You can’t help but worry that your spouse will make things difficult in a Texas Divorce. Usually, most divorces aren’t taking place after just a few months or a year of marriage. Typically, a Divorce is the result of many years of marriage where problems and conflict has festered for years. By the time a divorce is pursued, these couples are tired, bitter, angry, and untrusting of their spouse to the point of having a visceral dislike. In these cases, the marriage has been over for some time, so its no wonder that spouses can only assume their spouse will make the divorce difficult too.
Often times a client of one of our experienced Divorce Lawyers will be concerned that their spouse will complicate the divorce or prevent it altogether by refusing to sign the Divorce Decree. In such a case, several things can happen when one spouse refuses to sign off on the Divorce Paperwork.
The Default Divorce Process
First of all, there is no requirement that both spouses agree to the divorce in order to obtain a Texas Divorce. It does however make things much easier and cost effective if both parties will agree to pursue an Uncontested Divorce – which often times they do – but not everyone can resolve all the aspects of their marriage amicably.
After the divorce initiated through the filing of an Original Petition for Divorce, the nonfiling spouse must receive a Notice of the suit from the court. This can be done by one of the following:
- Service of Process by a Constable or Private Process Server
- Waiver of Service
- Alternative Service Methods
Service by Constable or Private Server
Everyone is familiar with this method. You’ve seen it in movies where a guy surprises the spouse and hands them ( or throws at them) papers and says “you’ve been served” and walks off. In reality, its not quite this harsh or dramatic. Most process servers are extremely professional and courteous and even go through the effort to call spouses sometimes to arrange a time to bring over the papers. A constable can also be hired to do this as well. The only real requirement is that you (or someone hired by you) cannot do it.
The Waiver of Service
This is the easiest and most no confrontational method. This actually does allow you to give all the divorce paper work to your spouse but your spouse must sign a document known as a Waiver of Service in front of a notary and either return it to your divorce lawyer to file with the court, or your spouse must file it themselves with the court.
Alternative Service
In the event your spouse cannot be served by a process server, constable, or certified mail by the clerk, an experienced divorce lawyer will consider the options of requesting the judge to allow your spouse to be served by taping the Original Petition to the entry way of their residence or by publication in the local newspaper. These methods are approved by the State of Texas and referred to as Alternative Service.
Notice
Once your spouse has been served with a copy of the lawsuit through one of the methods of service above, your spouse will be legally deemed to have Notice of the divorce suit and have a deadline to respond to it by the 1stMonday following the expiration of 20 days after they were served. A response is correctly done by the filing of an Answer that will typically deny everything stated in the petition. Under Texas law an individual can generally deny all the allegations in a petition and that will be sufficient to prevent a default judgment from taking place.
Default
If your spouse fails to respond to the divorce suit, it is possible to obtain a Default Divorce. You will still have to complete the required 60 day waiting period. But once that is done, it is possible to have your Divorce Lawyer prepare a Final Decree of Divorce dividing property, debts, and rendering orders on Child Custody, Child Support, and Spousal Maintenance without any input or agreement from your spouse. Now, of course, a judge will not approve just anything that is put in front of them. It will be important to testify to the court that the division of property is fair and equitable and that any provisions for child custody and child support are in the best interest of the children. A judge will likely look at some of those provisions and may have questions in order to verify that these legal standards are met. If you have an Experienced Divorce Lawyer they can prepare you for this to maximize the chances that your Divorce Decree will be approved. The end result though is that you can be divorced without the approval of your spouse by a Default if they fail to respond to the Divorce Law Suit.
Trial
Another scenario that divorcing spouses encounter is when the spouse will not agree to the divorce but filed an answer in the lawsuit to prevent a default. If this happens in your Texas Divorce, you unfortunately will have no other option than to take your case to trial. At trial, you will need a Divorce Lawyer with trial experience. Most people are surprised to learn that many attorneys nowadays have little trial experience. Since most cases settle, this is understandable, but in those times when a case is reluctant to settle, clients need a Divorce Lawyer that is prepared to try their case. Our Divorce Lawyers are always happy to help clients resolve their divorce suits amicably and to pursue settlement communications. However, when it comes time to take a case to trial, our lawyers are ready to go all the way. Unfortunately, though, inexperienced Divorce Lawyers may encourage clients to accept a “bad deal” in an effort to avoid trial because in truth the inexperienced lawyer is apprehensive about trying cases. Don’t let this happen to you. It is important that you hire a Divorce Lawyer that is prepared to take your case to trial even if you feel that is not likely to happen.
Schedule an Initial Consultation
If you are ready to pursue a Texas Divorce, please contact Nick Davis Law to schedule a free case evaluation with a Divorce Lawyer in The Woodlands and Bryan | College Station to learn how we can help you.
Nick Davis Law is a firm dedicated to helping individuals with all their family law needs and serves Montgomery, Harris, Waller, Grimes, Walker, Brazos, Washington, Burleson, Fort Bend and surrounding counties.