Plano Family Law Questions

In Collin County. Texas Family Code § 6.301 requires that at the time of filing, one spouse have been a domiciliary of Texas for the preceding six months and a resident of the county of filing for the preceding 90 days. The Collin County courthouse is located at Collin County Courthouse, 2100 Bloomdale Rd., McKinney, TX 75071. A northwestern portion of Plano lies in Denton County.

You have to meet the county residency requirement for Collin County, not for the city itself. Under Texas Family Code § 6.301 that means 90 days of residency in the county before filing, in addition to six months of domicile in Texas. Neighbouring cities in the same county satisfy it equally.

Substantially. A standard possession order keys holiday and summer periods to when school recesses and resumes rather than to fixed dates, so the district calendar determines the actual exchange days. Naming Plano ISD in the order avoids arguments in years when the district's calendar differs from a neighbouring district's.

At an absolute minimum, 60 days from the date the petition is filed, because Texas Family Code § 6.702 bars the court from granting a divorce before the 60th day. Agreed cases often finish shortly after that. Contested cases — particularly ones involving custody, a business, or a spouse who will not produce records — commonly run several months to well over a year, and the county's docket has as much to do with it as the facts.

No. Texas Family Code § 6.001 allows divorce on the ground of insupportability, which requires no proof of wrongdoing by either spouse. Fault grounds such as cruelty or adultery still exist, and they can affect how a judge divides the community estate, but they are not required to obtain a divorce.

No. Texas Family Code § 153.003 prohibits the court from considering the sex of a parent or the child in determining conservatorship. The governing standard is the best interest of the child under § 153.002, and § 153.131 creates a rebuttable presumption that appointing both parents joint managing conservators serves that interest.

No. Joint managing conservatorship under Texas Family Code § 153.131 allocates decision-making rights and duties between the parents. It is separate from the possession schedule. Parents are commonly named joint managing conservators while one holds the exclusive right to determine the child's primary residence and the other exercises a possession order.

Texas Family Code § 154.125 applies percentage guidelines to the paying parent's monthly net resources, with the percentage rising with the number of children before the court. The guidelines apply up to a maximum amount of net resources that is set and periodically republished by the Texas Attorney General rather than fixed in the statute.

Net resources includes wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, overtime, self-employment income, rental income, severance, retirement and pension income, interest and dividends. It is reduced only by a specific list of deductions — social security or equivalent taxes, federal income tax for a single person claiming one personal exemption, union dues, and the cost of the child's health and dental insurance. Household debts such as a mortgage or car payment are not deductible.

No. Texas is a community property state, which is not the same thing as an equal-division state. Texas Family Code § 7.001 directs the court to divide the community estate in a manner that is just and right, having due regard for the rights of each party and any children. Disproportionate divisions are common and legal.

Under Texas Family Code § 3.001, separate property is property owned or claimed by a spouse before marriage, property acquired during marriage by gift, devise or descent, and recovery for personal injuries sustained during marriage except for lost earning capacity. A court cannot divest a spouse of separate property in a divorce.