When you are getting divorced, you want to know what options are available to you. Though many people think of divorce as battling with your partner in court, there are several ways to divorce that do not involve the court at all.
At Palmer Law Group, our approach to “Soft Divorce” is a unique process that prioritizes options to save your marriage before deciding on divorce. We understand the options available to you and want to help you find the process that will best suit your needs – we believe that divorce doesn’t have to be so hard®! Read on in our blog to discover what you need to know about approaches to divorce available in Texas.
Fault vs. No Fault Divorce
Texas is a no-fault divorce state, which simply means that neither you nor your spouse need to prove that there was wrongdoing that led to the breakdown of your marriage in order to be allowed to divorce. No-fault divorce is the most common type of divorce in Texas, and it allows you to simply cite irreconcilable differences and mutually file for divorce, meaning that neither of you will need to prove that the other has any responsibility for the failing of the marriage.
However, there are options for spouses who have been wronged in some way that led to the lack of viability in their marriage. There are several reasons why you might want to place blame, in which case you are entitled to do so.
For example, you might want to divorce on grounds of:
- Adultery
- Abuse or cruelty
- Addiction
- Abandonment
- Felony conviction
- Incapacitation
There are pros and cons to both types of divorce. When you seek no-fault divorce, you have a higher likelihood of collaboration within the divorce, which means you and your spouse might be able to sort out your affairs yourself and not have to be litigious or see your day in court.
On the other hand, if there was genuine fault that led to the breakdown of your marriage, litigation might be the best option for you. For those who are seeking at-fault divorce, you might be able to earn a greater settlement than you would otherwise. If you are able to prove that you are not responsible for wrongdoing in your marriage, a judge might look more favorably on your needs and award you a greater portion of the assets, alimony, or greater custody of your children.
Divorcing an abuser, for example, is an excellent and necessary reason to seek at-fault divorce. If your spouse has been abusive to you or your children, you have a responsibility to present these allegations to the court and seek a more favorable custody arrangement in order to protect your vulnerable child as well as yourself. Or, for example, if you have been financially abused or your spouse has lost a great deal of your joint funds to gambling or drugs, you can protect yourself by seeking a greater portion of the assets, the home, the joint bank accounts, or alimony.
Whether at-fault divorce or no-fault divorce is better for you will depend entirely on your reasons for divorce and how much effort you are willing to put forth into the divorce process.
Uncontested Divorce
Uncontested divorce is generally regarded as the simpler and more appealing type of divorce because it is quicker, costs less, and doesn’t require the divorcing couple to appear in court.
When you divorce, there are certain issues that must be resolved, including:
- Will you keep your home or sell it?
- How will other marital assets be divided?
- Who will have custody of the children?
- Who will pay child support?
- Is either party owed alimony?
And many other issues, but these are a representative sample. In the event that you and your spouse are in agreement on these issues and all others besides, you can proceed with your uncontested divorce. (There are also options available to help you and your spouse reach agreement on issues in an uncontested divorce, including measures such as mediation and negotiation.)
Because you two have already resolved these issues on your own, you do not have to go to court or submit to the decision of a judge. In an uncontested divorce, your main issues are paperwork and waiting the requisite 60-day period that is mandated in Texas.
There are obvious benefits to this type of divorce: you will be spending less time and money on it, you will reduce fighting and toxicity, and you do not have to appeal to a judge to get what you need.
However, one possible con is that you might feel inclined to give up assets or some other benefit in the interest of keeping the peace. Therefore, you might be making more compromises than if you were fighting a contested divorce.
Contested Divorce
Contested divorce is exactly the opposite of uncontested divorce. You and your spouse cannot agree on one or multiple aspects of the divorce, so you have to go back and forth to resolve it and potentially end up in court. This is the type of divorce people are picturing when they think of couples battling in court.
There are obvious downsides to this type of divorce. It generally takes longer and costs more. You might have to air affairs that you would prefer to remain private in court. Decision making will ultimately be taken out of your hands and you might wind up with a lesser settlement than you had hoped for. Overall, you might experience more stress and toxicity with this kind of divorce.
Ultimately, however, a benefit to contested divorce is that you might end up with more than you would have if you had made concessions for an uncontested divorce. This type of divorce can be worth it if you are determined to fight for yourself and what you need.
Collaborative Divorce
One other option available to you is what is known as collaborative divorce. Collaborative divorce is when each party in a divorcing couple retains legal counsel who communicate with each other in order to reach a resolution without involving the court.
At the onset of a collaborative divorce,
