Divorce
Contested and uncontested dissolution under the Texas Family Code, with or without children.
Statutory wait: 60 daysResidency: 6 months state, 90 days county
Practice areas
Family law, and nothing else
Nine areas, all governed by the Texas Family Code. Each page sets out what we handle, the stages your case will pass through and the realistic timeline for El Paso County.
Most people arrive knowing something is wrong and not knowing what to call it. That is normal, and working out the case type is our job, not yours. The nine pages below exist so you can read ahead of the consultation rather than after it.
Ending a marriage
Property division
Characterising, valuing and dividing a Texas community estate, including tracing separate claims.
Presumption: Community propertyTo rebut: Clear and convincing
Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
Premarital and marital property agreements drafted to survive a challenge years later.
Governing law: Tex. Fam. Code ch. 4Effective on: Marriage
Children
Child custody and conservatorship
Conservatorship, possession and access, and the parenting plan that will govern the next decade.
Legal term: ConservatorshipDefault presumption: Joint managing
Child support
Guideline support under chapter 154, medical and dental support, arrears and enforcement.
One child: 20% of net resourcesTwo children: 25%
Adoption
Stepparent, relative and agency adoption, and the termination step that has to come first.
Residency with you: 6 months before decreeChild consent: Required at age 10+
Resolving and revisiting
Mediation
Settle the case in one day, on your terms, instead of handing the decision to a judge.
Typical settlement rate: About 7 in 10 sampleHalf-day mediator fee: $650 to $950 per side sample
Protective orders
Temporary ex parte and two-year protective orders where family violence has occurred.
Ex parte duration: Up to 20 daysHearing set within: 14 days
Modifications
Changing an existing custody, possession or support order when life has genuinely changed.
Custody standard: Material and substantial changeUnder 1 year: Affidavit required
Which one is mine?
Case types overlap more than the labels suggest. A divorce with children is also a suit affecting the parent-child relationship. A protective order often runs alongside a custody case. A modification is sometimes really an enforcement problem wearing the wrong name.
- Married, want to end it: start at divorce. If there are children, the parenting issues sit inside the same suit.
- Never married, need a schedule: that is an original SAPCR, covered under child custody.
- There is already a final order and it no longer works: modifications, unless the other party is simply ignoring the order, which is enforcement.
- You are not safe: protective orders, today, before anything else.