There are several ways to handle your divorce in Texas – contested and uncontested. A contested divorce can turn into a high-drama, high-stakes, drawn-out affair that can go on for years.
If you would rather keep the drama out of your divorce and speed things up, then make it uncontested.
Is there any reason not to choose an uncontested divorce?
In the simplest terms, an uncontested divorce is one where both parties can agree on all the major issues. A contested divorce means that there is some issue (or several) that has to be litigated.
To apply for an uncontested divorce, you and your spouse first need to sit down and thrash out the details. Only once you have reached a consensus on things can you take the details to a judge for them to sign off. The main things you need to agree on are:
- The division of your marital assets and material items
- Any spousal support or maintenance
This may be easy if you have few assets, but it can get complicated when there are things like real estate, investment portfolios and more to be divided.
If you have children under 18 years of age, you cannot technically go the uncontested route. Yet you can make things a lot simpler if you agree on things such as parenting schedules, conservatorship and child support. The court will, naturally, want to make sure the agreements reflect the best interests of the children – but an agreement between you and your spouse will definitely hasten things along.
Don’t let your divorce get off to a bad start: Good negotiation skills can help you speed things along.