Texas Divorce Tips
One divorce attorney's reactions to family law issues.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Question from Seminary #1
Recently I was the guest lecturer for the counseling class at Dallas Theological Seminary. Here's one of the questions they asked, along with my answer.
We are aware that there is no such thing as a "legal separation" in Texas. But for states where it does exist, what are its advantages? Are there piecemeal ways to arrange an effective "legal separation" in Texas?
Premise: If it takes longer to get divorced, a significant number will reconcile instead. I Don't know the statistics on this.
Premise: If it has to take a while to get divorced, you also need to put in some protections for the community property estate, access to children, and various temporary measures in a divorce.
I'm not a high-level theorist, just a low-level Texas practitioner.
I'm not a fan of legal separation, as I believe it unduly complicates the divorce process. But, I believe that there are good attorney's fees to be earned in managing the process.
Having said that, let's address what you can do in temporary orders that you can't do with other stuff.
Most issues dealing with children (possession, parental rights, support) cannot really be addressed without filing for divorce and having temporary orders issued.
Most issues dealing with ownership and management of separate property and community property can be dealt with in a "post nup"
Spousal support is not workable outside of a divorce.
Move-out, stay-out, and stay-away stuff can't really be addressed outside of a divorce, except as ancillary to criminal proceedings (assault, stalking stuff)
We are aware that there is no such thing as a "legal separation" in Texas. But for states where it does exist, what are its advantages? Are there piecemeal ways to arrange an effective "legal separation" in Texas?
Premise: If it takes longer to get divorced, a significant number will reconcile instead. I Don't know the statistics on this.
Premise: If it has to take a while to get divorced, you also need to put in some protections for the community property estate, access to children, and various temporary measures in a divorce.
I'm not a high-level theorist, just a low-level Texas practitioner.
I'm not a fan of legal separation, as I believe it unduly complicates the divorce process. But, I believe that there are good attorney's fees to be earned in managing the process.
Having said that, let's address what you can do in temporary orders that you can't do with other stuff.
Most issues dealing with children (possession, parental rights, support) cannot really be addressed without filing for divorce and having temporary orders issued.
Most issues dealing with ownership and management of separate property and community property can be dealt with in a "post nup"
Spousal support is not workable outside of a divorce.
Move-out, stay-out, and stay-away stuff can't really be addressed outside of a divorce, except as ancillary to criminal proceedings (assault, stalking stuff)
Labels: legal separation, seminary
posted by Hal Davis | 3:35 PM
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