The Texas state legislature has made many changes to the family law code to bring it into conformity with laws in other states and with modern ideas about divorce and families, but the state’s family code still bears marks of older laws.
Perhaps the two most important aspects of divorce law in Texas are the availability of “no fault” divorce and the fact that a couple’s assets will be divided according to the state’s community property laws. No fault divorce means that the party who is seeking the divorce is not required to prove misconduct on the part of the other spouse. The divorce petition will be sufficient if it lists “insupportability” as the reason for the divorce. Other grounds, such as cruelty, adultery or conviction of a felony may be added to the petition, but an allegation of insupportability will be sufficient.
Texas law requires all property acquired during the marriage be deemed as belonging in equal shares to both spouses. When the divorce is granted, the court will divide the community property equally between the spouses. Spouses may designate certain assets as private property as long as the other spouse agrees.
Children under the age of 18 are treated as minors, and they are governed by the concept of “best interests of the child.” In other words, if the spouses cannot agree on issues of custody and visitation, the court will decide the issues based upon its findings about which remedy will serve the best interests of the child.