713-221-9088

Divorce Lawyers – Houston

No matter the context, divorce means a big change in your life. Even when that change is for the better, allowing you to begin anew, finding a way to move forward is difficult, especially when you feel alone.

The Larson Law Office can provide you with the information you need to know what steps to take and lead you through those steps to your new start. Our divorce lawyers in Houston, Erik and Diana Larson, have years of experience guiding clients through divorce, from the most amicable to the most contentious. When you hire us, you get the direct, personalized service of an experienced, compassionate divorce attorney in Houston. Contact us to learn more.

What Does Divorce Involve?

To chart a new path forward, you have to establish what your life will look like, separate from your spouse. This means resolving the following issues:

  • Who will have custody of your children?
  • Who will pay child support, and how much will they pay?
  • Who gets certain assets, and how do you split marital property?

You may also address whether one spouse will pay the other spousal maintenance and for how long. 

Divorce typically involves working toward settling out of court, potentially through alternative dispute resolution processes like arbitration or mediation. When you cannot come to terms outside the courtroom, you and your lawyer may end up in a court hearing before a judge.

Child Custody

In Texas, you establish who has child custody through “conservatorships.” Whenever a court decides custody, the primary consideration is the child’s best interests.

Best Interests of the Child

Texas law identifies several factors that affect the child’s best interests, including:

  • What the child wants,
  • The child’s physical and emotional needs,
  • Risks either parent presents to the child’s physical and emotional needs,
  • The parent-child relationship,
  • Each parent’s parenting ability,
  • Programs available to help care for the child,
  • Plans the parent has made to care for the child,
  • Stability and safety of the environment the parent offers, 
  • History of parents harming the child or the nature of their relationship with the child, and 
  • The parent’s explanation for their negative behaviors related to the child.

Courts may consider any other relevant factors. For example, they may consider a child’s special needs or a parent’s work obligations.

Types of Conservatorships

Conservatorships come in three primary forms:

  • Joint Managing Conservatorship (JMC)—the parents share legal custody;
  • Sole Managing Conservatorships (SMC)—only one parent has legal custody; and
  • Possessory Conservatorships—a parent without legal custody has the right to see and be in the physical presence of (“possess”) the child.

Generally, Texas assumes that maintaining a child’s relationship with both parents is in their best interests. That assumption means that the default child custody arrangement is a JMC. However, if the parent has committed domestic violence, that assumption no longer applies. 

Legal Custody

To have legal custody means having the right to decide how you raise the child. It involves making decisions regarding things like:

  • Where the child lives,
  • The child’s education,
  • What religion or moral framework the child is raised under, and
  • The child’s healthcare.

If one parent has an SMC, they generally have the exclusive right to decide these issues. 

Physical Custody

Within JMCs, parents may or may not share the other type of custody: physical custody. Having physical custody means the child lives with you as their caregiver. Parents can split physical custody and have children spend relatively equal time in each parent’s physical care. More often than not, however, one parent within a JMC has physical custody (the “custodial parent”), and the other does not (the “noncustodial parent”). 

If one parent has an SMC, they have sole physical custody. A parent with a possessory conservatorship may have the child on certain days or weekends and it may be supervised,, but they do not share in rights and duties or time in the same way as if it were JMC. 

Parenting Agreements and Parenting Schedules

You typically also create a parenting plan and schedule. The plan establishes how the parents should handle certain issues, especially how they communicate about the child. The schedule identifies which parent is responsible for childcare and when—including holidays and school vacations. 

Child Support

Generally, a parent without physical custody pays the parent with physical custody child support. By law, every parent must support their child until they reach age 18 or graduate high school. For a parent without physical custody, this obligation is primarily financial.

Texas law establishes the amount of child support a parent must pay. The amount primarily depends on the paying parent’s income and the number of children they support.

Dividing Property

Under Texas law, married couples equally own most of the property acquired during the marriage. You divide this property when you divorce. 

The primary exception is separate property, which is property that either spouse obtained:

  • Before marriage or after the date of separation,
  • Through inheritance,
  • By gift to one spouse alone, or
  • From a personal injury lawsuit.

Through a premarital (prenuptial) or marital agreement, both spouses can agree that certain property acquired during the marriage is separate. 

When a court divides marital property, it does so in a way the judge determines is “just and right” with respect to each spouse and any children. A judge usually begins by assuming that splitting property equally is just and right. However, they may divide property unequally if a spouse:

  • Wants to continue to live in the home and raise the children;
  • Wasted or misused marital property, causing it to decline in value; or
  • Attempts to conceal assets from the other.

Other circumstances may justify the court dividing property unequally, too. For example, when one spouse improves the other’s separate property, they may gain the right to be reimbursed. Whether a particular division is just and right is not a strict, legal question. Instead, these terms have common-sense, practical meanings. 

Spousal Maintenance

Texas law disfavors long-term spousal maintenance, i.e., alimony. Courts should only order one spouse to pay the other maintenance if the spouse requesting it could not provide for their minimum reasonable needs without it. However, a spouse may agree to pay spousal maintenance—called spousal support when voluntary—as part of a divorce negotiation package.

Protective Orders

Domestic violence is, unfortunately, a prevalent contributor to divorce. Working to get away from a violent, controlling partner is an act of courage that sets a new tone for the rest of your life. If you need protection from your spouse during or after your divorce, you can get a protective order as part of the divorce process. You can also set limitations on contact throughout the divorce process to minimize the further harm your future former spouse can do.

How Can Our Divorce Attorneys in Houston Help?

The Larson Law Office’s divorce attorneys in Houston can guide you through your options. We can provide you with our steady support, helping you understand what you can do and then helping you decide what you want to do. Contact us  to speak with a divorce lawyer in Houston about your next steps.

 

Resources:

Texas Family Code § 3.001, link.

Texas Family Code § 3.002, link.

Texas Family Code § 7.001, link.

Texas Family Code § 8.051, link.

Texas Family Code § 81.001, link.

Texas Family Code § 153.002, link.

Texas Family Code § 153.004, link.

Texas Family Code § 153.005, link.

Texas Family Code § 153.007, link.

TexasLawHelp.Org, Best Interest of the Child Standard, link.