In Dallas, divorce is understood to be the optional process of terminating a marriage or marital union. This requires going through a legal matter to dissolve the marriage which can be a very stressful time in one’s life. Understanding the seven grounds for divorce under Dallas law can alleviate some of this hardship.

Grounds for Divorce in Dallas

Insupportability – In Dallas, this is the only ground for divorce in which there is no fault placed on one of the divorcing parties. In other parts of the country, these grounds are commonly referred to as irreconcilable differences. This means you are stating that there are differences in your marriage that you and your spouse are unable to overcome.

Cruelty – This grounds for divorce is utilized when one of the parties in a marriage is being treated so poorly by their spouse that they can’t reasonably stay in that marriage. This could be due to physical abuse, derogatory language, neglect, humiliation, or threats to one’s safety.

Abandonment – This can be used as a ground for divorce in Dallas if your spouse has left you for a year or longer and has no intention of returning.

Adultery – This ground for divorce occurs when a spouse has a sexual relationship outside of the marriage.

Conviction of a Felony – Dallas law considers it a valid ground for divorce if your spouse has been in prison for a year or more due to committing a felony.

Living Apart – It is a legal ground for a divorce if you and your spouse haven’t cohabitated for a period of 3 years or longer.

Confinement in a mental hospital – If your spouse has been confined to a mental hospital for a period of 3 years with no signs of the mental disorder improving, this ground can be claimed as a valid reason to file for divorce in Dallas.

Child Support Dallas

In Dallas, physical custody of a child refers to the amount of time a parent spends with a child. This custody determines who will make child support payments. While it is possible for a court to order both parents to pay to support a child, generally it is the noncustodial parent, meaning the parent that spends the least amount of time with the child or children, that pays child support.

The amount owed in child support payments is calculated based on a percentage of the noncustodial parent’s income. You can estimate potential child support payments in Dallas using our child support calculator.

Spousal Support Dallas

Spousal support, also known as spousal maintenance or alimony, is unique in Dallas. This refers to a court-ordered payment to your former spouse following a divorce. Factors such as the length of your marriage and the difference in earnings between former spouses all contribute to the amount of spousal support owed.

Dallas, TX, unlike other states, is distinctive as the law limits the amount of spousal maintenance that can be paid to a spouse. Payments are capped and may not exceed more than 20% of the spouse’s average monthly gross income or $5,000, whichever is less. You can use our spousal maintenance calculators to help determine these support payments in Dallas.

In Dallas the legal term used to refer to child custody is conservatorship. A parent who has been granted conservatorship rights of their children maintains both physical and legal custody. Physical custody allows the parent to decide where their children live. Legal custody encompasses decisions about the children’s religion, schools they attend, extracurriculars they participate in, medical treatment, and more.

Dallas courts can grant a joint managing conservatorship where both parents share in their children’s custody or a sole managing conservatorship where a single parent has sole custody. In most cases, the law caters to keeping children in contact with both parents unless there is evidence of a reason not to do so. These reasons include a parent’s physical location, history of being abusive, or a past track record of being unreliable regarding matters with the children.  You can utilize our parenting time calculator to gain a better understanding of what your conservatorship agreement may look like.

In Dallas, the only legal means for separating from one’s spouse is through a divorce. Texas is among the few states that don’t recognize legal separation. A legal separation is an agreement between two parties outlining matters of custody, support, and residency, all while not officially terminating the marriage. This allows the separated parties time to evaluate whether or not they want to permanently separate or eventually get back together.

While legal separation isn’t an option for struggling couples in Dallas, there are still options that our compassionate family law attorneys in Dallas can assist with. One such option is a contractual separation in which legal documentation is put in place to frame the division of assets, parental rights, and child support.

Dallas allows for what is known as a common-law marriage. There is no set time for living together that governs whether a couple can enter into a common-law marriage. Instead, the stipulating guidelines for proving a common-law marriage in Dallas are as follows:

1) A couple must agree that they are married;

2) The couple must live together;

3) “Hold out” to others that they married.

All of these conditions must be simultaneously present in order for a Dallas couple to establish a common-law marriage. The third requirement describing a “should out” simply means that the parties must represent to others that they are married.

Paternity is the word for describing the legal fatherhood of a child. In Dallas, married couples do not need to take additional legal steps to establish paternity.

When it comes to parents of a newborn child that aren’t married to each other, the law does NOT recognize the biological father as a legal parent. A biological father who is not married to the mother of their child does NOT have legal rights to his child until he becomes a legal parent. Paternity must be established first.

There are three ways to establish paternity:

1) Marriage – When the biological father legally marries the child’s mother he is then automatically regarded as the child’s father establishing legal paternity.

2) Acknowledgment of Paternity – When the parents of a child are not married, this is a legal form signed by both the father and mother in which they both agree to the biological father of the child.

3) Court Order – Another option for unmarried parents is to get a court order in which the legal father of a child is established.

In Dallas, a post-decree proceeding can happen after a divorce has been finalized. Once a decision is made, a divorced party may demand changes to the divorce agreement. One would think that once a divorce is final, there would be no alterations, but circumstances can change. In Dallas, modifications to divorce decrees are allowed when both sides of the divorced parties agree to alter the terms, or when there have been changes in circumstances of one or both of the parties or a child.