Walk It Through: The Split
Insupportable, 60 days after filing, joint conservators presumed, and a just and right division.
A pharmacist, married for years with one child, decides the marriage is over and asks what it takes to file.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One marriage and one house. Proving separate property, child support, and the other grounds for divorce are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Community propertyProperty either spouse has during or at the end of the marriage is presumed to be community property, and the court divides the estate in the manner it deems just and right.
- ConservatorshipWhat the Family Code calls custody. The best interest of the child is always the primary consideration, and parents are presumed to be appointed joint managing conservators.
- Family violenceAn act by a member of a family or household against another member intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault or sexual assault, or a threat that reasonably places the member in fear of it. It also includes child abuse and dating violence.
- Protective orderThe order a court renders after finding that family violence has occurred, effective for the period it states, up to two years.
- Spousal maintenanceSupport the court may order for a spouse who will lack enough property to meet minimum reasonable needs, only in the narrow cases the code lists. It may not exceed the lesser of $5,000 a month or 20 percent of the paying spouse's average monthly gross income.
- Workers' compensationInsurance coverage that an employer, other than a public employer, may elect to obtain. An employer that does is subject to the workers' compensation subtitle.