A divorce can be based on fault or no fault, which we will discuss further, later in this article. You must serve the petition (service of process) on your spouse, by way of a process server, which can be a private process server. Following service on your spouse, he or she will have a limited number of days in which to respond. Note, that depending on which county you are in, there may be additional local rules to comply with.

From the time the divorce petition is filed, there is a sixty day waiting period, until the divorce may become final. This is kind of a "cooling off" period so that the spouses are not jumping into to anything based on a rash decision.

However, if the parties are unable to agree to all issues such as child support, spousal support, child custody, property division, etc. then the time frame may take much longer.

There are two grounds for divorce in Austin, Texas-a fault and no fault divorce. A no fault divorce just means: "The marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities that destroys the legitimate ends of the marital relationship and prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation"

So any reason or no reason at all is grounds for divorce. But, there are times when a party may want to allege fault to try and better position your case. These fault grounds are:

But, may times you may want to allege fault. The reason to do this is to provide more evidence for your case. This can place you on better footing in your case against your spouse. Such grounds include the following: Adultery; Imprisonment or conviction of a felony, Imprisoned for at least one year for a felon and has not been pardoned; Mental cruelty; Abandonment whether intentionally or remained apart for at least one year; Insanity and confinement to a mental hospital; and Living Separate and apart without cohabitating for minimum of three years.

Eric Willie is known as a top divorce attorney in Austin, TX. You can learn more about the Austin Divorce Lawyers at the Law Office of Willie & Dasher by visiting us online.