Lawyers: Texas Divorce Documents?

[LikesShinyThings]

I have a friend (not me - honest!) who is getting divorced.

No fault, no kids, no health insurance issues, mostly no contest.

She is hoping to minimize costs, so she's looking to do most/all the paperwork herself. But she's having trouble finding what documents are needed, and getting copies of them. Are there any lawyers here who know what documents she is going to need, what they are "officially" called, and where she can get either electronic or paper copies?

Any other free advice for her?

[apostate]

.

[chasfm11]

A family member is going through divorce in Denton Country right now. They obtained the forms on line, filled them out, signed them and submitted them to the court. After the 60 day waiting period, they go before a judge. Assuming that the judge doesn't do anything to alter the agreement, the only other mandatory requirement is a 4 hour parenting session. The filing fee was $230. There is no lawyer for either party.

[RPB]

RE: Do-it-yourself-ers

I've heard of one Judge who had a couple appear before him and he refused to grant the divorce because "a required paragraph was missing" from their "form"

When they asked him what it was, he replied that he couldn't represent them, but come back after a lawyer fixed it so it complied with the requirements.
--------------------------------------------

RE: No-contest divorces and waivers


I got one of these in the 1970s, told the soon to be ex-wife to find the cheapest lawyer and I'd split the cost) Actually a lawyer can't take money from both parties... so when we showed up at his office, [she did the legwork to find the cheapest] I said "I'll pay the whole $300.00 if you sign the waivers" Happy Birthday !!!

About a year or so later she calls asking when the divorce will be final as she decided which one of the bowling team members she was cheating with she decided to marry, and I said Sorry, I forgot you signed waiver and I forgot to tell you, we've been divorced a long time now, oh and by the way, I changed your name back to your maiden name too, guess I forgot to tell you that too, hope you wanted that done, I forgot to ask ...thanks for signing that waiver ... Apparently she wasn't angry about it though ... she called a year or so after that wanting to take me to dinner after her new husband left her ... I, of course, went out of town that week ...


IANL

[SATX-Scrub]

I don't know if this still holds true, but my ex and I walked into the county clerks office (Victoria) and told them we wanted a quick and easy divorce. She handed us an 'example' and we retyped it and filed. Waited 60 days for the court date, I didn't even have to go, and we were divorced. Altogether about $80. I miss my lawn tractor though.

[suthdj]

http://www.edivorcepapers.com/texas-div ... apers.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[The Annoyed Man]

I dont write this to cast aspersion on anybody here, really I don't, but these stories make me sad.......and both my wife and I have a previous divorce in our backgrounds. Whenever I hear of a friend who is getting a divorce, I actually mourn for them a bit. I love marriage. On the macro level, I think the state of marriage is a noble thing which elevates us, provides stability to families, and to cultures and nations. On the micro level, each divorce represents a tragedy of unfulfilled love, expectations, and needs; and it's just sad. I know that not everybody believes in God, but I do; and I know that divorce is not an institution of His creation.

There is such promise when a young couple, much in love, decides to bind their lives together. Genesis 2:24—"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."

....."One flesh......."

How easily we are capable of forgetting that, and instead of healing that "one flesh," we choose to amputate. That is sad. I don't believe in the "things just didn't work out" explanation. "Things" is vague and without form, and it is a bogus reason. Marriages fail because either one or the other (or both) parties to the marriage didn't think the marriage was worth saving. My question is, if it isn't worth saving at the moment that trying to save it becomes necessary, then was it ever worth saving; and did one one or the other (or both) parties enter into the marriage for all the wrong reasons in the first place? How many people actually engage in some kind of pre-marital counseling before getting hitched? I quoted my wife in another thread regarding a pregnant teenager: "If you didn't want to go to Chicago, why'd you get on the train?" But that question is applicable in so many things, including marriage and divorce.

I think that one of the reasons we have so many children being raised in broken homes is because A) getting married is too easy; and B) getting divorced is too easy. It is no coincidence that the divorce rate was lower back when divorces were more complicated and costly. And no, I'm not naive enough to believe that people would be happy in their marriages simply because divorce was harder to obtain. But, it is equally true that the more difficult it is to obtain a divorce, the more likely people are to work out their differences and try to make things right. Some will be successful, and some won't, but there will be more successes at repairing the marriage than there would be if divorce were easy. Divorce is so avoidable most of the time, but it requires courage, commitment, forgiveness, and grace from both people to avoid it; and it becomes unavoidable to the degree that either or both parties is lacking in courage, commitment, forgiveness and grace. Marriage, even healthy and strong marriages, require both parties to live self-sacrificially. The "as long as ye both shall live" part means exactly that, and too many people take that too lightly. It does not mean "until it gets too [whine]haaaard[/whine]. I am guilty of this in my first marriage myself.

