In most cases, no. There may be practical advantages to filing for divorce before your spouse can beat you to the punch from a planning perspective. However, there is not a certain legal advantage to your being able to do so. The main advantage to filing first for divorce is to be able to choose the jurisdiction where your divorce will take place if you are a resident of one county and your spouse can claim residency in another.
There are a wide range of potential costs for a divorce since there are a wide range of circumstances that may be relevant in your case. The more issues there are, the more likely that your divorce will take longer to complete. This typically equates to a more expensive divorce. Family law attorneys bill by the hour so the more hours worked, the more money that you will spend on attorney’s fees. You can consult with different attorneys in the Houston area to determine their estimated costs of your case to gain a better understanding of this issue.
Yes, and it is standard for your attorney to plead for (ask for) your spouse to pay your attorney’s fees in your Original Petition for Divorce. However, you can expect your spouse to ask for you to pay their attorney’s fees as well. It boils down to your conduct before and during the divorce. If you conduct yourself well and are not found to be at fault in causing the divorce, then you are unlikely to be ordered to pay your spouse’s attorney’s fees. However, both of your attorney’s fees may come out of your jointly held bank account which basically mean that you are both paying for one another’s attorney.
Yes. There is no requirement under the Texas Family Code or elsewhere to file for divorce with an attorney. Every day, people get divorced in Texas without the assistance of an attorney. However, there are risks in proceeding through a complicated and important circumstance like a divorce without representation. When it comes to issues related to your children and your finances you should consider at least speaking to one of our experienced family law attorneys before deciding whether proceed without a lawyer.
Cheating, or adultery as it is formally known in Texas divorces, matters if you are specifying it as a fault ground for the break-up of your marriage. When the cheating had a profound impact on your family and/or finances then it matters a great deal. Otherwise, it does not matter much in the overall scope of your case. This is not a moral judgment on cheating- it is just the way that most divorce courts view cheating in conjunction with your divorce.
