Typically, spousal maintenance is limited to three years.
However, the Texas Family Code does provide some exceptions relating to disability of a spouse or a child.
The more issues that clients and the opposing party can agree on, the lower the cost of the divorce.
You can file for divorce as soon as either you or your spouse meets the residency requirements of the state and county that you plan on filing in.
Furthermore, the court may not order a spouse to pay more than ,500, or 20%, of the spouse’s gross monthly income, whichever is less. When you file your petition or counter petition you can request a name change that will be final upon the entry of the final decree of divorce.
You will then have to go through the necessary government agencies to get all of your government issues documents changed. Typically annulments are granted if there was a legal deficiency in the marriage.
This ground requires that the “spouses have lived apart without cohabitation for at least three years.” The third ground for divorce is confinement in a mental hospital, and requires that one spouse be confined in a state or private mental hospital for at least three years plus the requirement that “the mental disorder is of such a degree and nature that adjustment is unlikely or that, if adjustment occurs, relapse is probable” The next ground is cruelty, which occurs when one spouse treats the other spouse cruelly and living together is insupportable.
Abandonment can also be a reason for divorce, and requires that one spouse has “left the complaining spouse with the intention of abandonment; and remained away for at least one year.” Conviction of a felony and adultery are the last two grounds.