Marital Fault
While some divorces might end amicably, conflict and tensions can escalate if one party has committed offenses for which the state of Texas can find them at fault in divorce proceedings. The court granting the divorce in your favor gives you a better chance at recovering community property and, most importantly, gaining a more significant role in raising your children.
If you are currently going through a messy divorce with a partner, you need a lawyer with experience to argue your side of the story and help prove the fault of your former spouse in the dissolution of your marriage.
At BB Law Group PLLC, we are dedicated to helping our clients and their children come out of divorce proceedings in the best possible situation. The Woodlands high conflict custody attorneys at our firm know Texas law inside and out and can protect your rights within a marriage from a former partner who broke their vows. Contact us today at (832) 534-2589 to schedule a consultation and discuss the details of your case. We know how hard this divorce can be on you and your kids. Let us fight on your behalf and make the best of a tough situation.
Child Custody Laws in Texas
The state of Texas takes the rights and well-being of children involved in high-conflict custody divorce cases very seriously. The court’s primary consideration, according to Texas law, is the child’s best interest. Often, the court finds that the child’s best interest is to have two parents involved in raising the child if neither parent has a criminal history or allegations against them.
Even if both parents can spend time with their children, they might not have equal rights concerning decision-making about the children’s lives. Courts can appoint a parent as a “possessory conservator” or a “managing conservator.” Managing conservators make decisions about a child’s well-being, such as where they go to school. Possessory conservators have rights commonly known as “visitation” rights. Texas courts often appoint divorcing parents as joint managing conservators.
Texas courts will also require a detailed parenting plan between the two former spouses. Even if two parents embroiled in a messy divorce can put aside their differences to create a plan together, the court can still reject it if it is not in the children’s best interest and draft its own plan in its place.
The Role of Fault in Texas Divorces
Texas law allows for no-fault divorces when personal issues and personality conflicts prevent a reasonable expectation of reconciliation between the two parties. Through no-fault divorces, couples can amicably go their separate ways and draft parenting agreements that they find to be in the best interest of their child. However, Texas also allows one spouse to file for divorce and place fault on the other. These marital faults are wide-ranging and can significantly affect the child custody arrangements that the court will hand down.
Marital Fault in Texas
Convincing a court to grant the divorce in your favor drastically improves the likelihood you receive full custody or managing conservator rights over your child. Texas family code includes the following grounds for divorce with fault:
- Cruelty – If one spouse is guilty of cruel treatment towards the complaining party and this treatment makes living together no longer possible or safe, the court may grant the divorce in favor of the complaining spouse.
- Adultery – Texas courts consider adultery a serious matter and may grant a divorce in favor of the spouse who did not commit adultery.
- Felony Convictions – Felony convictions that lead to prison sentences of longer than one year are grounds for fault divorces if the convicted spouse has not been pardoned and the conviction did not rely upon the testimony of the other spouse.
- Abandonment – Intending to abandon your spouse and leaving them for greater than one year is enough for the court to grant a divorce with fault.
- Separate Living Arrangements – The court may grant either party a divorce in their favor when spouses live apart for more than three years.
- Mental Hospital Confinement – A court can grant a divorce in favor of one spouse when the other is confined in a mental hospital. In addition, their condition must be unlikely to improve or have risks of relapse.
How Can I Prove These Elements of Marital Fault?
In contentious divorces, your former spouse will not likely cooperate and willingly give up evidence that incriminates them. Some elements of marital fault that can be grounds for divorce are more straightforward to prove than others. If your former spouse is an inmate or patient of a mental hospital run by the state, your attorney will have an easy time securing information that proves that element of fault.
Proving aspects of adultery or cruelty can be more challenging without a confession. Still, attorneys with experience in high-conflict custody cases know the best ways to prove your case through circumstantial and direct evidence and are also aware of which evidence courts generally accept as credible.
Some of the evidence we can use to prove fault in cases like adultery include:
- Text messages and other forms of written communication that show a confession or highlight suspicious behavior
- Photographs and videos
- GPS data
- Testimony of eyewitnesses and the other person involved in the affair
Even if you don’t have a signed confession of fault from your former spouse, we can argue before the court to help boost your odds of receiving greater control of your child’s life and future.
Contact a High Conflict Custody Attorney In The Woodlands Today
Attorneys are critical to proving marital fault in Texas divorces, and the attorneys at BB Law Group PLLC are eager to help you and your children begin this new chapter of your lives on the best footing possible. We have seen it all when it comes to messy divorces and high-conflict custody battles. Let us leverage our years of experience and expertise to fight on behalf of you and your kid’s future.
For help with your divorce and custody proceedings in The Woodlands, contact us today at (832) 534-2589 or online through our website.