Marriage is not for the faint of heart. It is a roller coaster—but it is the best ride on the planet, and one ought not ever want to get off of it. I am convinced of this one thing: There is nothing my wife could ever do that I would not forgive her for doing it. Nothing. That is my commitment. That is my precondition to marriage—the decision, in advance, to forgive anything she might do, no matter how painful or unfair it might be. We are past that age now, but I made up my mind a long time ago that if my wife were ever made pregnant by another man, I would forgive her, and I would raise that child as if it were my own because you can heal a marriage, but you might not be able to heal a wounded child; and kids model their parents. Broken homes beget broken homes. And broken marriages beget broken marriages. It is not a legacy I would want to pass on.

I am occasionally asked to speak at someone's wedding, and I always quote 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 (the "Love" chapter) in my comments. If more people read those words and took them to heart, there would be far fewer divorces. One doesn't even have to be a Christian for these words to be true.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails.

Love never fails, but we do, and divorce is a colosal failure.

And again, please don't anybody take this as an accusation. I've been there myself. It's just that there is already a lot of grief in the world, and it saddens me when two people add their own measure to that grief by backing down from the challenge of repairing their relationship.

[Oldgringo]

with TAM above; OTOH, two years after our youngest son was killed in 1981, his mother said she wanted a divorce. I pleaded, I cried and I begged for us to try to work it out. After all, we'd been married 20+ years at that time. I suggested counseling and she said okay, "...let me know what they say..." It was at that point that I knew I was wasting my breath and my tears. We got a no-fault quickie divorce very soon thereafter.

I found myself divorced at age 41 and totally lost...then I found myself. Talk about a kid loose in a candy store !!!
That candy store closed when I ran into a divorced lady who is now Mrs. Oldgringo. We've been together 27+ years and it looks like this union has a fairly good chance of lasting.

TAM is right, marriage is pretty good stuff but it is like a mirror. You'll never get more out of than you put in it.

{Enough with the testamonials, when does football come on?}

[snatchel]

I dont write this to cast aspersion on anybody here, really I don't, but these stories make me sad.......and both my wife and I have a previous divorce in our backgrounds. Whenever I hear of a friend who is getting a divorce, I actually mourn for them a bit. I love marriage. On the macro level, I think the state of marriage is a noble thing which elevates us, provides stability to families, and to cultures and nations. On the micro level, each divorce represents a tragedy of unfulfilled love, expectations, and needs; and it's just sad. I know that not everybody believes in God, but I do; and I know that divorce is not an institution of His creation.

There is such promise when a young couple, much in love, decides to bind their lives together. Genesis 2:24—"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."

....."One flesh......."

How easily we are capable of forgetting that, and instead of healing that "one flesh," we choose to amputate. That is sad. I don't believe in the "things just didn't work out" explanation. "Things" is vague and without form, and it is a bogus reason. Marriages fail because either one or the other (or both) parties to the marriage didn't think the marriage was worth saving. My question is, if it isn't worth saving at the moment that trying to save it becomes necessary, then was it ever worth saving; and did one one or the other (or both) parties enter into the marriage for all the wrong reasons in the first place? How many people actually engage in some kind of pre-marital counseling before getting hitched? I quoted my wife in another thread regarding a pregnant teenager: "If you didn't want to go to Chicago, why'd you get on the train?" But that question is applicable in so many things, including marriage and divorce.

I think that one of the reasons we have so many children being raised in broken homes is because A) getting married is too easy; and B) getting divorced is too easy. It is no coincidence that the divorce rate was lower back when divorces were more complicated and costly. And no, I'm not naive enough to believe that people would be happy in their marriages simply because divorce was harder to obtain. But, it is equally true that the more difficult it is to obtain a divorce, the more likely people are to work out their differences and try to make things right. Some will be successful, and some won't, but there will be more successes at repairing the marriage than there would be if divorce were easy. Divorce is so avoidable most of the time, but it requires courage, commitment, forgiveness, and grace from both people to avoid it; and it becomes unavoidable to the degree that either or both parties is lacking in courage, commitment, forgiveness and grace. Marriage, even healthy and strong marriages, require both parties to live self-sacrificially. The "as long as ye both shall live" part means exactly that, and too many people take that too lightly. It does not mean "until it gets too [whine]haaaard[/whine]. I am guilty of this in my first marriage myself.

