An Explanation of the Grounds for Divorce in Texas

On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Divorce Law encounter, An Explanation of the Grounds for Divorce in Texas with the immense procedure!

Divorce Lawyers in Houston – When a person walks into the Law Office of Bryan Fagan and seeks a consultation with one of our attorneys to discuss a divorce, the person will invariably get into the grievances that they have against their spouse. From:

1. Infidelity
2. to ignoring the children
3. to spending money without regard for the needs of their spouse

to spending money without regard for the needs of their spouse
The reasons for wanting to divorce are many.

WHY TEXAS GROUNDS FOR A DIVORCE ARE IMPORTANT

As a general rule for a Texas divorce a person does not need a particular reason to divorce their spouse. However, to obtain a divorce, the requesting spouse must plead and prove there is at least one ground for granting the divorce.

There are seven valid grounds to specify in a divorce petition. Six are fault grounds and one (insupportability) no-fault grounds those grounds include:

1. Living apart
2. Confinement in a mental hospital
3. Cruelty
4. Abandonment
5. Conviction of a felony
6. Adultery
7. insupportability

The rest of this blog post will go through those grounds in some detail.

WHY PLEAD A FAULT GROUND?

Family Lawyer Houston – If successful in proving a fault ground for divorce specified below the party may be able to a better division of the community estate.

Even if a fault ground is plead a Judge has the discretion of granting the divorce on the ground of insupportability instead.

Amount and Duration of Spousal Support

In addition, if a spouse is eligible under the law to receive spousal support under Texas Law and a Judge is inclined to award spousal support then a Judge may consider marital fault when awarding the amount and duration of spousal support in the divorce.

Historical Reasons Why Texas Divorce Fault Grounds Exist

For a long time in Texas (and many other states) a person who wanted to get divorced from their spouse had to specify the grounds for they are basing their divorce on.

This led to persons having to invent reasons why they are requesting the divorce when in actuality the reason was more or less just being tired of looking across the breakfast table and seeing the other person each day.

NO-FAULT DIVORCE OR INSUPPORTABILITY

Nowadays the most common reason for divorce in Texas is called “insupportability”.

The actual language that is used in an Original Petition for Divorce is that “the marriage has become insupportable because of discord and conflict, which destroys the legitimate end of the marriage relationship and there is no reasonable expectation of reconciliation.”

All that means is that there has become a fundamental breakdown in the marriage relationship due to nothing more than a conflict of attitudes of at least one spouse.

The parties do not expect to be able to ever get along well enough to continue the marriage so a divorce is being asked for.

TEXAS FAULT GROUND FOR DIVORCE – CRUELTY

Divorce Lawyers Houston – A spouse in Texas is able to cite Cruelty as grounds for divorce as well under Texas Family Code Section 6.002. Pleading this in a petition is easy enough to do, but actually proving it to a Court is more difficult.

Cruel treatment means the behavior of one spouse is so extreme as to make it impossible for the parties to live together under the same roof.

This cruel treatment can be physical or emotional in nature. Evidence can be hard to come by in order to prove cruel treatment in a divorce so a party who wishes to plead cruel treatment as a ground for divorce ought to be open and honest with the attorney so that necessary evidence can be located.

TEXAS FAULT GROUND FOR DIVORCE – CONVICTION OF A FELONY

The other spouse is convicted of a felony is another ground that a person can plead for in a divorce petition in Texas under Texas Family Code Section 6.004.

The time that the spouse has spent in prison must be longer than one year and a pardon must not have been granted in his or her case.

Fortunately, I can’t recall a client of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan who has been able to plead this ground and I’ll go on the record as saying that is a good thing.

TEXAS FAULT GROUND FOR DIVORCE – ABANDONMENT

Abandonment is next on our list of grounds to specify for a Texas divorce. Under Family Code Section 6.005 a spouse must show:

1. that the other spouse left the marital home and did not intend to return, and
2. the spouse will need to prove that the abandoning spouse has been out of the home for at least one year with no contact having been made with the spouse still living in the marital residence.

If nothing else, pleading this ground can show a Court that the other spouse is not honoring their obligation to the children of the marriage if there are any.

Even if the spouse asking for the divorce does not satisfy the burden of proving that the other spouse has been gone for at least a year it’s not as if being gone for six or eight months is a good look for that parent at the outset of a divorce.

TEXAS FAULT GROUND FOR DIVORCE – LIVING APART

Family Attorney Houston– A similar but less severe sounding ground for divorce in Texas when compared to Abandonment is Living Apart which is found under Texas Family Code Section 6.006.

If a person filing for divorce and their spouse have been living apart from one another for at least three years then they may have grounds to plead this way.

When I first began working as a family law attorney this was perhaps the most surprising thing that I learned about marriages- that people get married and just decide to live apart from their spouse for an extended period of time.

The general attitude of folks is that they just never got around to filing for the divorce and are therefore requesting to do so now.

TEXAS FAULT GROUND FOR DIVORCE – CONFINEMENT IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL

A fairly uncommon but perfectly legal ground for divorce in Texas… Continue Reading