Michael

A waiver uncontested agreed Divorce or non-contested divorce are terms are used to describe when a husband and wife have an agreement and they do not contest the dissolution of their marriage. In Texas you start a agreed divorce by filing an original petition for divorce.  You file that in the county in which you reside for the previous 90 days. As you file an original petition for divorce that will then get you a case number and a court assignment.   Texas has a 60-day waiting period that is a common  waiting period throughout the United States.  I am familiar with California which has a six month waiting period. Certain states on the East Coast like Virginia, South Carolina have a one-year waiting period. The shortest waiting period I’m familiar with is Florida which is 20 days and then Georgia is 30 days. So with the 60-day waiting period or cooling-off period if a husband and wife get into heated arguments as to their relationship then that gives them time to see if this is really what they want dissolve their marriage. After the divorce is filed you will need to prepare a final Decree of divorce coupled with any other supporting documents that may transfer real property, transfer title any vehicles, divide retirement accounts.  If you have children your children will need to be addressed also as a caveat,  any children born of the woman  regardless of whether or not the husband is the father in Texas will need to be addressed.  If you have a court order in regards to the children then you will need to attach it to the Final Decree of divorce or at least disclose it to the court depending on your judges personal preference. Generally they will want to see the certified copy of a final order in suit affecting parent-child relationship.  Now if your children do not reside in Texas, thus Texas has no jurisdiction over your children, so if the wife has moved to New York and you are trying to get divorce in Texas and you are resident of a Texas County, she has moved away more than six months, Texas may have lost jurisdiction over those children.  Another fact pattern is where the wife has had three children with another man in New York and wife, those children with another man, all live in New York,  well in that fact pattern Texas would have no jurisdiction over those three  children but you would still have to disclose that the children were born during the marriage and then Texas will make a finding that those children are not to be adjudicated in this divorce proceeding because Texas has no jurisdiction over those children. Now the final decree divorce should set up the property division and you are required to divide all property, undivided property can be subject to a future division and thus future law suit. Thus, at the same time you would want to transfer and clear up title to houses, any type of vehicles that the parties may have titled together, retirement usually requires a separate order other than the  final decree if it is through an employer. If you have an individual retirement account you can do those by letter and you don’t need a qualified domestic relations order. Health insurance for the children, rights and duties for the parents, who determines the residence of the children, or an agreement to restrict  the residency of the children to a certain area, educational decisions those decisions and the rights of a parent would need to be specified  in the final  decree of divorce. Once you have the form prepared reviewed and signed you would also need a waiver of service.  Some counties require a parenting class if  children are involved, which is generally a four hour parenting class you may take that generally online although the live class is offered in the bigger cities. The proved up of the divorce is done in front of a judge most of the time.  I am familiar with many courts that now allows prove ups to be done by sworn or written affidavit, which are the same questions that would be asked of you in front of the judge either he would give an oral narrative as to these questions and the responses or your lawyer would ask you the questions.

The questions that you would answer in front of the judge would be (please state your full name, are you presently married to your spouse? Prior  filing this petition for divorce have you been domiciled in Texas and a  resident of Harris County for the preceding six months? Or the county which you reside.  Has your marriage become insupportable because of a discord or conflict of personalities that has  destroyed your marriage?  Is there any chance you can reconcile and go back and live together as husband and wife during this marriage? Were there any children born and or  adopted?  Is your wife expecting a child at this time?  Have you addressed all issues of health insurance, child support, conservatorship, and visitation between you, your spouse, and your children?  In this Final Decree of divorce do you believe that is in the best interest of your children? These children have no property other than their personal effects?  These children are under no court orders this is the first time a court order has been issued in anywhere in regards to these children? Of course if you have court orders you would disclose the court orders and you would attach them to the Final Decree of divorce and you would generally ask that those court orders continue to govern all issues in regards to the children.  You believe that these agreements you’ve entered into with your spouse are in the best interest of your children? Now you and your spouse have also entered to an agreement in regards to the division of the marital property in the decree so that you have listed all marital property that you both own here in this Final Decree of divorce? Do you believe that to be a just and right  division of the marital estate?  Have your spouse sign the final decree of divorce because then it becomes an agreed judgment although that’s not always required. It generally is cleaner and avoids problems later with allegations that the Final Decree of divorce was not consented to even though the other spouse may have signed a waiver and said yes you can go submit whatever you want to the judge. Some of your judges will approve it most will approve a global waiver and then a final decree but it’s not a consent judgment and there are ways to appeal it to attack it and to set it aside after a couple of years. You could be a couple years after a divorce and still set it aside if it is not signed by your spouse. So I would reference the last page is generally where the signature is at are you familiar with your spouse’s signature and is that your spouse’s signature on the last page of the Agreed Final Decree of Divorce?  Are you asking the court today to dissolve your marriage and approve your agreements? Generally the court then will approve your decree of divorce and sign it and depending on your county in which you reside you may be able to get a  Certified Final Decree within 10 or 15 minutes. In Harris County the clerk has to index it and they’re a lot busier, so generally it’s seven days in Harris County before you can get your certified copy but then once it’s indexed and imaged you can pull it any time. Fort Bend County I practice over there frequently and that is usually 15 minutes from the day past the time that you see the judge and you give your testimony.  If you have documents which were to transfer real property those are usually filed in a separate section, and thus  a separate department of the county and you will need to make  sure you get those filed as well whether it’s a special warranty deed  or a deed of trust a secure assumption. Generally you take powers of attorney on motor vehicles to the Department of Motor Vehicles to transfer title to vehicles also you can sign the back of a title to a vehicle over to a spouse which is sometimes easier than do the power of attorney to transfer over the motor vehicle.

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