Home
About Us
Our Locations
Business Law
Family Law
Immigration Law
Criminal Defense
Credit Repair Law
Credit Card Defense
Wills, Trusts & Estates
Our Clients
Contact Us
Disclaimer
Read Our Blog

Filing the Original Petition for Divorce

and Grounds for Divorce in Texas

The first thing which needs to be done in initiating the divorce process is preparing and filing of the Original Petition for Divorce.  The Original Petition for Divorce is a document which basically introduces the parties, in this case the husband and the wife, to the Court and asks for relief, in this case a divorce.  The different components to an Original Petition for Divorce are:  Identification of the Parties, a Residency and Venue Statement, Cause or Reason for the Divorce, and the relief requested.    With regard to the causes or reasons for a divorce, there are several: Insupportability, Cruelty, Adultery, Conviction of a Felony, Abandonment, Living Apart, and my favorite, Confinement to a Mental Institution.

Insupportability basically means that the marriage has failed and neither party is really at fault.  This is what I like to call the falling out of love excuse.  The majority of divorces which are filed today fall under this category.  The primary reason they fall under this category is because it is the least offensive, you do not have to prove fault and, if a disproportionate share of the assets are not a goal, there is really no reason to file under any other category.

The next category is called cruelty.  Cruelty means that the marriage has failed because one spouse has treated the other spouse in such a way which amounts to cruel treatment.  This could mean physical abuse, verbal abuse, and mental abuse.  Cruelty is usually substantiated by things such as police reports and photographs.
Following cruelty, popular grounds for divorce is called adultery.  Adultery is committed if one spouse has an affair with another person outside their marriage.  There is, of course, some question as to what constitutes adultery and there is some case law dealing with that very issue.  However, it is safe to assume that if a spouse had sex with a person outside their marriage that spouse committed adultery.  The process of proving adultery can sometimes be difficult and expensive.  Sometimes private investigators are hired and sometimes the parties have to engage in extensive discovery.  In addition to being expensive, an allegation of adultery can also be emotionally taxing.  That having been said, sometimes the charge of adultery is very easy to prove and can often time be tremendously advantageous. 

The next grounds for divorce is conviction of a felony.  There are several circumstances under which a divorce may be granted surrounding a spouses interaction with a penal institution.  If your spouse has been convicted of a felony, has been incarcerated for over a year and has not been pardoned, the Court may grant a divorce.  These cases are more common than one might imagine and this ground for divorce is often used in the case of incarceration when the spouse in prison refuses to agree to the divorce.

Another ground for divorce is abandonment.  In order for abandonment to be used as a grounds for divorce, it has to be shown that a party has no intention of returning and they have to at least be gone for one year.  In many cases, the missing spouse is hard to find and service of the petition has to be done by publication. 
Similar to abandonment, but not a robust, living apart is a ground for divorce.  If both spouses have lived apart for over three years without cohabitation, the Court may grant a divorce. This ground for divorce is rarely ever used. 

The last ground for divorce, and my favorite, is confinement to a mental institution.  A court may grant a divorce is a spouse has been confined to a mental institution for a period of three years and if it appears, based on the mental condition that recovery is not likely and relapse is probable.   

If you are in the process of getting a divorce or have already been served with divorce papers, you need the help of a competent and aggressive Conroe Divorce Attorney or a Spring Divorce Attorney.  Contact the Montgomery County, Texas Divorce attorneys at Smith & Garg today to schedule a consultation.