Marriage is not for the faint of heart. It is a roller coaster—but it is the best ride on the planet, and one ought not ever want to get off of it. I am convinced of this one thing: There is nothing my wife could ever do that I would not forgive her for doing it. Nothing. That is my commitment. That is my precondition to marriage—the decision, in advance, to forgive anything she might do, no matter how painful or unfair it might be. We are past that age now, but I made up my mind a long time ago that if my wife were ever made pregnant by another man, I would forgive her, and I would raise that child as if it were my own because you can heal a marriage, but you might not be able to heal a wounded child; and kids model their parents. Broken homes beget broken homes. And broken marriages beget broken marriages. It is not a legacy I would want to pass on.

I am occasionally asked to speak at someone's wedding, and I always quote 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 (the "Love" chapter) in my comments. If more people read those words and took them to heart, there would be far fewer divorces. One doesn't even have to be a Christian for these words to be true.

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails.

Love never fails, but we do, and divorce is a colosal failure.

And again, please don't anybody take this as an accusation. I've been there myself. It's just that there is already a lot of grief in the world, and it saddens me when two people add their own measure to that grief by backing down from the challenge of repairing their relationship.

I'm with TAM, divorce is a sad thing. I married while in the military, and my friends all prodded me about it because the divorce rate for military is something like 70%..... But I followed God and my heart, and here is a picture of me making the best decision of my entire life.

[Venus Pax]

I have a friend (not me - honest!) who is getting divorced.

No fault, no kids, no health insurance issues, mostly no contest.

She is hoping to minimize costs, so she's looking to do most/all the paperwork herself. But she's having trouble finding what documents are needed, and getting copies of them. Are there any lawyers here who know what documents she is going to need, what they are "officially" called, and where she can get either electronic or paper copies?

Any other free advice for her?

Are you sure it's no contest? It still doesn't hurt to visit a lawyer and ask a few questions.
Do either of these people have retirement accounts? I understand they could owe money to one another in their retirement years unless they specify in their divorce that they keep their own retirement accounts. (I can't remember if this is one of those deals applying only to those married 10+ years or not--some things aren't as much of an issue for "starter marriages.")

[suthdj]

First step towards divorce..................................Marriage

[Lambda Force]

I dont write this to cast aspersion on anybody here, really I don't, but these stories make me sad.......and both my wife and I have a previous divorce in our backgrounds. Whenever I hear of a friend who is getting a divorce, I actually mourn for them a bit. I love marriage. On the macro level, I think the state of marriage is a noble thing which elevates us, provides stability to families, and to cultures and nations. On the micro level, each divorce represents a tragedy of unfulfilled love, expectations, and needs; and it's just sad. I know that not everybody believes in God, but I do; and I know that divorce is not an institution of His creation.

There is such promise when a young couple, much in love, decides to bind their lives together. Genesis 2:24—"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."

....."One flesh......."

How easily we are capable of forgetting that, and instead of healing that "one flesh," we choose to amputate. That is sad. I don't believe in the "things just didn't work out" explanation.

Do you wish you were still married to your fist wife?

[LikesShinyThings]

A few years ago when I was in the same situation, I went to Hastings and they had a paperback book.. "How to do your own divorce in Texas" ..

http://www.amazon.com/How-Your-Divorce- ... 0944508839" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good advice. Thank you.

http://www.edivorcepapers.com/texas-div ... apers.html

Thank you - this is probably going to be a big help to my friend.

Are you sure it's no contest? It still doesn't hurt to visit a lawyer and ask a few questions.
Do either of these people have retirement accounts? I understand they could owe money to one another in their retirement years unless they specify in their divorce that they keep their own retirement accounts. (I can't remember if this is one of those deals applying only to those married 10+ years or not--some things aren't as much of an issue for "starter marriages.")

Good question. I think they very carefully kept their finances separate for the most part, and they have a prenup saying what they came in with they get to go out with. But the stuff in the middle becomes the sticky party. I'll remind my friend to think about this. She has talked to a lawyer a little, but she is in a tight financial position, so she can't afford the $3000 this lawyer quoted her. I'm sure if it starts looking like she needs a lawyer, she will find one she can afford.

As to those who say divorce is bad... for the most part I agree with you. In this case, I saw the divorce coming four years ago. She did everything she could, but there are some things that make staying in the marriage much worse than leaving. In this case, I happen to think divorce is the correct decision for her.

When you find the right person (like my husband), there is nothing better than marriage!

Thanks all for all the comments, help, and thoughts.

[McKnife]

There is nothing my wife could ever do that I would not forgive her for doing it. Nothing.

Wow. I don't know if I agree with you, but your example gives me the chills because I don't think I could ever forgive her for such devastation and breaking of trust. I always tell myself that the ONLY reason I would ever split from my wife, whom I haven't met yet, would be infidelity.