If you are ready to pursue a divorce, the bottom line is that you are very well advised to have a divorce attorney. This is true even if you share no children with your divorcing spouse and have very few assets.
Protecting your financial rights is simply too important to leave to chance, and if you do share children, skipping the legal counsel can jeopardize your parental rights, which isn’t something you should risk.
For a very straightforward divorce, you may only need minimal guidance from your experienced Round Rock divorce attorney, but if your divorce is more complicated, you’ll want their skilled legal counsel every step of the way.
Divorce Is Nothing if Not Unpredictable
A primary truth about divorce is that it’s completely unpredictable. You and your divorcing spouse may begin on the same page and have the same goals, but that can change in the blink of an eye – and when you least expect it. Divorce is an emotional rollercoaster that can hit you in ways you never saw coming, and suddenly, all that shared vision of divorce is shattered.
While there is no denying that keeping your divorce as amicable as possible is likely to save you time, money, and heartache, this doesn’t mean you should fly solo. In fact, having skilled legal guidance in your corner from the outset can keep your divorce moving more smoothly forward – while better protecting your parental and financial rights.
Uncontested vs. Contested Divorce
Whether your divorce is uncontested or contested will likely make a considerable difference in terms of the cost, length, and emotional exhaustion involved.
Uncontested Divorce
An uncontested divorce is one that is resolved outside of court, which means you and your are able to negotiate the applicable terms between yourselves – with the help of your respective divorce attorneys.
Just because your divorce is uncontested, however, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a speedy process or that it’s going to be particularly affordable. It can take a considerable amount of time to resolve divorce terms, and the higher the tension runs between you, the more likely this is to be so.
Your Attorney’s Role
A focused divorce attorney can help you break your divorce down into manageable chunks, focus on terms that are most important to you, make strategic compromises that help support your divorce priorities, and keep moving effectively and efficiently forward.
The Potential for Mediation
If negotiations between you and your soon-to-be ex have stalled or are completely out of the question, you can look to your respective divorce attorneys to handle the negotiating on behalf of each of you. If this has taken things as far as they can go, is likely the next logical step. Mediation comes with all the following perks:
It’s a far less formal matter than court.
The outcome is private – while court records are a matter of public information.
Mediation is only legally binding if you both sign off on the resolutions reached.
Mediation allows you to hammer out terms in a safe space in which the mediator goes back and forth between you – rather than having a shouting match with your divorcing spouse
Mediation is led by a professional mediator who acts in the position of a neutral third party whose job is to help you meet somewhere in the middle. Your skilled attorney will be right there by your side every step of the way – helping to ensure that your rights are upheld while you explore compromises together that you may not have considered prior.
Contested Divorce
A contested divorce is one in which one or more of your divorce terms must be resolved by the court. Most divorces ultimately settle out of court, and this is based on the fact that most people do not want to hand over decision-making authority regarding their parental and financial rights to a judge who knows very little about them.
Even if your divorcing spouse shows very few to no signs that they are interested in compromising, the court date’s approach could change all that.
An important point to make here is that if the stress of divorce has gone directly to your divorcing spouse’s head and they are focused solely on hurting you by any means possible, there is very little chance that they are going to see reason any time soon. In such a situation, the best approach may be cutting your losses, bypassing mediation, and simply going to court.
If your spouse chooses to make your divorce as difficult as possible, there may not be much you can do about it. And your attorney will likely advise you to get busy preparing for court, which they’ll be very well prepared to guide you through.
Whether your divorce is contested or uncontested, foregoing the trusted legal representation of a dedicated divorce attorney isn’t in your best interest.
If Your Divorce Is Fault Based
Most divorces in Texas are no fault, which means the dissolution of the marriage is chalked up to insupportability – or what other states generally call irreconcilable differences. In a no-fault divorce, neither party needs to prove that the other engaged in any form of wrongdoing. Unlike some states, Texas grants fault-based divorces, and they tend to be more complicated.
Fault-based divorces in Texas are often predicated on adultery or cruelty, and the burden of proving fault lies with the spouse who is making the claim. This means that if you say your marriage was broken by your spouse’s adultery, you’ll need to prove that they were having a sexual relationship with someone beside you, which can be tricky to pull off.
If you seek a fault-based divorce, it’s also important to keep in mind that you should expect your case to go to trial because your divorcing spouse is unlikely to admit their guilt.
