How to file divorce online in texas
How to start a Texas divorce
Timecodes:
hello there my name is art warren
attorney at law
and today i'm going to show you
how to
get your divorce started in texas so the
process that i'm going to take you
through is the exact process that i
would use
if i was filing the divorce for client
and certainly i recommend that you use
it when filing your own case pro se
so before you file a divorce in texas
you have to have residency here so i'm
going to tell you what the
test is for filing a divorce in texas
the first thing is you have to have been
a residence for at least six months in
texas prior to filing
the second part of the test is
you have to have lived in the county
that you're going to be filing in for at
least 90 days
and the only exception to that part of
the rule is
perhaps your spouse
lived in a county for at least 90 days
if you don't meet the requirement you
can use your spouse as long as they have
lived in
a particular county for 90 days you have
to file in that county where your spouse
lives so
after you've me you've met that test
then you're ready to file now
the the process is the same whether it's
children no children
or property no property
whatever the situation is contested
uncontested this process is the same
okay
so the first thing i want you to do is
to open your browser or you can do it on
your phone or whatever
and i want you to google
the county that you live in or whatever
county you're gonna be filing in
type in
for example i'm going to give you the
words harris county district clerk's
phone number i live in harris county so
that's what i would google you yours
will be something different and then
whatever phone number you get i want you
to take that phone number and i want you
to dial it and then
whoever answers the phone i want you to
ask that person
do you work in the family law section or
your family law clerk if they say no
then you say can you please transfer me
to a family law clerk
they'll transfer you once they transfer
you
whoever answers the phone you want to
ask the same question are you a family
law clerk you want to be sure that they
are because sometimes they may transfer
you to a different department i've had
that to happen they transferred me to
the prosecutor's office for some reason
or another and i have i've had that to
happen a few times so verify with that
person are you a family law clerk they
say yes then you tell them listen
i'm a i'm going to be filing a divorce
pro se
and i want to ask you a few questions
and i'll say okay
the first question you want to ask is
how much does it cost to file a petition
for let's say
a case with no children okay
i
in fact if you're going to be doing an
uncontested divorce or doing a divorce
yourself i would recommend that it be an
uncontested divorce with no children you
still can get away with it if you've got
children but that's a little more
complicated i would recommend that you
call me suggest you call me for help
with that but
the process is the same so the question
is how much does it cost to file a
divorce petition
with no children and it's going to cost
you somewhere between 280 i don't know
the 325 or whatever um depending on when
you listen to this video this could be
five years from now and it could be a
lot more but at any rate the point is
you'll get that number
let me write it down
the next question you want to ask is
will i be filing uh my petition in into
a district court or a county court of
law
and they're going to tell you well if
we're randomly assigned to a court you
say i get that but
it's my understanding
that some smaller counties
have will have you file in the county
court of law and just a rule of thumb
small small small counties will probably
have a county court or law that you will
be filing into
small to medium size to large for sure
it's going to always be district
courts so but you want to get
you want to get that information right
up front so that you'll know
and the reason you're doing that is
because when you fill out the petition
uh
in the section that they call the style
of the case it's over on the right-hand
side there's going to be a place there
for court and you won't put the court
number in then but if it's a district
court you want to have district court
there okay it's county court law you
want to have that type there
okay and that'll be on my petition as
well
but get that information the next thing
you want to do
is yeah and this is where this is very
very important and this does not apply
to every county but it applies to
enough counties that you need to know
this otherwise your your petition is
going to be rejected
so you're going to ask the question
does
for example harris county or let me use
an example that i know they have a um
standing order bear count does bear
county have
standing orders that have to be
filed at the time that i filed my
petition
bear county they're going to say yes
okay
then the next question you want to ask
is
where on the website
can i find the the standing orders and
they'll tell you and then you can have
them to
lead you to it if you're on a computer
and then here's where i really want you
to drill down and be very very
particular and and clarify
axa clerk okay so i understand we have
to have standing orders attached or
filed along with the petition but does
it have to be
one document do i have to make my
petition in the standing order one
document when i file it
electronically for example or even over
the counter
and they'll tell you yes or no
and
or they may say it doesn't matter but i
want you to be clear on that and then
you can ask the question if they say
well no then you say so it can be two
individual documents that i will file
separately
and they'll say yes or no or however but
i want you to get clarification does it
have to be one document can it be two
documents or how you need to file it
okay so that's the whole point of that
and just so that you know standing
orders are
a set of rules that some judges have put
together that they want you to follow
when you
do a divorce in their county and so this
is just their way of
saying that
you understand what those rules are
because you filed it with your petition
and we made you do that so that's why
you have to have that this won't apply
to
everyone who's looking at this video but
some it will and it's very very
important
now
the next question you want to get to is
you'll ask are there any other documents
any other forms that i need to file
along with my petition
and you wait and hear what they say and
they may say yay or nay and then just as
a follow-up to clarify just ask
do i need to find my bvs form at the
time that i find my petition or can i do
that later you know before my divorce is
uh
finalized and they'll say yes or no
you'll ask because some counties require
this
is there a pro se notice that i need to
file with my petition
okay
um this is kind of a way of helping the
clerk to draw their memory are there any
other documents because you will have
asked are there any other documents that
i need to file and they may say no i
mean cavalierly but you want to jog
their memories oh yeah by the way yeah
you do need to file that
okay
so
once you've clarified that there are or
not any other documents then you can go
ahead and the last thing you want to ask
the person is
um can you please tell me
uh your name just in case i have any
other questions down the road uh about
documents that need to be filed or
whatever in case uh something happens
they reject my petition you know i can
always come back to you and
chat with you about it and they'll give
you their name um or you don't even have
to tell them why you want to want their
name but i'm telling you that'll be the
person your point of contact if
something goes wrong you say well hey
you know i followed your instructions
so
after that
you are ready to ready to file you just
need a petition at that point
and
get it filled out
and pay the fee
the filing fee and you file it
and that's how you get your case started
in the in the state of texas
um
so
down below this video
somewhere in the notes i'll have a link
for you to click on and you can get
the script that i just went through
along with
a petition for divorce and it'll be in
word format and you can
download both of those onto your
computer and use my
petition
and the script
and if you do all of that
everything will be perfect
i'm certain of it
so
just
look for that down down below
and it'll be there
and later i'm going to do
a another video on
how to
file electronically
i'll show you how to do that
electronically from from your home but i
don't want to do that on this video
because this video is becoming too long
as it is now but that's how you get
started so i hope it was
informative and you learned a lot
and that um you'll be able to get
through this
with flying colors so until next time
take care of yourself
and uh i'll see you in the next video
bye
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