Legal Expert

Divorce

Getting divorced is always a stressful process, though there are many ways to make your case easier to manage while ensuring a positive outcome. Contact an Austin divorce lawyer for help as soon as possible.

Helping Clients in Austin Navigate the Divorce Process

If you are facing a divorce, contemplating a divorce, or simply considering your options, you’re likely experiencing a good deal of stress, and you definitely have questions. Consulting with an experienced Austin divorce attorney can help you better understand what the divorce process looks like, how your divorce would likely proceed, and whether a divorce is ultimately the right answer for you. The fact is that speaking with a divorce attorney does not make divorce more likely, but it can provide you with important information that will help you make the best choices for you.

Your Austin, Texas Divorce

If you determine that a divorce is the best path forward, it’s important to understand the basics of a Texas divorce. The major components include:

• The division of your community property
• Child conservatorship (also known as custody)
• Child support
• Spousal maintenance (also known as alimony)

You and your divorcing spouse should try to negotiate mutually acceptable terms related to each of these elements that apply to your divorce. The vast majority of Texas divorces are settled before they reach the court, but if you run up against a sticking point with any one (or more) of these issues, the court will need to make the determination on your behalf.

The Division of Community Property

Generally, your community property amounts to that property, assets, and debts that you and your spouse acquired together as a married couple. Upon divorce, this property will be divided in a fair manner, which which does not necessarily mean right down the middle. The important point to remember is that the court has considerable discretion in the matter and can take any and all of the following into consideration in the process of dividing community property:

• The future financial circumstances of both you and your soon-to-be-ex
• The tax consequences for each of you
• The primary conservator parent’s need to remain in the family home with the children
• The total value of assets and/or business interests involved

It is important to have the help of an experienced divorce lawyer to ensure that you receive a fair distribution of your community property.

Child Conservatorship Arrangements

If your divorce involves shared children, your child conservatorship (custody) arrangements are likely a primary concern. Except in extreme situations, both parents generally share the ability to make important decisions related to education, healthcare, religious upbringing, and extracurriculars on your children’s behalf. Physical conservatorship, on the other hand, refers to whom the children live with. Sometimes, one parent becomes the primary custodial parent with whom the children have their primary home, and the other parent has a visitation schedule. Parents can also be joint conservators and share time fairly equally. The court always bases its decisions related to conservatorship on the best interests of the children.

Child Support

Typically, the parent with the visitation schedule pays child support to the primary conservator parent to help equalize each parent’s financial contribution to the children’s upbringing. This child support obligation is calculated according to state guidelines, which are based on your combined income, but that can also take factors such as each of your financial resources, whether any of your children have any health considerations or special needs, and the standard of living your children enjoyed during the course of your marriage into consideration.

Alimony

Alimony refers to payments made by one former spouse to the other in an effort to help offset any financial discrepancy that the divorce may have created. If one spouse can no longer afford to reasonably provide for himself or herself and the other spouse can afford to remedy the situation, alimony may be awarded. A wide range of factors can influence this matter, including the length of your marriage, you and your ex’s earning potential (now and into the future), the recipient’s capacity to become self-supporting, each or your contributions to the marriage.