FAMILY LAW FAQS
WHAT IS AN AGREED DIVORCE?
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET DIVORCED?
DOES TEXAS HAVE LEGAL SEPARATION?
CAN I BEGIN DATING AFTER FILING FOR DIVORCE?
CAN I GET MY LEGAL FEES PAID BY MY SPOUSE?
HOW MUCH CHILD SUPPORT WILL I OR MY SPOUSE HAVE TO PAY?
Child support is determined based on many factors, including the special needs of the child and the circumstances of their usual lifestyle. However, most often child support is determined based upon a formula promulgated by the Texas legislature. It calculates your net resources for each month (after deducting taxes, union dues and health insurance premiums for the children) and then multiplies that number by 20% for the first child and an additional 5% for each child thereafter. (For example, if you have three children you will pay 30% of your net monthly resources.)
CAN I HAVE MY CHILD SUPPORT WITHHELD FROM MY SPOUSE’S PAYCHECK?
Yes. In fact, Texas law requires that an order doing so be signed and filed with the final divorce papers in your case. That does not mean that you have to have such order sent to his/her employer though. If the parties agree, the withholding order may be kept in the Court’s file and not be sent to the employer. If you later decide you want it to, the court clerk will send it out to the employer at the request of any party.
WHAT IS THE STANDARD FOR VISITATION WITH THE CHILDREN?
Similar to child support, the Texas legislature has set a “Standard Possession Order” wherein it dictates the schedule by which the parties will visit with the children. It allows for visitation on the 1st, 3rd and 5th weekend of each month, every Thursday evening during the school year, and one month in the summer. This can be extended to including picking the child up from school on Thursday evening and returning the child to school on Monday morning. Keep in mind, however, that the parties can agree to any visitation schedule they like, and the Court can order any visitation schedule it sees fit and is in the best interest of the children.
I WANT ALIMONY, CAN I GET IT?
Bottom line…No. Texas, unlike many other states does not have alimony. We do, however, have spousal maintenance. In the context of a divorce, maintenance is defined as the court-ordered periodic payments from the future income of one spouse for the support of the other spouse. While it sounds like alimony, there are many requirements prior to a spouse being granted maintenance in a divorce.
First, is the length of the marriage. A couple has to have been married at least ten years prior to the court being able to award maintenance to one spouse, unless the requesting spouse is disabled.
Further, there must exist factors which lend themselves to the requesting spouse needing the maintenance payments or deserving them. These factors are listed in the Texas Family Code and are generally: financial resources of the spouse seeking maintenance, education and employment skills, duration of the marriage, age, earning ability of the spouse seeking maintenance, physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance, ability of the spouse ordered to pay maintenance to meet his/her own needs, excessive or abnormal expenditures by either spouse of community property, comparative financial resources of the spouses, property brought into the marriage, contribution of the spouse as a homemaker, marital misconduct of either spouse, efforts of the spouse seeking maintenance to find work.
Texas judges cannot extend the spousal maintenance payments beyond three years except for good cause, such as the receiving spouse being disabled and unable to work. However, like almost all other areas of divorce, the parties can agree differently if they so choose and can avoid the time restraints altogether.
CAN I GET MY CHILD’S FATHER’S/MOTHER’S RIGHTS TERMINATED IF HE/SHE DOESN’T PAY HIS/HER CHILD SUPPORT?
Legally yes, practically not always. The Texas Family Code provides that when a parent has not provided for the support of the child for at least one year their parental rights may be terminated. However, a litany of factors go into a court deciding to terminate a parent’s rights to their child. First and foremost is the best interest of the child. The Court will look at the entire situation surrounding the child and determine if it is a good thing for the child to have the rights of one of his/her parents to him/her taken away. The Court will often consider if there is a surrogate parent or potential adoptive stepparent who wants to assume the role of the terminated parent. The Court will also consider the child support history, the ability of the parent who is to be terminated to pay the support arrearage and future support and any other factors it deems in the best interest of the child.
HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO TRY AND GET BACK CHILD SUPPORT THAT I AM OWED PAID?
For the entire life of the child. The Texas Legislature recently amended it’s child support collection statues and made it harder for deadbeat parents to get away with abandoning their children and paying no support. It did so by removing the statute of limitations for the collection of child support arrearages. Now a parent, a child or guardian of an adult ward may sue for the collection of child support arrearage from the obligor parent at any time during the life of the child. It now makes no difference that the child has reached adulthood, the cause of action is still there.
WHAT ARE GRANDPARENT’S RIGHTS?
Texas recognizes that the bond between children and their grandparents is very important to the development of the child. However, the law also recognizes that the discretion of the parents in the raising of their children is of tantamount importance. Therefore, there exists a dichotomy between grandparent’s rights to their grandchildren and parent’s rights to keep their children from their grandparents. However, grandparent’s rights generally refers to the right of a grandparent to force a parent to allow visitation between a grandparent and a grandchild.