Fault-based divorces are relatively uncommon in Texas because they add an additional layer of complexity, they are more time consuming, and they’re more costly. There are, however, unique circumstances when a fault-based divorce can better support your rights, and when that is true, your attorney will help you make the right decision for you.
If your divorce is based on fault, it can directly affect your divorce terms. There are also situations when the matter of fault affects the terms of divorce – even in a no-fault divorce. In other words, this is a matter you’ll need to carefully evaluate with your seasoned divorce attorney – in the context of your unique case.
The Terms of Your Divorce
The meat of your divorce is the terms that you end up with, which will have lasting consequences in relation to both your parental and financial rights. While your divorce will be absolutely unique to you and your ex, the terms you’ll need to address are the same as every other divorcing couple addresses – as applicable. These include:
Child custody, or legal custody and parenting time
The division of marital property
Alimony
Let’s dig in a bit deeper.
Child Custody
Texas addresses child custody in terms of legal custody and parenting time.
Legal Custody
Legal custody refers to your right to make primary decisions on behalf of your children, and it’s an important parental right. The kinds of decisions addressed by legal custody include all the following:
Where your children attend school or daycare
The medical care your children receive
The extracurriculars and travel that your children participate in
Your children’s religious upbringing
Where your children make their primary home
When it comes to legal custody, you and your ex can continue making these big-picture parenting decisions together, but one of you may have the right to break a tie if your authentic efforts to reach an agreement ultimately fail.
Other options include dividing these decisions between the two of you according to type. Finally, one of you can be assigned sole physical custody, and that parent will make each of these decisions on their own.
An important point to make here is that the parent who is with the children at the time is responsible for making those decisions that are more everyday in nature. And if an emergency arises, the parent who is more immediately accessible is responsible for the decision-making.
Parenting Time
Parenting time sets the schedule that dictates when the children are with you and when they are with their other parent. Texas has a wide range of standard parenting time schedules that suit most parenting time divisions, but if you’re able to negotiate a schedule between yourselves, you can tailor it to meet your family’s unique scheduling needs.
Either one parent will be assigned the role of primary custodian, which means they have the children for the majority of overnights, or you can share your parenting time more evenly. You should know that Texas courts base every parenting time schedule on the children’s best interests, and a wide range of factors like the following go into their decision-making process:
Each child’s age
Each child’s physical, emotional, and educational needs, including any special needs
Each child’s overall mental and physical health
Each parent’s overall mental and physical health
Each parent’s commitment and ability to adequately address each child’s needs
The preference of each child who is mature enough to voice their opinion
The depth of the relationship that each parent has cultivated with the children
The degree to which each parent has been involved in the children’s lives so far
Each parent’s commitment to supporting the other’s healthy relationship with the children
Each parent’s commitment and capacity to successfully co-parent
Whether or not there are any concerns in relation to either parent regarding child abuse, child neglect, or family violence
Texas courts begin with the presumption that children’s best interests are best supported when they are able to spend a considerable amount of time with both parents. This means that unless there is a serious reason for ruling otherwise, you can both expect a substantial amount of parenting time.
Child Support
When parents divorce, they’re both required by law to continue supporting their children financially. Texas implements a child support calculation process that takes many different factors into careful consideration.
The bottom line, however, is that – when one parent serves in the role of primary custodial parent – the other parent is very likely to have the child support obligation. If you and your ex divide your parenting time more equally, however, the higher earner is very likely to make the child support payments.
The Division of Marital Property
The division of marital property in your divorce can have a considerable impact on your financial future, which makes it of primary concern in your divorce. Those assets that you, your spouse, or you and your spouse together acquired over the course of your marriage are considered marital assets, and they’ll need to be divided between you fairly upon divorce.
Fairly can mean evenly but doesn’t always, and working closely with a savvy divorce attorney is always advised.
Alimony
Alimony applies only in those situations in which one spouse is left without the financial means to cover their reasonable needs while the other has the ability to help. If you’re entitled to alimony, it’s well worth pursuing, and an accomplished Round Rock divorce attorney can help make that happen.
Reach Out to an Experienced Round Rock Child Support Attorney for the Help You Need Today
Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard is a compassionate Round Rock child support attorney who dedicates his impressive practice to helping clients like you resolve their child support concerns favorably.
Whether you’re facing a divorce that involves children, need a child support modification, or aren’t receiving the child support to which you’re entitled, we encourage you to contact or call us at 254-781-4222 to schedule a free consultation and learn more about what we can do to help you today.