is a community property state, so it’s important to have an attorney who understands what is property that is acquired during the marriage versus pre-marriage separate property, and how that accounting is handled. If there are children involved, it’s important to find an attorney who will fight for the client’s visitation or custody rights. Many times, there are spouses who have drug and alcohol problems. In those cases, it is especially important to have an attorney who will help ensure that the client will still have his or her fair visitation rights to the children. The best interest of the children is always the primary concern for the court.
These can be emotional issues. Most parents love their kids and one of the most difficult parts of a divorce is deciding what happens with the children. Once a petition for divorce is filed, the court will set a hearing for temporary visitation and set child support amounts for the remainder of the divorce proceedings. In Texas and Arkansas, you have standard visitation requirements. In Texas, the noncustodial parent can also pursue what’s called extended standard visitation, where a non-custodial parent will have visitation with the children Thursday through Sunday versus Friday through Sunday, every other week.
How Much Do Divorces Cost?
My Standard fee for a divorce is $2,500 for 10 hours or $250 an hour. Whether it can be resolved within 10 hours depends on how combative the parties are and how soon we can get a proposed divorce decree to the court to sign. Most courts try to resolve family law cases in Texas and Arkansas within one year.
What Is The Difference Between A Community Property State And A Marital Property State?
Texas is a community property state and Arkansas is a marital property state, which is very similar to community property. It’s important to hire an attorney who knows the Arkansas divorce laws versus the Texas divorce laws.
Are Any Specific Laws Different In Arkansas Than Texas In The Family Law Context?
The standard visitation orders are different in Arkansas than in Texas. In Arkansas, standard visitation is every other weekend, Friday through Sunday. In Texas, you can receive extended weekends, Thursday through Sunday. Weekly visitations are on Thursday in Texas versus Wednesday in Arkansas. Also, the length of visitation over the holidays is different in Arkansas than in Texas. In Texas, the noncustodial parent will receive more Christmas time. In Arkansas, they will receive a longer summer visitation.
The child support charts are also different between Arkansas and Texas. Two children, in Texas, is calculated at 25% monthly net income. In Arkansas, it’s 21% but there is no cap on the amount of child support. If the spouse makes $1 million a year in Arkansas, they pay $210,000 per year in child support. Texas caps monthly income for child support to $8,550 a month, which is a maximum of $25,650 per year.
For more information on Divorce Process In The State Of Texas, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (903) 945-6808 today.
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